IndependentBaseball.net

Through last night’s action, here is the status of the 2010 independent professional baseball playoffs and championships for each league:

• American Association:  Shreveport-Bossier Captains lead the series against the Sioux Falls Pheasants 2 games to 0 (best of 5).  Game 3 to be played in Sioux Falls tonight.  Games 4 & 5 in Sioux Falls (if necessary)

• Atlantic League:  Regular season still being played

• Can-Am League:  Quebec Capitales lead the best of 5 series against the New Jersey Jackals 1 game to 0 (Game 2 is tonight in Quebec).   Pittsfield Colonials and Brockton Rox are tied 1-1 in the best of 5 series (Game 3 is tonight in Pittsfield, MA)

• Continental League:  Big Bend Cowboys are the 2010 CBL champions

• Frontier League:  Windy City Thunderbolts lead the best of 5 series against the Traverse City Beach Bums 1-0 (Game 2 is tonight at Windy City).  Game 1 of the best of 5 series between the River City Rascals and the Southern Illinois Miners was postponed due to rain.  Game 1 is rescheduled for tonight at Southern Illinois

• Golden League:  The Orange County Flyers and Na Koa Ikaika Maui are tied 1-1 in their best of 5 series.  Game 3 is tonight in Fullerton, CA.    Chico Outlaws lead the best of 5 series against the Calgary Vipers 1-0.  Rain postponed last night’s game, so travel commitments force Game 2 (and the remaining series games) to be played in Calgary.  Game 2, tonight’s game, will have Chico as the home team and then Calgary will be the home team for Game 3 onward

• Northern League:  Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks lead the best of 5 series against the Gary-Southshore RailCats 2-0.  Game 3 is tonight in Gary, Indiana.  Kansas City T-Bones lead best of 5 series against the Joliet Jackhammers 2-0.  Game 3 is tonight in Kansas City, KS.

• United League:  Amarillo Dillas are the 2010 ULB champions

Resources for those involved with baseball at any level:

If you, or someone you know, is a youth baseball parent and frustrated with the experience then click here: Youth Baseball Parents

If you, or someone you, want guidance from actual independent minor league baseball executives on how to succeed in the independent minor leagues then click here: Independent Baseball Advice Interviews

If you simply want to find out about independent minor league baseball tryouts then click here: Independent Minor League Baseball Tryouts Notification List

If you, or someone you care about, want to improve the mental game of baseball then click here: Improving Your Baseball Mental Game

If you, or someone you know, need to improve your 60 yard dash time then click here: Click Here

Click this link if you, or someone you know, need baseball equipment which occasionally is on sale and/or offers free shipping (check the site for any such incentives):

The new independent minor league baseball team scheduled to appear in the Can-Am League (Ramapo, NY) has concluded its “Name The Team” contest.  It appears that the team will be called the Rockland Boulders.  Here is more information:

• http://www.rocklandbaseballteam.com/news?news_id=20

Resources for those involved with baseball at any level:

If you, or someone you know, is a youth baseball parent and frustrated with the experience then click here: Youth Baseball Parents

If you, or someone you, want guidance from actual independent minor league baseball executives on how to succeed in the independent minor leagues then click here: Independent Baseball Advice Interviews

If you simply want to find out about independent minor league baseball tryouts then click here: Independent Minor League Baseball Tryouts Notification List

If you, or someone you care about, want to improve the mental game of baseball then click here: Improving Your Baseball Mental Game

If you, or someone you know, need to improve your 60 yard dash time then click here: Click Here

Click this link if you, or someone you know, need baseball equipment which occasionally is on sale and/or offers free shipping (check the site for any such incentives):

Bob Wirz’s column, which is partly syndicated on Seamheads.com, recently mentioned a new minority owner for the Long Island Ducks:

• http://www.seamheads.com/2010/09/03/bob-goughan-already-has-eight-championship-rings-but-another-would-%E2%80%98mean-a-lot%E2%80%99-to-bridgeport-gm/

Should more develop then it will be reported on this site.  Be sure to check out Bob’s coverage of the Atlantic League and independent baseball here:  http://www.atlanticleaguebaseball.com/

Here is the breakdown of the playoffs for the 8 independent baseball leagues which played in 2010:

• American Association:  Sioux Falls Pheasants vs. Shreveport-Bossier Captains (starting Sept 7)
• Atlantic League:  Still playing regular season
• Can-Am League:  TBA vs Quebec Capitales (starting Sept + Second Half Champion vs # 3 Qualifier (starting Sept
• Continental League:  Big Bend Cowboys (champions)
• Frontier League:  Traverse City Beach Bums at Windy City Thunderbolts (starting Sept 9) + River City Rascals at Southern Illinois Miners (starting Sept 9)
• Golden League:  Orange County Flyers at Na Koa Ikaika Maul (starting Sept 7) and Calgary Vipers at Chico Outlaws (starting Sept 7)
• Northern League:  Seed #1 at Seed #4 and Seed#2 at Seed #3 (starting Sept
• United League:  Amarillo Dillas (champions)

Updates on the 2010 playoff scene will be included on this site.  You can stay up to date with each game by clicking the appropriate league link on the side of this site and getting your game-specific news from OSC.

Last night, the Amarillo Dillas defeated the Edinburg Roadrunners to become the 2010 United League Baseball (ULB) champions.  Here is the article:

• http://www.myamarillodillas.com/news/?id=13706

They now have won three consecutive ULB titles.

