Former KYMA sports anchor takes job with Scorpions

Cole St. Clair has heard all the rumors surrounding his departure from KYMA last month.

But both the former sports anchor and KYMA General Manager Paul Heebink said St. Clair's contract simply expired.

And on Monday, the Yuma Scorpions announced St. Clair's new job - director of media relations for both the Scorpions and the Arizona Winter League.

Scorpions president and manager Mike Marshall said he's excited to have St. Clair working for the team.

"As far as Yuma goes, he's a pretty well known face," Marshall said. "Just to be able to have him come on board is a big positive for us."

 St. Clair said he finds the rumors about his departure from KYMA almost comical.

 "It's been everything from DUIs to underage girls to cussing on air - man, I've heard them all," St. Clair said. "Actually my contract ended. I'm not going to tell you that I haven't been in trouble more than once with KYMA, but my contract ran from October 2006 to October 2008."

After confirming that St. Clair's contract expired, Heebink said he considers St. Clair a friend and wishes him the best with the Scorpions while stressing that "whatever the conjecture is is old news and doesn't serve anybody."

With the Scorpions, St. Clair - the voice of the Scorpions for Internet broadcasts of home games last year - said he is interested in boosting the Scorpions attendance and overall exposure.

"You have to have a radio contract," St. Clair said. "It's amazing some of the arguments I dealt with when I first came here and dealt with the Scorpions. 'Oh, (radio) will keep fans from coming to the ballpark.' I can't believe the arguments I heard.

"To me, being on the radio is essential if you're serious about putting together a baseball club," he said. "I'm going to do everything I can about it, but the thing about it is there are some old standing feuds. It's not like re-inventing the wheel, but the ones that have already failed, I'm going to have to try harder to make them come through."

 Scorpions president and manager Mike Marshall said he's excited to have St. Clair working for the team.

 "As far as Yuma goes, he's a pretty well known face," Marshall said. "Just to be able to have him come on board is a big positive for us."

Part of St. Clair's duties will be not only media relations but selling the team as well - an area he said he is excited to get some on-the-job training in.

"I'd be lying if I told you I knew what I was doing," St. Clair said. "I'm just going to try really hard to make it work. Baseball is my favorite sport. I made my share of mistakes at Channel 11 trying to get my feet wet, and I'm sure that will be the case here. Hopefully I can work though those and help get better. I guess we'll find out.

 "That's the nerve-wracking part. If I can get some more butts in the seats, I can pat myself on the back. If I can't, I'm just part of a long list of people that have tried but have not been able to make it work."

In addition to radio broadcasts, St. Clair said he is interested in getting Marshall - a former Major League Baseball All-Star and World Series champion - on the air with an hour-long sports show.

"With no ESPN Radio in this town, I can't believe there's not an hour-long sports show on one of the stations," St. Clair said. "The long list that Mike Marshall knows from Kirk Gibson to Tommy Lasorda right down the line. It's not just old Dodgers. I'm hoping there's something we can do with that." And after years of being in TV journalism, St. Clair said he is ready to be on the opposite side of information dissemination.

 "I like the winters here and was trying to think of something as a buffer between now and at least the middle of next year," St. Clair said. "It seemed like a good opportunity to see what things were like from the other side."

Online extra - St. Clair quotes

On helping the Scorpion succeed: "I think the Arizona Winter League can be a premier winter league in the nation. I just wanted to see if there was something I could do. ... I would love my legacy to be I helped baseball continue to succeed here."

On the rumors that have surrounded him: "I've always had rumors float around about me. One thing you get used to is it's one after another. I'm a player, I'm gay - there's a lot of them floating around. There's no question I've pushed the limit on more than one occasion. My favorite guy with ESPN is Kenny Mayne. I try to do as many things out of the ordinary as humanly possible. I did my time on the carpet of my GM's office before, but nothing directly associated with my leaving."