Need... Twenty... Thousand... Dollars

[Guest AG/DC]

Little Falls baseball team offered to highest bidder
By MARQUES PHILLIPS
Observer-Dispatch
Posted Mar 17, 2008 @ 11:31 PM
LITTLE FALLS �

The shipping is free, and the eBay.com auction price is a mere $20,000. But team president Hoffman Wolff said selling the Little Falls Miners Baseball Club is serious business, although not an easy decision.

�It is disappointing,� he said. �Little Falls is a good baseball area, with good baseball history and a good facility. Summer baseball is a good product.�

The Miners play at Veterans Memorial Park, the former home of the Little Falls Mets minor league baseball club. Little Falls is entering its third season in the New York Collegiate Baseball League. The team is made up of college baseball players from around the country and plays a 42-game schedule from June to early August.

Wolff gave a few reasons why he and the rest of the ownership group have been trying to sell the franchise, and said its posting on eBay.com is definitely legitimate.
�It�s absolutely serious,� he said. �Our ownership group acquired another team, and we don�t really have the time to run the day-to-day operations.�

The ownership group purchased the Ottawa Rapids, an expansion franchise in the CanAm League. Aside from that purchase, Wolff gave several other reasons the group decided to sell the Miners after just one year of ownership.

For one, Wolff said being from North Carolina made for fewer connections in the community than he would have liked. He emphasized the importance of such connections because of the small-town atmosphere. That means big corporate sponsors need to be replaced by a bunch of small community patrons, and people need to donate meals and host-housing for the players. If run correctly, Wolff believes, the team can return a profit.

�It�s tough,� he said. �I think it�s possible. It might take some time. You would have to get Little Falls, Herkimer, Dolgeville and St. Johnsville all involved. It�s never going to be an easy market.�

Wolff seemed confident the team wouldn�t be moved before next season, whether or not it�s sold.

�If the team doesn�t get sold we�ll keep it and run it,� he said. �The league is expecting us to keep our schedule. There�ll be baseball in Little Falls either way.�

[Methead]

Seriously. I'm sure a bunch of us could pool (heh) enough money to buy that franchise.

Plus, if we sold our houses in the tri-state area and bought new ones in Herkimer, we'd be sitting on plenty of capital.

[Guest AG/DC]

Agreed on the first part. A grand a piece and we're gold.

Heck, a few hunnert dollars a piece and we can incorporate and cover the balance in a loan.

I can't find the listing, though.

[Benjamin Grimm]

If they were still in the New York-Penn league that $20,000 would be a bargain and I'd leap at that price.

[Guest AG/DC]

You don't think I'm not looking to trade up after a few equity-building years?

[Guest AG/DC]

Inconceivable.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I was going to post this response in "Answer and Ye Shall Ask" but it probably better fits here.

The question was which ex-Met would we hire to manage, coach, etc. the Little Falls Miners. (What do they mine in Little Falls, by the way? Coal?)


There are 30 players who spent time with both the Little Falls Mets and the New York Mets.

[seawolf17]

"Inconceivable!"

[soupcan]

Former catchers seem to make good managers. How about Little Falls alumni Hundley or Fitzgerald?

[Methead]

I can't find the listing either. And get me some plans for that old ballpark, I'll draw up some new ones.

It doesn't look like they've had an affiliation with a major-league club for a while. They've been part of a summer league for college players... gonna be tough to generate a profit. Hell, even the Cape Cod League collects donations during games.

It would take some effort league-wide to compete with the Cape League for players, that's for sure.

[Guest AG/DC]

I think Steve Phillips was a Little Falls Met as well. Maybe that's where he roomed with Rich Rodriguez.

[Benjamin Grimm]

="ballparkreviews.com"]With its remote location in upstate New York, it is inconceivable that Little Falls could ever host minor league baseball again.

Was Little Falls actually less remote back in the 1980's than it is now?

Current NY-Penn League franchises:

• Aberdeen
  
• Brooklyn
  
• Hudson Valley
  
• Staten Island
  
• Auburn
  
• Batavia
  
• Jamestown
  
• Mahoning Valley
  
• State College
  
• Williamsport
  
• Lowell
  
• Oneonta
  
• Tri-City
  
• Vermont
  

A couple of old Mets stomping grounds on the list. Williamsport was twice the AA home of the Mets in the Eastern League. And they were represented in the NY-Penn League by Batavia from 1972 through 1974, and in Auburn way back in 1962 through 1966.

(The Batavia team used to be called the Trojans but now they're the Muckdogs. I wonder if the name change had to do with the famous brand of condoms. I'd like to come out with a line of condoms called "Muckdogs" to see if it would spur another name change.)

[Benjamin Grimm]

AG/DC wrote: I think Steve Phillips was a Little Falls Met as well. Maybe that's where he roomed with Rich Rodriguez.

I don't know about the roommate thing, but Phillips played 65 games for the Little Falls Mets in 1982:

http://leaptoad.com/mets/profile.php?PlayerCode=6602

[Guest AG/DC]

Here it is.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Little-Falls-Miners-baseball-club_W0QQitemZ270218883039QQihZ017QQcategoryZ2992QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Closed without a bid. Let's incorporate NOW!!!!

[Valadius]

It would be so awesome to own a baseball team.

[Guest AG/DC]

That's 100 from me and 100 from Vlad. We're 2% home.

[seawolf17]

I'm in for $100.

[Guest AG/DC]

Bam.

[seawolf17]

Of course, we could have done this BEFORE the auction ended.

[Guest AG/DC]

Yeah, but now it's a buyer's market.

[Methead]

I was in from the get-go.

Which makes me the front-runner for the GM job.

[Guest AG/DC]

You know how control works. Either put in for the biggest share or get the votes on your side.

[seawolf17]

Can I be the promotions guy? I'm good at that. Coordinating mascot stuff, giveaways, things like that.

[Methead]

Heh. I don't want to be team president, just the GM.

But in the interests of seizing control, put me down for $200.

[Guest AG/DC]

seawolf17 wrote: Can I be the promotions guy? I'm good at that. Coordinating mascot stuff, giveaways, things like that.

Talk to Methead.

I assume one of us has to, you know, be in town to operate the team.