Wednesday, September 23, 2009

It's over

The 15-year Double-A baseball run at Dodd Stadium has come to an end this morning. It was announced in Richmond, Va., that the Defenders, once the Navigators, are on their way out of town for next season.

6 comments:

Jay said...

:-(
Even though I knew this was coming..it still sucks pretty bad.
Any word/rumor on who might take over and play here next season?
Ive heard 1 of 2 teams.
What makes sense was to let the giants go to a southern league, while getting a new Affiliation.

Hope those guys enjoy the bus rides to Portland. hahaha

greg8370 said...

What a proud day for the hijacker, EL President Joe McEacharn. Hope the other EL owners took notes!

greg8370 said...

Joe,

One of the ideas being floated around is a college summer league sharing Dodd with a NY-Penn team in 2010. The idea is increased use of Dodd in the summer in an effort to "make up" lost Double A dates. I'm unsure if this type of sharing of a park between those types of ball clubs has ever taken place before. I'm thinking of staffing, care of the field, etc.
While I'm sure there will be some sort of combined season ticket packages for the two teams, my concern is that the college games will draw off fans from the NY-Penn league team and we'll be saying goodbye to Milb baseball for good in a couple of years.
Any thoughts?
And how do you place the odds of a NY-Penn team at Dodd in 2010?

greg

Joe said...

Jay,

It is a sad day. It's still too early to handicap the race for the NYP team because at the end of the day, the league will have final say. Right now, it's either Jamestown or Vermont.

Greg,

McEacharn may be happy today, but he has big hurdles ahead.

The lease at The Diamond is two years with three one-year options.

The NECBL shouldn't take away from the Defenders, which is what I expect the NYP team to be named. The sharing of the park will take some ironing out, but if both sides want to improve league locations, it is bound to happen.

I just don't see the college league taking away from the pro team. Keep in mind, the college team will have day games during the week and won't have the bells and whistles of a pro team. If one had to go, it would be the college team. Why? Because 180,000 NYP fans means more.

I like the odds of a pro team being in Dodd for next season.

greg8370 said...

thanks...didn't know the college teams play during the day...that changes may thoughts on it a bit..
And yes, stay tuned for more Diamond drama in Richmond.
Got to check out some of the other teams websites to see how fast they put up the 2010 sked now. I bet NB's is already there!

thehondohurricane said...

My grieving ended between last Wed evening and Thurs AM, replaced by anger. I can recall all the reasoning for lousy attendance from the affiliation to the parks location. Well, then can someone answer why New britain thrived after the Red Sox left and the Twins came to Ct? How many Twins fans reside in Ct? Does anyone remember what a poor franchise NB was under Joe Buzas? The reason the Defs are gone , and the only one in my mind that matters, is the Def management stunk. A boxing promoter is going to succeed in professional baseball? Not today he won't. Lou DiBella was the wrong guy at the wrong time. We needed a Bill Dowling and we got a "Born Loser."