To see the entire list of independent baseball league champions since 1993 then you are welcome to go to this link:  Independent Baseball Champions

Bill Lee, the former Major League pitcher who played from 1969 to 1982, pitched for 5-1/3 innings for the Brockton Rox this weekend.  He got the win, and made the front page of Yahoo.com for his efforts:

• http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=sh-billleewins090510
• http://proxy.espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/5903/spaceman-flies-again

In addition to the names mentioned of people who appeared in a game over the age of 50, the Yahoo article did not mention sports author and former professional pitcher, Pat Jordan, who played for the Waterbury Spirit of the Northeast League in 1997.  Jordan pitched an inning for the team at the age of 56:

• http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1997-08-07/news/9708070099_1_pat-jordan-mike-veeck-pitch

The Can-Am League replaced what was the last of the old Northeast League, so the talent level of the players who faced Jordan and Lee was roughly the same.
Jordan wrote a sequel to his first book (“A False Spring”) called “A Nice Tuesday.”  You can get the information about his book here:

• http://www.amazon.com/Nice-Tuesday-Pat-Jordan/dp/0803276257

Hopefully some sort of story about Lee appears in the near future as well.

Here is an interesting release:

• http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=4083033

It discusses the possibility that the Golden Baseball League would place a team in Portland, Oregon in the upcoming season once the current affiliated team leaves town.  Should that be the case, then the Golden League’s landscape could change depending on 2011′s teams which will be a part of the league.  With the likely departure of St. George and Tijuana from the GBL, the league’s landscape would look something like this:

• Canada:  Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria (B.C.)
• Oregon:  Portland
• California:  Chico, Orange County
• Arizona:  Tucson, Yuma
• Hawaii:  Maui

That would be 9 teams, so the question is would a current team move to Portland; or would a 10th team be placed to replace St. George or Tijuana (should they officially depart the GBL).  Also, if Portland comes into the league then the question is if the locals would reward the new team with some sort of similar in-stadium attendance that the previous affiliated team had.
If so, and the GBL can keep costs for travel down as much as possible, then Portland would be a viable addition to the GBL and independent baseball in general.  If you have any specific information on this situation then feel free to contribute to this post.  Thanks.

While you will be able to follow the actual game scores from Pointstreak and the news feeds from OurSportsCentral.com on the side of this website, you should have all of the official league links for what is happening regarding the 2010 independent minor league baseball playoff scene:

• American Association  http://www.americanassociationbaseball.com/league-playoffs.php
• Atlantic League http://www.atlanticleague.com/schedule/playoffs.php
• Can-Am League  http://www.canamleague.com/schedule/playoffs.php
• Continental League:  Big Bend Cowboys won championship (CBL is now folded)
• Frontier League  http://www.frontierleague.com/schedule/playoffs.php
• Golden League  http://www.pointstreak.com/baseball/standings.html?leagueid=130&seasonid=242
• Northern League  http://www.northernleague.com/internal.php?code=3
• United League  http://www.unitedleaguebaseball.com/news/2010-united-league-baseball-playoff-schedule/

More playoff-related news will be added to this blog as it occurs.

Much has been coming out on the baseball business websites regarding the new Pecos League, which plans to replace the recently-folded Continental Baseball League.  As with many start-up independent leagues, there is always uncertainty about which cities, ultimately, will field teams as well as the final members of the ownership groups.

Here are some of the stories and articles in recent days:

• http://www.delrionewsherald.com/story.lasso?ewcd=b26dce05913ba541
• http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_15929065?source=most_viewed
• http://ballparkbiz.wordpress.com/2010/08/28/big-bend-cowboys-out-replacement-on-deck/#more-10125

The Pecos League’s site is here:  http://www.pecosleague.com/

The new fan forum is here:  http://pecosleaguebaseballfans.myfastforum.org/index.php

Andrew Dunn, commissioner of the new league, has confirmed that no previous executives of the CBL will have any involvement with the new league.  Many in the industry, as well as fans, have had negative things to say about the CBL; but there is one telling statistic which may help reduce the animosity which any fan, player, or industry insider may have about the Pecos League replacing the CBL’s spot at the bottom rung of the independent professional ranks:

IndependentBaseball.net wants to thank Ted Turocy, who works with the Society of American Baseball Researchers (SABR), for sending documentation about the players who played in the CBL from 2007 through 2010.  According to his research, at least 90 players played in the CBL and also played in another pro league in some year after they played in the CBL, although this does not necessarily mean the next year afterward.  His research also confirms that 133 players in the CBL played in another professional league during the same year they had CBL experience, either directly before or afterward.

Should the Pecos League’s talent be of a comparable (or better) level, and if the Pecos League can create some form of economic business model which is good enough to justify successful team operations, then fans should have a good reason to go see the talent on the field.   Of course the talent, on its own, will not be enough to get sufficient numbers of fans in the stands.  Hopefully the Pecos League leverages its position at the far end of the pro baseball spectrum to gain the “underdog” emotional appeal for its players… and ultimately gain enough interest locally (with good entertainment for its fans) in order to carve itself a niche in the pro baseball landscape.  In addition, we hope that they capitalize on the missing elements in independent pro baseball such as letting players develop their personalities, somehow incorporating fans into the action, leveraging social media properly, monetizing intellectual property, and giving the local and league sponsors a terrific ROI for their investment with the teams.
Feel free to chime in on this subject, and more will be added to this site as the Pecos League formalizes its schedule, teams, etc.

Here is an article with quotes from the owner of the Na Koa Ikaika Maui team in the Golden League:

• http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/534619.html?nav=11

He makes comments on his beliefs on the status of the league, some of the teams, and reiterates his intention to field a team in Maui next year.

Feel free to leave your comments on this post.