11 Responses to Newark Baseball Appears on the Brink

1. Jake
   July 15th, 2011 at 5:07 pm

   I always wondered what would happen if the Can-Am and Atlantic League were to combine and create a super Independent League. I doubt they’d have revenue sharing, but by doing that and making a big marketing push for local baseball - perhaps Indie baseball could make a strong comeback.

2. Pete
   July 15th, 2011 at 5:33 pm

   The failure of the Newark revitalization since 2007 is what is killing Bears Stadium. If you could walk there for night games from town or the trains without fearfulness the Bears would have made it in the Atlantic Div. This is a testimony to the failure of New Jersey to attend to the problem of drug crime, soaring urban unemployment, inner city school failure and gang violence in its biggest city. It is a crying shame not only for the victimized honest residents of Newark but for all the citizens of North Jersey.
   There is no way this should have failed but that all the white folks stayed away in droves.

   Newark must be changed: Greater Newark: the only answer.

3. Stu B
   July 15th, 2011 at 8:46 pm

   If the Mets considered putting a farm team in Nassau County, why wouldn’t they consider Newark as an alternative?

4. Mike Silva
   July 15th, 2011 at 9:08 pm

   Stu Any move would require Yankees approval. After the ’94 scenario w/ Boulton I don’t see it happening

5. Michael Maggi
   July 15th, 2011 at 11:42 pm

   It’s a sad situation Mike. I can’t recall, why did Rick Cerone give up the team?

6. Will in Central NJ
   July 17th, 2011 at 7:27 pm

   If the Bears’ stadium had been built closer to the core of downtown Newark (say, near what’s now the site of the Prudential Center, the gorgeous home of the NJ Devils), we might be all singing a different song now. Even if it were a few blocks south, near the NJ Performing Arts Center, you’d have a lot more office worker traffic nearby. It’s true the stadium is near a train station, but it’s Newark Broad Street station, a secondary station on the edge of downtown, and not Newark Penn Station (on the bustling Northeast Corridor line).

   The economy nosedived just in time a few years ago to shelve plans to redevelop the old Lincoln Motel site adjoining the Bears’ stadium, leaving a vacant lot of gravel. Not an appealing site, but hey, I’ve snuck in and helped myself to numerous foul balls in there.

   Despite the stadium’s own secure parking deck, attendance continues to be scant and I am worried, as a Bears fan, about the team’s long-term prospects. While the presence of crime in Newark is not unreported news, the vast majority of it occurs miles from the ballpark. In response to Pete, I have attended night games with my wife and young kids, used public transportation there and back to our suburban home, and nothing’s ever happened to us. Regardless, I’m mentally preparing to put my head and heart towards Somerset if Newark goes the way of the Atlantic City Surf and Nashua Pride.

   Stu, as much as I’d love to see it, the Mets wouldn’t take over Newark. I’m sure the Wilpons, or any MLB owner, would prefer to start fresh in a new market.

   Rick Cerone saw that the Bears couldn’t sustain early success from c.1999, and sold the team to the Somerset owner when he had the chance, about 5 years ago. The Patriots’ owners couldn’t lift the team’s fortunes, despite stocking former MLB talent (as Mike has noted) on the Bears’ roster. There’s been a flurry of inexperienced owners since, and with none of them showing the magic wand, I am worried about the franchise’s future.

7. Mike Silva
   July 17th, 2011 at 10:46 pm

   Will

   I don’t know the answer. I haven’t spent more than a couple of days in Newark, and i can attest to the area around the ballpark being a bit rough. I can see why families might stay away. If you don’t get the family of four to come out to the ballpark you aren’t going to succeed in Indy ball. Look at the Ducks and Somerset. Its a destination. Somerset is more a corporate crowd (a company I work for is located in Bedminster and use to get season tickets before the economic crunch), but Long Island gets kids galore all summer. Central Islip isn’t a great area, but the park is safe to get in and out of.

   I think you are right. Until the location of the Newark ballpark changes its doomed to fail. You can’t bleed money in this economy to have a vanity Indy League piece.

8. Will in Central NJ
   July 17th, 2011 at 11:43 pm

   Thanks for your response, Mike. I work in a Newark office building, graduated college in Newark, and am descended from four generations of a family who owned & operated businesses in Newark back when its downtown was a destination for dining and entertainment. All of that might make me more familiar with the ‘Brick City’ than many baseball fans, and a bit more sad than most, if Newark professional baseball were to fail. Again.

9. Chuck Johnson
   July 18th, 2011 at 12:36 am

   I don’t see any point to Indy leagues in all honesty.

   If the guys playing were any good, they wouldn’t be playing Indy ball.

   Sure, I get it that you get a Daniel Nava every once in awhile, but the Red Sox signed him as an org guy and he earned his way to Boston playing “real” minor league ball.

   It makes sense from a scouting standpoint to watch Newark play then drive up to the Cape or over to the Lehigh Valley League to check on potential free agents, but the quality of play isn’t much different.

   You may find a guy who can help your AA team for its playoff run, but the Nava’s and Brad Ziegler’s of the world are pretty rare.

   And speaking of Nava and Ziegler, where are they now?

   I can see some value as maybe a development league for lower round draftees or draft and follows, but for now there are way too many negatives to justify the positives.

   Realistically, the Indy leagues should be blown up, take a year off, restructure themselves as a smaller version of the AFL, and start over.

10. Mike Silva
    July 18th, 2011 at 5:38 am

    Chuck

    One point players make me to all the time is they rather workout for 30 teams than try to go up the ranks with just one. By and large the Indy kids are going nowhere, but there are veterans that use leagues (like the Atlantic) to showcase themselves to MLB and get back.

    There are also kids that get released at inopportune times and rather than sitting home get a chance to play baseball at a AA/AAA level. Not sure that was as widespread feasible before the explosion of Indy leagues the last 15 years (I remember the Northern League being one of the few back in the early nineties).

    Most leagues are hurting financially, so maybe your super-league idea isn’t bad. Here in New York the Atlantic League is doing fine.

    I think Indy serves a purpose. Just a different level of the minors… basically for 30 teams

11. Will in Central NJ
    July 18th, 2011 at 10:03 pm

    Chuck, I’d also like to add that the growth of independent minor league baseball has happened for reasons other than player development, which has the goal of producing players for the major league roster of a given organization. Many minor league front office and staffers -affiliated and independent-will tell you that many, many fans who attend minor league games are there for the entertainment value of a night out with coworkers, friends or family. That’s all. You, Mike Silva and I might be categorized as seamheads, hardcore baseball fans, but from a business standpoint, minor league front offices don’t differentiate our dollars from those paid by a casual family of four with young kids, who care more about the dizzy bat race.

    A lot of these folks—customers, really, moreso than fans—might not even be able to tell you who the visiting team was, the names of three players on the home team, or the final score the next morning. But they are a large chunk of the paying fanbase for many indy (and affiliated) minor league teams. If these folks have money to spend, creating a demand where a market vaccuum exists—such as Suffolk County, Long Island; Bridgewater (Somerset County), NJ; or Saint Paul, MN; then indy teams in these locations fill the niche, providing jobs (on the field and in the stands) and a product that middle class families want: affordable, local entertainment that doesn’t require coughing up $200+ a game plus traffic, tolls, etc.

    That, sir, is the point of indy leagues. It’s affordable entertainment, provides jobs and (if successful) the team is embraced and becomes part of the community fabric. Player development is just one facet of the minor leagues, affiliated or otherwise.

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