Press Clippings

July 23, 2004 - Berkshire Eagle: Pittsfield courting 2 leagues

By Tony Dobrowolski

PITTSFIELD -- Although the Atlantic League has shown the most interest so far in placing a team in Wahconah Park next season, officials from the Northeast League said yesterday that they are interested in Pittsfield, too. The Atlantic League and the Northeast League are independent leagues: Their teams are not affiliated with major league baseball clubs. They are the only two independent leagues that operate in the Northeast.

Wahconah Park Inc., the South County partnership that has a lease with the city of Pittsfield to renovate Wahconah Park, plans to bring an independent league baseball team here in time for the 2005 season.

No talking yet

Northeast League Commissioner Miles Wolff said yesterday that the league's directors expressed an interest in Wahconah Park Inc.'s proposal when they met at the Central Baseball League-Northeast League All-Star Game in Fort Worth, Texas, earlier this week, but have yet to speak to any of the group's three partners.

"We haven't done it yet," Wolff said. "We just got back [from Texas]." Donald B. "Chip" Elitzer of Great Barrington, one of the partners, said Wednesday that the group had heard through a third party that the Northeast League was interested in the partnership's proposal to renovate Wahconah Park.

The group has already printed season ticket proposals for the 2005 season that state buyers "pay only after we have acquired a professional team in the new short-season Atlantic League."

But Wahconah Park Inc. partner Jim Bouton of North Egremont said Wednesday that the Atlantic League's short-season league may not begin play until 2006.

Frank Boulton, the Atlantic League's chief executive officer, was not in his office yesterday and did not return a telephone call seeking comment. According to the Atlantic League's Web site, the league last September formed an exploratory committee to "investigate the feasibility" of establishing a short-season league.

The exploratory committee, which consists of Boulton and two other Atlant ic League officials, is expected to report back to the league's board of directors by the end of the 2004 season.

"If there is a short-season league, we will definitely be a part of it," Bouton said. "The question is whether it will be started in 2005, and it looks pretty good [that it will]."

The Atlantic League, which plays a 144-game schedule as compared to the 92 games that Northeast League clubs play, has expressed an interest in establishing a separate division that would play a shorter schedule.

Feeder system

A separate division playing a shorter schedule would allow the Atlantic League to establish a "feeder system" for its eight current teams, which have to scramble to replace players who sign with major league organizations during the season.

Unlike the Northeast League, some Atlantic League teams sign established major league players, such as Rickey Henderson, the major league's all-time leader in stolen bases. Players like Henderson are often picked up by major league clubs looking to fill needs once the regular season begins.

The Atlantic League currently supplies its teams with players from the Pennsylvania Road Warriors, who play all their games on the road. But the league plans to disband the Road Warriors next year, according to its Web site.

Bouton said he and his partners aren't sure what their plans are for bringing an independent league team to Pittsfield next year if the Atlantic League changes its plans, and he added that he didn't want to speculate.

"I wouldn't say it's so up in the air," Bouton said. "The exact structure of [the short-season league] hasn't been determined yet. One way or another, we will be playing baseball at two levels next year with professional and vintage baseball."

If the Atlantic League does decide to delay the start of its short-season league another year, Bouton said that it's possible that Wahconah Park Inc. could field a team in the current Atlantic League for one year in 2005, and play most of its games other than those in July and August on the road. Bouton and Elitzer discussed this possibility three years ago when the group first attempted to obtain a licensing agreement from the city to use Wahconah Park.

"That's one option that we talked about a couple of years ago when we were talking to Frank Boulton," Bouton said.

If the Atlantic League does establish a short-season division, plans call for those teams to also play games against Northeast League clubs. Wolff said the Northeast League's board of directors is interested in Wahconah Park Inc.'s proposal, but said that league officials would need to visit Pittsfield first before making any decisions.

Like the Atlantic League, the Northeast League also has one franchise that plays all its games on the road. That team, known as the Aces, was formed in May after the Allentown Ambassadors folded three weeks before the 2004 season began.

Wolff said the Northeast League would consider moving the Aces to Pittsfield, but also has a strong interest in placing a team in Utica, N.Y., after a series of recent games in that city drew good crowds. "Could it be the Aces [in Pittsfield]? Yes," Wolff said. "An expansion team is also a possibility."

The Northeast League's Berkshire Black Bears struggled both on the field and at the gate in the two years they played at Wahconah Park before moving to New Haven, Conn., for this season. The Black Bears finished last in the league in attendance in 2002 and 2003, averaging fewer than 1,000 fans for their home games last season.

"We just want a successful franchise," Wolff said. "The bottom line is, if we think this would be successful, we would have a desire to come in." But Wolff said the Northeast League would have to know what Wahconah Park Inc.'s plans are by September in order to place a team in Pittsfield for 2005.

"That's when the league makes decisions on its teams for next season," Wolff said.

Bouton said that Wahconah Park Inc. plans to begin its extensive renovations of Wahconah Park after Labor Day.

"If it's going to be for 2005, we would have to know very soon," Wolff said.