NYP League ready for season with a new team
It’s time for the New YorkPenn League to begin another season.
The former home of the St. Catharines Blue Jays and St. Catharines Stompers is alive and well and thriving 15 long years after the Stompers left St. Catharines for greener pastures south of the border.
For those who don’t remember, the Blue Jays ( 1986- 1995) and Stompers ( 1996- 1999) occupied Community Park as the short season A farm team of the Toronto Blue Jays until local owners sold the team after the 1999 season to the New York Mets.
Today’s NYP League is vastly different than it was during the days of the Baby Jays and Stompers.
At one point in the 1990s, a local ball fan could see a game in St. Catharines, Welland, Hamilton and Niagara Falls, N. Y. It was so cool to be able to hop into the car and see the Baby Jays play in diff erent parks on the road.
Slowly, the league began to move south.
Hamilton headed to New Jersey, the Niagara Falls franchise moved its affiliation to Jamestown, and fi nally Welland headed about two hours south to Erie and beautiful Jerry Uht Park after the 1994 season.
Today, the league is divided into three divisions with teams in eight states. In addition to New York and Pennsylvania, the league also has clubs in Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio, Vermont, West Virginia, and Connecticut.
The Aberdeen Ironbirds, Cal Ripken Jr’s team and an affi liate of the Baltimore Orioles, the Brooklyn Cyclones ( Mets), Hudson Valley Renegades ( Rays) and Staten Island Yankees ( Yankees) comprise the McNamara Division.
Th e Pinckney Division is comprised of the Auburn Doubledays ( Nationals), Batavia Muckdogs ( Marlins), Mahoning Valley Scrappers ( Indians), defending champion State College Spikes ( Cardinals), Williamsport Crosscutters ( Phillies) and the league’s newest franchise, the West Virginia Black Bears ( Pirates). The Black Bears are the former Jamestown franchise.
Jamestown, by the way, may have lost their NYP franchise but still have baseball after hooking up with the Prospect League.
The Prospect League was founded in 1963 and is one of the longest continuously operating, independent, summer collegiate baseball leagues in the United States. The league has 12 teams competing in a seven- state region: Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York.
Guess it’s better than nothing although I don’t have a whole lot of time for independent ball. Remember the Welland Aqua-Ducks?
The NYP is rounded out with the Connecticut Tigers ( Tigers), Lowell Spinners ( Red Sox), Tri-City Valley-Cats ( Astros) and Vermont Lake Monsters ( A’s), who play out of the Stedler Division.
While the league has moved south, attendance continues to head north with five teams last season averaging more than 4,000 fans per game, led by Brooklyn which attracted an astounding 6,260 fans per game over 37 dates last season. Lowell, Hudson Valley, Tri- City and Aberdeen also averaged more than 4,000 fans.
At the other end of the scale, Jamestown averaged only 758 fans per game while Batavia ( 954) also came in under the 1,000 mark while Auburn averaged 1,240.
By contrast, the AAA Buffalo Bisons averaged 8,110 per game, although, that is comparing apples to oranges in some regard.
A handful of familiar faces are coaching or managing in the NYP this season.
Former Toronto Blue Jays catcher and 1992 World Series most valuable player Pat Borders is the manager at Williamsport while ex- St. Catharines Blue Jays ( 1988) manager Eddie Dennis returns for his second season as coach with the Crosscutters.
Former big league pitcher Butch Henry is the pitching coach in Staten Island while former Reds catcher Joe Oliver is the manager in Lowell. Ex- Tigers and Indians third baseman Travis Fryman is the manager at Mahoning Valley while ex- big leaguer Greg Hibbard is the pitching coach.
The league begins it 76th year of operation next week with a full slate of games.
A trip to Batavia is in the works!
Diamond notes: Congratulations to former St . Catharines Blue Jays catcher Carlos Delgado who is being inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Mary’s this week . . . The St. Catharines Majors and Welland Mustangs are tied atop the standings of the Niagara District Baseball Association peewee standings with 5- 1 records. The St. Catharines Minors ( 3- 2), Niagara Falls Minors ( 3- 3), Niagara Falls Majors ( 2- 3- 1), Beamsville ( 1- 4) and Binbrook ( 2- 3- 1) round out the standings . . . The Niagara Metros are home to the Milton Red Sox Thursday at 7: 30 p. m. at George Taylor Field.