Ryan Hook looked with dubiousness on the St. Joseph Mustangs’ invitation to join their inaugural club this year. He watched the St. Joseph Blacksnakes’ debacle — the embarrassing meltdown that left Phil Welch Stadium vacant during summer 2008.

“I was pretty iffy when they first approached me,” said Hook, a South Side native who plays for Western Kentucky. “I was around the Blacksnakes, and I saw what happened. I didn’t want to be a part of an organization like that.”

Rick Muntean, the Mustangs’ general manager, embraced a skepticism from the opposite direction.

“Going into this opening day, I was scared to death,” said Muntean, who’s been a professional baseball GM for 27 years. “I had no idea how many people would come out. None.

“Getting going here was so strange. I started here on Oct. 15, and I couldn’t get anybody to call me back. When we had (1,700) people here on opening night, really — honest to god — that was the first encouraging sign I had in St. Joe.”

Hook moved past his reluctance, joined the team and hustled along to its MVP award. Muntean earned plenty of validation for his decision to leave the success he built with the Kansas City T-Bones organization to lead the Mustangs.

And the community excoriated the recriminations levied by the Blacksnakes’ owners: the town was too cheap, the people too fickle to support a baseball team.

As the Blacksnakes orchestrated their exit those last few weeks, the team sometimes drew fewer than 300 a night. This year, the Mustangs averaged more than 1,800 people a night at the renovated Phil Welch Stadium. Enthusiasm culminated with a fan-flooded home finale attended by more than 4,000.

“We’ve got a real nice momentum going,” Muntean said. “We’re ending at the perfect time because we’re leaving them wanting more.”

But the true promise of the Mustangs resides in the doggedness of Muntean and owner Daniel Gerson. They say they’re happy with the first year but plan more improvements this offseason.

They’ll focus on a few key areas: more efficiency — shorter lines for concessions and rest rooms — on capacity-crowd nights; more entertaining and effective promotions; a better relationship with the local business community.

“We had a great year this year. But nothing is certain,” Muntean said. “We’re going to get better next year. This isn’t a one- or two-year deal. We’re here because we want to be here, and we want to be here long term. That’s why we’re doing things the way we are.”

That attitude proved strong enough to conquer the Blacksnake venom. Muntean and Gerson, from the first, promised they were going to build the organization the right way. They intended to make Phil Welch Stadium the most entertaining and most affordable place to spend a St. Joseph summer evening. Fans, they said, should expect a good performance from the team on the field every night and an off-field commitment to the community from the players and the organization throughout the year.

“And,” Muntean said, “we’re going to do that from here on in, too.”

The community’s role must grow, too. When the season opens in May 2010, a crowd of 4,000 needs to be the starting point — not the climax. Gerson, Muntean and the Mustangs met their promises, and it’s St. Joseph’s turn to keep pace.

Hook, for one, shifted quickly from doubter to apostle. He believes in the growth of both sides of this partnership.

“After the first weekend, I was wearing my Mustangs shirt out at the mall,” Hook said. “I had 20 to 30 people come up to me — people and kids I’d never met — and want to talk about the team or get an autograph. They say, ‘Hey, we had a great time at the game’ and ‘Thanks for everything because my kids idolize you guys.’ And that just got bigger and bigger as the season went along.

“It was my best summer I ever had playing baseball. All of us felt like we were something special.”

Four thousand people piled into Phil Welch Stadium qualifies as special. But Muntean and Gerson earned some faith this past year to make fans believe that moments even more spectacular await.

Sports Editor Scott Pummell can be reached at scottp@npgco.com