RBI

RBI

Written by Beth Wade Tuesday, 07 August 2007

Love for the game becomes basis for business

It has been called America’s pastime, but to Allen Chase baseball is more than that. It’s a business.

Growing up in West Texas, Chase played high school baseball. It was while there that he dreamed of playing professionally, and someday, becoming a college or high school coach. He earned a Master’s degree in education while playing the game at Dallas Baptist University.

While he did join the Kalamazoo Kodiaks, a minor league team, for two years in Michigan, he ultimately decided to move back to Texas and open RBI, an indoor baseball and softball training facility.

“It fit my personality better to own my own business,” Chase said. “I wanted to do my own thing. Here I have more impact on kids. We get them longer than high school coaches.”

When it opened in 2000, RBI was the only indoor training facility of its kind in the Austin area, Chase said.

“I had clientele in Dallas, but I didn’t want to go there, so I did my own thing in a new city,” Chase said. “I didn’t know anyone in Austin when I started. I just saw the need for it and moved.”

Chase’s main business is private instruction for individuals or teams, but RBI is also home to camps, clinics, batting cage rentals and select teams.

“It is really five businesses in one,” Chase said. “We have cage rentals, camps, teams, retail and instruction. It keeps us busy.”

Chase said all of the RBI instructors play or have played professionally. Some of Chase’s students have earned scholarships and played in college. One of his success stories is Greg Golson, a Connally High School graduate, who was drafted in the first round and is on a minor league baseball team.

“We are a training facility for all ages and we are very diverse. Everyone here has baseball in common,” Chase said.

Living so close to a minor league team, the Round Rock Express, has been beneficial to the sport, Chase said.

“There is a lot of good baseball in Round Rock, which has helped. All of the youth leagues on the north side of town have been huge supporters,” Chase said. “Just for the excitement for baseball, in general, it has been great.”

Chase began select teams, a private league of chosen players, three years ago for boys ages 12 through 18. This year’s tryouts will begin in August at RBI and the teams will compete in tournaments around the state throughout the fall season. Although he does not have a softball select team, Chase is considering one in the spring.

RBI’s Home Team

• Head of pitching development - Jeremy Fikac, pitched in the major leagues for the San Diego Padres, Montreal Expos and Oakland Athletics.
• Pitching and hitting instructor - Byron Grubman, all-time win leader at University of California San Diego.
• Zack Parker - currently pitches in Double A with the Tulsa Drillers, part of the Colorado Rockies organization.
• Catching and hitting instructor - Jay LaFlair, played in the minor league with the Cleveland Indians organization.
• Pitching and hitting instructor - Jason Winkler, played for the Cincinnati Reds organization.
• Hitting instructor - Chad Blessing, played for the Chicago Cubs organization.
• Owner- Allen Chase - played for the Kalamazoo Kodiaks in the Frontier League.

RBI, 15720 Vision Drive, Pflugerville, TX 78660, 512-989-6877 • www.rbi-baseball.com