Independent Baseball: Into the New Frontier?
Author: James Loeffler
When the Frontier League announced that they would be merging with the CanAm League for the 2020 season, they were vocal in their goals for future league size. At the time of the merger there were to be 14 teams in the league spanning from St Louis to Quebec City. Since that day, the total has grown to 16 teams with the Ottawa Titans and Tri-City ValleyCats joining the fray.
The eventual goal for the league, which is the largest and longest running independent league, was to reach 20 teams. This leaves four potential spots for future expansion. The speculation of where the league could be looking was fanned this past weekend when Frontier League Deputy Commissioner Steve Tahsler stated, during a Sussex County Miners broadcast, that “You’ll see new markets next year”.
Expansion is a fun and popular topic no matter what sport or league you are a fan of. This goes from whether the Oakland A’s move to Las Vegas or Vancouver. There has also been speculation if A-Rod could relocate the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Tampa Bay Rays might end up playing in two cities before long. The Toronto Blue Jays are even playing in a Triple-A stadium this season.
For us Frontier League fans, the stakes or scale of expansion are not as complex. We don’t need to consider TV markets, whether there’s a brand new stadium deal or all of the other complex minutiae that MLB has to consider. Simply give us a stadium in a place that loves the feeling of Minor League Baseball and we can hit the ground running.
Many cities have felt the loss of their local teams since MLB announced that the minor leagues would be scaled back for the 2021 season. Some have had to resort to collegiate summer wood bat leagues in order to simply have baseball this summer. Would the idea of having a Frontier League franchise with MLB-caliber prospects on the roster be more appealing?
In this article we are going to examine three potential markets that the Frontier League could be, or should be, exploring for the 2022 season and beyond. Pros, cons, and other intangible aspects will be examined.
Pawtuckett, Rhode Island
Pawtucket, Rhode Island, a city synonymous with the Boston Red Sox for nearly 50 years. Players to pass through McCoy Stadium on their way to Fenway Park included Wade Boggs, Mookie Betts, Nomar Garciaparra, Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Marty Barrett, Kevin Youkilis, Fred Lynn, Jon Lester, and countless others. McCoy Stadium was iconic in its own right; the longest game in the history of professional baseball took place there on April 18, 1981, lasting 33 innings, with Cal Ripken Jr. finishing 2 for 13 on the night. It came with a bit of shock that the Sox would leave their historic AAA franchise for a brand new stadium in Worcester, MA after the 2020 season.
Well now what do they do? McCoy Stadium now sits empty, robbed of a proper sendoff and celebration of its incredible history due to MiLB cancelling the 2020 season. For several years, city officials tried to reach a deal with the team’s owners to heavily renovate or build a new stadium, but the discussions went nowhere. Currently, the city is paying $6,500 a month to maintain the stadium and making it presentable to prospective owners. They hope an ownership group will potentially deem their city a suitable home for an independent league franchise and keep baseball part of the summer tradition in the city.
It doesn’t take a baseball historian to see that there’s a great opportunity to capture the love of a city, preserve an iconic venue and honor decades of baseball history. The stadium is there ready to be used at what was considered AAA-caliber baseball. With so many Hall of Famers and fan favorites having reached the majors there, what ballplayer wouldn’t want to slide in that infield dirt, sit in that dugout and roam that outfield. Naturally some improvements will be necessary, but the standards and costs will not nearly be as high for them as it might be for others. Adequate press facilities, training areas, concessions, and everything else just might need to be smartened up a bit and would look good as new for a new team’s use.
The turnoffs that would be seen by potential owners stem mainly from potential construction and aesthetic updates. While the city is working to keep the stadium usable, sitting empty and unused for two years will surely be a tall order to tackle. There will be a lot of clean up, preparation and updates that will need to happen. All of the Red Sox references, or most of them, will need to be removed and replaced. Also, would the fans potentially have a hard time accepting an indy ball league team after being affiliated for half a century?
Pawtucket was a baseball city for such a long time that even to nonresidents, it’s strange not to see them on the schedule. Any group of investors with a love of baseball would see the obvious potential and romance that comes with putting a team back in McCoy stadium.
