Nick buys a piece of the Tacoma Rainiers

A sweet-sounding pop star will apparently have a voice in the new direction of the Tacoma Rainiers.
Nick Lachey, who appeared with ex-wife Jessica Simpson in the couple’s “Newlyweds” reality show on MTV, will be a part of the Rainiers’ ownership group, Schlegel Sports Group, spearheaded by Kirby Schlegel of Dallas.

Principal figures of the new ownership group, including Lachey, will be introduced to a group of 100 civic leaders, local business people and holdover season ticketholders of the minor-league baseball team Wednesday at the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center.

It will be ownership’s first public appearance since agreeing with former club owners George and Sue Foster in July to purchase the team and having the sale of the team approved by various sanctioning bodies, including the Pacific Coast League, late last month.

Lachey, a native of Harlan, Ky., was a member of the popular pop-music band 98 Degrees in the mid-1990s and has since flourished as a solo artist. He was nominated in the favorite pop/rock male artist category at the 2006 American Music Awards.

Rumors of a “celebrity” joining the Schlegel Sports Group as a minority owner surfaced in July.

Lachey, 33, is an avid golfer and sports fan. Last weekend, he stood on the sidelines of the USC-Notre Dame football game in Los Angeles. He occasionally contributes a column on the sports page of the Cincinnati Enquirer, his hometown paper.

He is expected to join majority owners Kirby and Bob Schlegel; Mike McCall, the president of Schlegel Sports Group; and Rainiers general manager Dave Lewis at the introductory ceremony at 9 a.m.

The Schlegel Sports Group, which also owns two minor-league hockey teams in Texas and Iowa, has been involved in day-to-day Rainiers operations for more than a month, Lewis said.

The Rainiers’ first game is April 5 at Sacramento.

On Wednesday, the management group will talk about issues facing the franchise entering the 2007 season.

“It’s going to be exciting for people in Tacoma to see who the new owners are and what plans they have for (Cheney Stadium) and the Rainiers and what vision they have,” Lewis said. “Nobody has done that before.”