The competition

We begin our look at the seven other teams in the Can-AM League with the Opening Day opponents, the New Jersey Jackals.  The Jackals make their home in Montclair, New Jersey, population 11,000 and they share their field, Yogi Berra Stadium, with the Montclair State University Red Hawks.  New Jersey had a great first half of the season in 2007, with a record of 31-15 - tops in the 8 team league.  Given the post-season structure in the Can-AM League, this guaranteed them a playoff spot and may account for their second half record of 18-29, worst in the league.  The Jackals were bounced in the first round, best of five playoffs, 3 games to 2 by eventual champs, Nashua.

Perhaps of greater interest to me are things like levels of corporate and community support, promotions and media exposure.  How big is their market? Do they have any competition for their fans’ sport/entertainment dollar?

Obviously, community support is best gauged by one key measurement - ATTENDANCE.  The Jackals finished fifth in the league with a total of 107,663 fans passing through the turnstiles over 49 games, an average of 2197 per game.  Given the size of the immediate community they’re drawing from, this is pretty impressive.  Can-AM ball faces stiff competition from the Atlantic League Newark Bears (another Indy league ball team) and Somerset Patriots.  The big league Mets and Yankees aren’t that far away either.

2007 marked their tenth season in Indy ball, with the Jackals beginning play in the Northeast League in 1998 (which later merged with the Northern League).  In 2005, NJ joined the fledgling Can-AM League which was primarily made up of teams from the old Northeast League.  Interesting note: The Jackals won the league championship their first year in existence.  FLP alert: Blog non-favorite, Napoleon Calzado played in Montclair last year.  He was recently traded to the Pensacola Pelicans of the Independent American Association.

There’s currently no radio broadcasts of Jackals games, although they did have radio coverage up until 2006.  Games are now webcast only.  Corporate sponsorship looks strong though, as evidenced by the team’s website and the outfield wall in this Youtube video:

I’ll try to add a bit more later.

The countdown continues

Just five days left to get your entries in for the “Name the Team” contest.  Quickly becoming a “Friend of Ottawa’s Can-AM Team”, Steve Warne adds his two cents over at his blog.

“Here are the home dates for Ottawa’s inaugural Can Am Baseball season. I don’t see too many natural rivalries there. We’ll have to fake it at first. Lousy Brockton. I hate you, Sussex. I BET you suck, Atlantic City.

Well, it’ll take some time.”

Hopefully, a good healthy rivalry will develop with our friends in Quebec City - and in 2009, if all goes according to plan, Montreal.

Finally, as far as I know, Ottawa’s still looking for a manager. At the risk of offending someone I’m sure, I nominate the still available Gary Burnham.

Sandbagged!

By a geek, no less.  Pete Toms scores a nice Q+A with the commish a few days ago - the contents of which can be found here.  Nice work.

You may recall that I wanted to explore the tension between MLB and the Independent Leagues a little further.  Pete fleshes some of that out in his interview with Miles Wolff, notably:

“Yes, relations are strained or almost non-existent. Before independent baseball, the minor leagues had a monopoly. Now, there are options for cities, and some minor league operators don’t like this. Plus, there seems to be an increased level of arrogance among some minor league owners. Those of us who have been in the game awhile don’t believe it is warranted.”

I had looked at an older interview (much older - circa 1994) and wanted to check first with Mr. Wolff to see if his position had softened at all - having read Pete’s interview, I don’t believe it has:

“What makes this success notable in the baseball world is that the Northern League is independent of Major League Baseball, the corporate entity that until last year controlled all the country’s minor leagues and most of its teams. Wolff and his partners have gone out on their own, competing with the big leagues for players and fans. They lack Major League Baseball’s imprimatur and financial support–but are free of its dictates. The Northern League’s success delights him.

“There is a bunch of idiots up there running Major League Baseball,” he says. “One thing we want to say to other minor league operators is, ‘You don’t have to work with these jerks. You don’t have to take it.’”

In his book Good Enough to Dream, an account of a season with the minor-league Utica Blue Sox, author Roger Kahn describes Miles Wolff as “bespectacled, thin armed, mild mannered, shrewd, and tough.” Wolff is also six-foot-two, trim, and, at age 50, still in possession of his hair. His office at Baseball America’s brick headquarters on tobacco-scented Durham’s South Duke Street is about as unassuming as an office gets. Some bathrooms have bigger windows than the scant rectangle of glass high over his desk, and some bathrooms are bigger, period. Amid the clutter are snapshots of Wolff’s two kids, a Northern League schedule thumbtacked to the wallboard, and a disassembled computer disk drive set on a shelf. On the floor stands a stack of The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, Wolff’s latest publishing project and something he’s very proud of. On his desk is a large coffee mug that he reaches for throughout the day.

Slouched in a chair, Miles Wolff is courteous, businesslike and self-assured. When he discusses his success, he tends to do so in terms of its being no big deal. This may have less to do with modesty than with reserve. In conversation he’s cerebral and dispassionate; even when calling somebody a jerk, he makes it sound more like analytical precision than scorn.”

This of course, is a beautiful segue for me from a personal perspective; a huge part of the UOLB was fighting for the respect I felt the Ottawa Lynx organization had been denied for the better part of 10 years.  At least now, there’s seven other organizations in the same boat with us.

And finally, there’s this other bit of news.  Ottawa’s Can-AM entry has hired it’s second employee:  The new Director of Player Operations is none other than Ottawa’s own, Mike Kusiewicz.  Now, will he still be pitching?