Burlington, Vermont
Another city that lost its affiliation after 2020 was the Vermont Lake Monsters. They were members of the NY-Penn League for 25 years, with many notable players donning their jersey. Centennial Field sits on the campus of the University of Vermont. That puts them directly between the Tri-City ValleyCats and the three Canadian teams. With a capacity of roughly 4,400, this fits perfectly in the range of the Frontier League.
During their final season of affiliated baseball, the Lake Monsters fit the attendance profile comfortably. The 2019 season saw an average Frontier League attendance of 3,200 fans a game, while the Lake Monsters averaged around 2,250. Several teams throughout the league didn’t break 2,000 per game.
Centennial Field also is a standing piece of history itself. On the campus of the University of Vermont, the iconic stadium was first built in 1905. In 2005, the stadium was the Vermont stop on ESPN’s “50 States in 50 Days” tour. In 2007, it was recognized by Jim Caple of ESPN.com as one of the top 10 ballpark destinations in the U.S. It is also featured in John Pahigian’s 2008 book, “101 Baseball Places To See Before You Strike Out”.
Some areas of concern could be their past attendance numbers. While averaging only barely 2,200 fans while affiliated, could there be a problem drawing fans to the stadium with a new professional team? My only hope in this department lies in the change in mentality of Short Season Low-A (SSLA) to Independent League ball. In SSLA it was more about development and getting your feet wet. In the Frontier League, it’s all about winning. Also, having players at a AA or AAA level of play will certainly be more of a draw then players either right out of college or who might not have a chance of making it far into the system.
Centennial Stadium itself is also rather old, being built in 1906 and having undergone renovations in 1995 and 2012. Part of the charm of the Frontier League is playing in older, more historic stadiums. To me, that’s a concern that is a moot point if you look around the league.
Now, onto the demographics. The Burlington metro population is 219,000. The Frontier League being in town would make them the only professional sports team in the state. Burlington itself is a year-round tourist destination. Would a casual baseball fan make the trip? Their past attendance puts them in Frontier League range, albeit on the lower end. Doesn’t mean that it’s a major detractor.
Geographically Burlington is a no brainer. Put that along with a historic stadium and a deprived community makes them ripe for success. Let’s see if they get the call next season.
Norwich, CT
Norwich, Connecticut is another former home of a NY-Penn League team that has been demoted to the collegiate ranks. A stadium not even 30 years old that can hold over 6,000 fans seems a bit inappropriate and needs to be given another chance to host professional baseball.
The city of Norwich is just right in terms of where Frontier League baseball should be looking. It is a beautiful and charming small city along the New England coast with a historic industrial and maritime history. A metro population of 263,000 is in a comfortable range.
One of the coolest reason I would love Norwich to get their team back is because of their name. For the 2020 season, the former Connecticut Tigers would become the Norwich Sea Unicorns. It’s a shame that they never got to take the field with that name.
The biggest concern, and a fairly valid one, was their past attendance. In 2019, the team barely attracted 1,900 fans per game, and that was while affiliated. Yes, three Frontier League teams did lower than that. One of those teams, the River City Rascals, no longer exist. I’ll refer once again to the statement I made above about the change in talent level and mentality as a reason to think optimistically about attendance concerns.
With a sizable newer stadium, a fairly affluent community and an existing ownership group, Norwich has a lot going for them. It’ll be interesting to see if they’ll get the chance once again in 2022.
City Number 4
There are many other small towns across America, and possibly even Canada, that would surely love to have high level professional baseball as part of their summer.
Where could that be? Batavia, NY? O’Fallon, MO? Old Orchard Beach, ME? Atlantic City, NJ? This one is being left up to y’all, the readers. Tell us where you think the league should explore and why. What stadium would they call home? What could their name be? Speculations and conversations make talks of expansion fun.
I have already begun work and reached out to actors in potential markets, so the next few weeks will see the Frontier League Journal offer you profiles and interviews about this hot topic.
Let’s keep the conversation going!
