AUGUST 20, 2003
Baseball returning to East Field
Saratoga Springs might join Glens Falls in N.Y. collegiate league
By JASON ROWE
rowe@poststar.com

Published on 8/20/2003- Local News - THE POST-STAR

GLENS FALLS -- The owner of the local minor league football team announced Tuesday that he has begun the process of bringing baseball back to city, and the new team might already have a local rival.

Charles Adams, the owner of the Greenjackets football team, said he has filed paperwork with the New York Collegiate Baseball League and expects to have a team playing in East Field next June.

"As far as we are concerned, this is part of the effort to utilize East Field and do it with something we all like to watch, which is quality baseball," Adams said Tuesday from his East Field office. "We all think this is going to be quality baseball."

The closest NYCBL team is in Amsterdam, but Commissioner David Chamberlain said there is a strong possibility that a team also could be located in Saratoga Springs for next season.

"We are very excited about getting a team down there" in Glens Falls, Chamberlain said. "They've had baseball for as many years as I can remember."

Saratoga Springs Mayor Kenneth Klotz confirmed there was a group interested in bringing a team to his city. If they are successful, they would play at the East Side Recreation Field.

A deal needs to be worked out with the city recreation and school officials before any official announcement can be made, Klotz said.

"I'm very excited about it," Klotz said. "I hope they will be able to do it."

The NYCBL is a 10-team league comprised of collegiate players from around the country. The games are played under rules set by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, but players must use wooden bats.

The league's teams play a 42-game schedule that starts in June and finishes by the end of July, which will limit the overlap between the baseball team's season and the Greenjackets' season, Adams said.

The league prides itself on preparing college players for careers in professional baseball. It counts major-leaguers Tim Hudson, Lou Merloni and Clay Bellinger among its alumni.

Before the team can be officially brought to Glens Falls, the league's owners must approve the formation of the franchise, and the Common Council must sign off on a lease between Adams and the city.

Both steps are considered formalities.

James Clark, the assistant to Mayor Robert Regan, said he hopes the deal between Adams and the city can be ratified at Thursday's Common Council meeting.

Clark said the city began investigating the possibility of locating a NYCBL team after the Adirondack Lumberjacks of the Northern League left the city at the end of last summer. The Lumberjacks moved to Bangor, Maine.

After NYCBL officials expressed interest in bringing a team to the city, officials contacted Adams to see if he would be interested in owning the team, Clark said.

"Charles is a person who surrounds himself with talented people," Clark said.

Regan said Tuesday that the new team should provide an additional outlet for summer entertainment in the city.

"I think it will be fun for the community to go see," Regan said. "For those who are diehard baseball fans, this is something the city can continue to offer."

Now that he has committed to owning the team, Adams said he will get to work on hiring a qualified coach to lead the team on the field and setting up a board of directors to control the off-field operations of the nonprofit club.

He will also work on developing the team's logo, colors and name, which has been narrowed down to three possibilities: Sluggers, Eagles or Lightning.

Ticket prices will be in the $3.50 range for adults and $1 for children, Adams said, noting that he expects start-up and operational costs to be less than $100,000.

Adams said players will get the opportunity to connect to the community by staying with host families who will agree to house the players during the team's season.

Because the players are not actually paid for their on-field services, most of them will take part-time jobs in the community to earn spending money, Adams said.

"This is a community-based team that is here as part of the community," Adams said. "We want something good to happen at East Field."