Mar 17 2008 11:09 PM
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.”