Doesn’t play well with others…

Loved this quote:

“We feel that when get together with members it should be with (MILB) members only,” Eastern League president Joe McEacharn said. “They are not part of us…”

Wow. I guess not everyone subscribes to the theory that a rising tide lifts all bats, er… boats.

Here’s a bit more from the Baseball America business blog -

…but apparently MILB’s board of trustees has voted to ban independent league teams from attending the sport’s annual promotional seminar.Eastern League clubs boycotted the promotional seminar in 2007, expressing their disapproval in sharing ideas with non-affiliated clubs that they consider threatening their territorial rights.Apparently their effort has proven effective.

“We feel that when get together with members it should be with (MILB) members only,” Eastern League president Joe McEacharn said. “They are not part of us. Why should we let them hear our best and brightest speak at the promotional seminar.”

Here’s an older, but on point quote from 1994:

“What makes this success notable in the baseball world is that the Northern League is independent of Major League Baseball, the corporate entity that until last year controlled all the country’s minor leagues and most of its teams. Wolff and his partners have gone out on their own, competing with the big leagues for players and fans. They lack Major League Baseball’s imprimatur and financial support–but are free of its dictates. The Northern League’s success delights him. “

More on the tension between MLB and the Independent Leagues will follow.

Brief hiatus

Expect posting on both blogs to be infrequent, if not non-existent for the next week or so - there’s just too much “real life” stuff going on over the Christmas holidays.

Contest update

For immediate release:

CAN-AM OTTAWA’S NAME THE TEAM CONTEST HAS VARIED ENTRIES

In the first week of the “Name the Team” contest for the new Can-Am
League baseball team in Ottawa, nearly 500 entries have poured in as possible
names for the new club.  The names are varied and unique as fans try to
find a name that will fit for the team that will begin play in Ottawa on May 22.

Alliteration is one of the favored themes and such names as the Ottawa Omega, Otters, Outlaws, Owls, Osprey and Orbit have been entered.

With Ottawa being a government center, there are many who favor a name
that reflects that aspect of the city.  Entries include the Ottawa parliament, the Governors, the Federals (Feds), the Nationals, the Colonials, and the Capitals.

“Jacks” seems to be a favorite with some fans, and such names as the Lumberjacks, the Slapjacks, the Flapjacks and Riverjacks have come in.

Ottawa’s place as a river city has given fans inspiration with entries of Rivermen,  the Rapids, RiverKings, Rideau Raiders, Raftsmen,  Canal Diggers, and simply Rideaus have come in.  The lumber industry has also come into play with Lumbermen, Loggers, and Timber Barons names.

Traditionalists have picked Expos and Lynx, and with a bit of creativity, the Capital City Tax Dodgers, and Ottawa Eh’s have been entered.

This is only a small selection of the many names that have come in.  The
deadline for entries is December 31 with final selection made the week of
January 7.  Entries may be submitted to baseballottawa.com or faxed to 613-747-0003.  All entrants will receive a free ticket to a special  “Name the Team” Day at the ballpark, and the winner will receive two season tickets.

Technical difficulties

Have been persistent this afternoon - the problem appears to have been at WordPress’s end of things.  It looks like they’ve got things ironed out now, but I lost the post I was working on.  No big deal though, let’s face it, it’s not exactly Ulysses around here, now is it?

Please stay tuned.

Countdown to glory

Only 14 (count’em, fourteen!) days left to get your team name suggestion in to the website, or to Pecor Stadium’s mailbox or fax machine!

Say it ain’t so

The blogosphere’s loss is our gain.  Cross-posted from the UOLB:

This comes as a bit of unwelcome news: Neate’s considering hanging ‘em up.

“In 2007, Neate Sager is declaring that sports blogging is dead.

Out of Left Field could continue next year, next week, but I have to get this out. The first break-up never takes. It feels like it’s game over with the blogging. Big Media has lost a lot of key battles and it has had to adapt. We (whoever we are) had a few victories, but we don’t have the manpower and money to win the war….

The time has come to try and find another way to spend off-hours. The quality of the readers and commenters has been beyond anything that could have ever been expected, even though I failed you. As a writer, you owe everyone your head and heart, nothing less. Neither has been in this for a while.”

Of course, I respectfully disagree that there’s been any failure - quite the contrary. Blogging basketball, baseball, football, NCAA, CIS, etc. - the depth, quality and style have been amazing. And you certainly couldn’t beat the price of a subscription. Unlike many bloggers, Neate never put out the “tip jar”, although I’m quite certain it would have been filled if he had.

Clearly, as a fan of some of the local sports, this recent development is not good and it comes at the same moment that The Universal Cynic appears to have pulled the plug too. The whole blogging gig is demanding - particularly when you invest the amount of time and energy into it that Neate clearly does. There’s a very real sense of pressure to post - but to post with quality and quantity. A glance at the counter on the web page brings some satisfaction and yet, more pressure; the pressure to deliver for the readers, the pressure to “keep them coming back”. And then of course, there’s the occasional pressure of a libel claim thrown in for good measure. The pay’s not good, and in Neate’s case the hours are terrible.

I’m confident that if he wants it, space will be made in the media room at Pecor Stadium (formerly known as Lynx Stadium) for Mr. Sager, come Opening Day.

He’s earned it.

CanAM Ottawa blog announces new signing

Late, but I’m very pleased/happy/relieved to announce that Mr. Neate Sager of Out of Left Field fame will be posting up on the unofficial CanAM Ottawa blog!  Expect to read something meaningful for a change!

Back to shovelling…..