VOLUME XXX Opening Day, 2004 No. 2 New Cities, New Names As Another Season Opens The best day of the year–-every year-–is The Montgomery Biscuits are the Double- they joined the Florida State League in 1985, just around the corner. It’s the first day of A farm team of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, but opted for their own identity as the the baseball season, which is Thursday, Apr. who relocated the Southern League franchise Clearwater Threshers (a type of shark) as 8, this year for Minor League Baseball. from the Walt Disney World sports complex they move into a new 7,000 seat stadium. near Orlando. Montgomery has had a long Opening Day or Opening Night is a magi- history in Minor League Baseball, dating The Midwest League’s Quad City River cal time. The grass will be a little greener. back to 1903. But it has not had a team since Bandits, likewise, are taking on a new iden- The new paint will be brighter and more the Montgomery Rebels were a Detroit farm tity as Swing of the Quad Cities. The new cheerful. The hot dogs will smell great. The team in the Southern League from 1965-80. logo reflects the musical heritage of the re- breezes will feel a little warmer–or at least The Biscuits will unveil Riverwalk Stadium, a gion, combining a saxophone with a base- not quite as cold. And hopefully there won’t brand-new 7,000-seat facility for the first ball. The move is tied to a $12.5-million reno- be any snow flakes falling. game on Apr. 16. The game has been sold vation that has turned ancient John out for some time. O’Donnell Stadium into a virtually new ball That’s the day that the 10 full-season Mi- park. But that renovation has also meant a nor League Baseball leagues begin playing delay in Opening Day. The Swing will play the game for keeps and the spring training on the road for nearly all of April while work drills under the hot Florida or Arizona sun is finished to get ready for the Apr. 29 opener. will seem far away. About half of the 120 af- filiated teams in the U.S. and Canada will be The new name in the South Atlantic League in their home stadiums to start another sea- is the Columbus Catfish, replacing the South son. Most of the others will have only a few Georgia Wave. The team was moved to Co- days on the road before they, too, greet the lumbus virtually on the eve of the 2003 sea- hometown fans. son and wanted an identity with the new location. Fishing is a prime recreational ac- There are two cities that are particularly The fans in Manchester won’t have to wait tivity in the Columbus area and the ball park eager for the start of the new season. After quite so long to see the New Hampshire sits alongside the Chattahooche River. long absences from the game, Montgomery Fisher Cats, a Toronto farm team in the East- (AL) and Manchester (NH) again get teams ern League that was relocated from New Ha- There are no changes in names or loca- to call their own as a result of shifts in the ven. That opener is Apr. 15, but the fans will tions at the top level of Minor League Base- baseball landscape. They are the only new have to wait longer for their new stadium. ball, but the Triple-A leagues—International cities in the full-season leagues this year in The new one won’t be ready until the 2005 and Pacific Coast—made one move that Minor League Baseball, but both will have season. In the meantime, the Fisher Cats will could affect play. Roster sizes have been to wait a few days past Apr. 8. be playing in renovated Gill Stadium, also expanded from 23 players to 24 for the entire the home of the last previous Manchester season. team, the Yankees of the Eastern League (1969-71). Manchester was one of the origi- nal National Association teams in 1902 as a member of the New England League. While those are the only new cities among the 120-full season domestic teams, there are others that sound new as a result of some name changes. The Clearwater Phillies have used the name of parent Philadelphia since Tamburro Elected BOT Chairman Minor League Clubs Mike Tamburro, who helped turn the Pawtucket Red Sox into one of the most successful teams in Minor League Baseball, has been Featured in Video Game elected to a two-year term as the new Chairman of the Board of Triple-A and Double-A Minor League Baseball clubs will make Trustees (BOT) for Minor League Baseball. The BOT consists of their video game debut this season in EA Sports MVP Baseball club owners from the various leagues 2004. For the first time ever in a baseball video game, fans will have and works closely with President the ability to play with every Triple-A and Double-A team. Mike Moore in establishing policy and direction for the industry. From the Albuquerque Isotopes to the Wichita Wranglers, MVP Baseball gives fans complete control over all 60 Triple-A and Double- Tamburro was elevated from the role A teams and their players. of Vice-Chairman at the BOT’s annual spring meeting in Tampa. Joe Finley Minor League players are a combination of real and fictitious play- was named as the new Vice-Chairman ers. Any player who has played even one game in the Majors is and Ken Carson was re-elected Sec- considered a member of the Major League Baseball Players Asso- retary. All will serve two-year terms. ciation and is included in the game. The rest of the roster is filled with fictitious players. Tamburro has spent most of his adult life with Pawtucket, joining the Tamburro MVP Baseball 2004 boasts an Official Minor League license, and team in 1977 as General Manager and has been President of the fans can actually play as those teams in Play Now, Exhibition and International League team since 1985. He has been The Sporting Dynasty Mode play. News’ Minor League Executive of the Year and named three times as IL Executive of the Year. The Minor Leagues feature correct season lengths, standings, and playoff formats for both the full-season Triple-A and Double-A Tamburro was an original member of the BOT, which was formed in leagues (International, Pacific Coast & Eastern) as well as the split- 1992, and represented the International League from 1992-1997. He season ones (Southern and Texas). Full Minor League stats are kept served as the Triple-A At-Large representative (2001-2003) and cur- at all levels. rently again represents the International. Finley, owner of the Trenton Thunder, has represented the Double- A Eastern League since 1997. Carson has been the only representive for the Class A Florida State League. He is Director of Florida Opera- tions for the Toronto Blue Jays and GM of the Dunedin Blue Jays. Traveling Hall of Fame Show Lands in Washington, DC The renowned traveling exhibit from the Baseball Hall of Fame continues its three-year tour around America with a stop in Wash- ington, D.C., where it will be on display from Apr. 3 through Oct. 3 at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Curators at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, assembled some of the Hall’s most significant and popular arti- facts for the tour, which is billed as “Baseball As America.” In addition to famous memorabilia, the exhibit, sponsored by Ernst & Young, has exhibits showing how pro baseball has reflected and helped influence social, cultural and economic issues in the U.S. Baseball News Jim Ferguson, Editor PO Box A Steve Densa, Associate Editor St. Petersburg, FL 33731 (727) 822-6937 ©2004, All Rights Reserved, Professional Baseball Promotion Corp. BASEBALL NEWS is published 10 times a year. Subscription rates are $12 for one year (plus $4 for S/H) and are payable in U.S. funds only 2 No Blizzard Expected in Yuma Home games in April have often been a said, “but the last two years have been bru- nightmare for the Edmonton Trappers, es- tal. You have to play the percentages. The pecially the last two seasons, with raging later we get in April the better the odds that snowstorms and freezing temperatures. the weather will be acceptable. We’ve had Things reached a nadir in 2002 when the team to scramble in the past, moving games on was able to play just one scheduled home short notice to Iowa. game in April. It wasn’t much better last spring. “When I started thinking about places to play, Yuma came up immediately. I was well But if the Pacific Coast League team runs aware of the facilities and how well they were into similar conditions for their first two maintained,” explained Henke. Edmonton, “home” series this season it will the result of now affiliated with the Montreal Expos, used Joe Mauer a freak act of nature. The Trappers have to be was a farm team of the Angels, who transferred their first two series, Apr. 8-11 visited the Padres in Yuma regularly. Road to the Show against Sacramento and Apr. 12-15 against Fresno, to Yuma, AZ. They will then play the “Branch Rickey (PCL president) and I went Card Set Available same two teams in California before their first to Yuma last fall to check it out and every- Minor League Baseball has produced The game in Canada on Apr.