By Bob Phillips
NORWICH—When MLB decided to do away
with the NY-Penn Class A rookie league to “save money” (peanuts for a MLB
organization, but a vital step in the maturation process for young players—usually
high school kids away from home for the first time), the very existence of
minor league baseball in Connecticut has nearly evaporated. Once a booming
environment with affiliated or independent teams in New Britain, Waterbury, Hartford,
Bridgeport, West Haven and Norwich, minor league baseball is now nearly extinct
in the Nutmeg State with a single team—the Hartford Yard Goats, the AA Eastern
League affiliate of the Detroit Tigers—as the sole minor league team operating
in Connecticut.
That
became official when the Norwich affiliate in the NY-Penn League, the newly
named Norwich Sea Unicorns (rivaled only by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL in unusual
names) announced that no minor league baseball will be played at Dodd
Stadium “indefinitely.” In reality, that may very well mean “forever.”
“Due to
the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the start of the 2020 New York-Penn League
season is being delayed indefinitely,” the team said in a statement released to
the press last Friday. “The league and its club will continue to monitor the
situation and work with our MLB affiliates while following the recommendations of
public health officials and adhering to local re-opening guidelines. As always,
the health and safety of the New York-Penn League fans players and staff
members are our top priorities.”
Norwich
had originally been scheduled to open the season on Thursday on the road, and
its home opener at the Dodd was slated for Sunday. That ain’t happening. Obviously.
And while MLB and several other sports (basketball, hockey, soccer, etc.) are
planning to reopen soon—albeit without fans—minor league baseball cannot exist
without fans. It is where virtually all revenue is generated (ticket sales,
concessions, T-Shirts, caps, replica jerseys, banners, programs, yearbooks, parking
and radio—(WICH 1310 AM broadcast the games last year when the team was known
as the Tigers). Oh, there is a small amount generated from signage as well as,
but all that will be up in smoke as well without fans in the stands to see
them.
And if
that happens, that’s all she wrote, folks.
If,
indeed, minor league baseball vanished in most of the state, the true tragedy
will be the fact that this is where hundreds of thousands—perhaps millions—of young
Americans fell in love with the game; a love affair that would continue
throughout their lives.
“It’s
really an unfortunate event for everybody,” said Sea Unicorns Senior VP C.J.
Knudsen. “At the end of the day, it’s out of everyone’s control. Obviously, we
were looking forward to a great opening day with a great new name and a new
logo, and to be ready for another decade of baseball at Dodd Stadium.”
The Sea
Unicorns had signed a 10-year lease to play at the Dodd over the winter.
Without a league to play in, that ain’t happening either.
And that’s
a shame.
—with staff reports
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