Second Team on Long Island Hot News for Atlantic League

The Atlantic League was assured of a very good week long before the first baseball was rubbed up for its annual All-Star showcase in York, PA because the 14-year-old circuit, which expects to entertain its 25 millionth fan later this summer, won a major step toward securing another coveted market.

“Some dynamic times are ahead for the Atlantic League,” Founder Frank Boulton exuded while negotiating some of metropolitan New York’s massive traffic, and as he ticked off various reasons, it seemed the top of the list had to be the decision in heavily-populated Nassau County that a Boulton-led bid had been chosen over one by a group wanting a New York Mets farm club on Long Island.

This was only the first major hurdle before any of Long Island’s three million residents can line up at a ticket window, but it was a vital one. Now a majority of voters need to say yes to a $400 million bond issue August 1 in order for the new home for the New York Islanders hockey team and the baseball stadium can be built. And there is opposition, especially since some seem to feel this is largely a real estate bonanza for Islanders Owner Charles Wang.

Boulton is a big player on Long Island himself, starting with putting together the Long Island Ducks, Independent Baseball’s annual attendance leader with capacity crowds of 6,000 the norm at Bethpage Ballpark.

“It’s a great site (the Mitchell athletic complex),” said Boulton, with “not a lot of site work to be done”. A 2013 opening is “without a doubt” possible, he explained, if shovels can get in the ground by next April.

The record crowd of 8,053 at Sovereign Bank Stadium in York may well have been the No. 1 topic at Wednesday night’s Atlantic League All-Star Game since capacity is only listed at 5,000 although three home runs propelled Andy Etchebarren’s Freedom Division to a 7-0 victory over the Liberty Division.

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‘We’re Trying Really Hard’, Says New Lake County GM

The uneven schedule thrust upon the new North American League when it ended up with four of its 10 teams in Texas, four more in the western United States and Canada plus single teams in Illinois and the Hawaiian Island of Maui had some nightmares written all over it. They have happened, too.

The most interesting saga of all has to be emerging from the suburban Chicago town of Zion. Hear me out. The second-year Lake County Fielders played their first 32 games on the road, including two trips to Maui. They were still in their first home series when Manager Tim Johnson walked out over a pay dispute, and many of the players, smarting for the same reason, showed their sympathy. The Fielders are said to have traded nine players although it is not easy tracking all of them and released 14 others. That’s virtually the entire team.

But through it all, Lake County continues to lead the Western Division (25-16) and reported attendance has the Fielders averaging 2,182 for nine openings, which ranks fourth in the entire league.

In one contest as the exodus was taking place, interim Manager Pete LaCock used pitchers at most positions and visiting Yuma, AZ skipper Jose Canseco countered with a similar lineup, including himself as the pitcher for the first six innings. The Scorpions prevailed, 8-3. New Manager Chris Arago had only 11 players in uniform for his first game, a 4-2 triumph over Chico, CA, although with veteran talent boss Nick Belmonte replenishing the roster the team web site had the roster back to 14 by Thursday.

“We’re trying really hard to make it work”, said General Manager Mike Kardamis, an Independent Baseball veteran on the job for three weeks. “I’m taking it day by day.” This is Kardamis’s first time in such a role since 2003 in Pittsfield, MA.

(This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes year round on Independent Baseball. Fans may subscribe at newly reduced rates at www.WirzandAssociates.com, enjoy his blogs, www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com and www.IndyBaseballChatter.com, or comment to RWirz@aol.com. The author has 16 years of major league baseball public relations experience with Kansas City and as spokesman for two Commissioners and lives in Stratford, CT.)