Baseball Toaster: The Griddle : So long Ottawa, hello Allentown!

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1	Chicago Cubs	76	48	.613	C1
2	New York Mets	68	57	.544	E1
3T	Arizona	64	60	.516	W1
3T	Los Angeles Dodgers	64	60	.516	W1
5	Milwaukee	72	54	.571	C2
6	St. Louis	70	57	.551	C3
7	Philadelphia	66	58	.532	E2
8	Florida	64	61	.512	E3
9	Houston	63	62	.504	C4
10	Colorado	57	69	.452	W3
11T	Pittsburgh	56	69	.448	C5
11T	Atlanta	56	69	.448	E4
13	Cincinnati	55	70	.44	C6
14	San Francisco	53	71	.427	W4
15	San Diego	48	76	.387	W5
16	Washington	44	81	.352	E5

American League

Rank	Team	W	L	PCT	Division
1	Los Angeles Angels	76	47	.618	W1
2	Tampa Bay	76	48	.613	E1
3	Chicago White Sox	71	53	.573	C1
4	Boston	72	53	.576	E2
5	Minnesota	70	54	.565	C2
6	New York Yankees	66	58	.532	E3
7	Toronto	64	60	.516	E4
8	Texas	62	64	.492	W2
9	Detroit	61	64	.488	C3
10	Baltimore	60	64	.484	E5
11	Oakland	57	67	.46	W3
12	Cleveland	56	67	.455	C4
13	Kansas City	55	69	.444	C5
14	Seattle	46	78	.371	W4

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So long Ottawa, hello Allentown!

2006-08-29 21:04

by Bob Timmermann

Canada's last AAA team, the Ottawa Lynx will play their final season in Canada's capital in 2007 and then move to Allentown, Pennsylvania for the 2008 season. So the International League won't live up to its name anymore.

A small sketch of the proposed stadium in Allentown.

Billy Joel will now record a new version of an old hit of his and change the title to "Ottawa". It likely will be just as annoying as "Allentown."

Ottawa will become the Phillies AAA team in 2007. The Phillies present AAA team, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, will need to find a new major league parent. Presently, Ottawa is Baltimore's AAA affiliate.

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Comments

2006-08-29 21:18:03

1. Greg Brock

The folks at Dunder Mifflin are not going to be happy about this.

2006-08-29 21:21:51

2. Bob Timmermann

Somebody has to move to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the kings of punctuation!

Baltimore, Washington, and the Yankees are candidates.

2006-08-29 21:35:27

3. Voxter

A little info on Allentown:

http://tinyurl.com/eou52

Strikes me as a bit of an eccentric choice, but what do I know. Ottowa is kind of out of the way these days.

2006-08-29 21:36:13

4. Greg Brock

I think I'll just hang out here until the Devil Rays trade stuff is done over at DT.

2006-08-29 21:38:18

5. Bob Timmermann

So you're living here in Allentown? But they're closing all the factories down?

2006-08-29 21:55:29

6. Ken Arneson

I'm sure you'll have some cosmic rationale, but here you are in the ninth, two men out and three men on. Oh, wait, sorry, wrong Billy Joel song.

2006-08-29 22:03:32

7. das411

So all of our SWB prospects (which will probably only be Greg Golson and Kyle Drabek by 2008) will just instantaneously be traded to the Ottawa Whatever's starting in 2009? Huh?

2006-08-29 22:08:46

8. Bob Timmermann

The SWB prospects will be in Ottawa in 2007 and Allentown in 2008 if everything continues according to plan.

2006-08-29 22:49:52

9. das411

Right Bob, but...what's the procedure that lets this happen? Is this like in 2002 when the 'xpos entire front office moved to Florida? And if so, will there be an empty husk of a franchise in SWB that we can poke with sticks, much like this year's Red Sox?

2006-08-29 22:55:47

10. Robert Daeley

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_International_League_teams_%281912-%29

So many cool teams and names lost now.

2006-08-29 23:04:53

11. Bob Timmermann

Every few years, major league teams get to redo their minor league affiliations. Some teams like to stay in one place for a long time like the Braves in Richmond and the Tigers in Toledo. Others move around more.

At the lower levels, there is even more movement.

2006-08-30 03:09:45

12. Shaun P

11 And if some famous ballplayer decides that, well, his hometown NEEDS a minor league franchise - and then decides to name the stadium they play in after his family name - then you better watch out, because that famous ballplayer just might decide to buy your hometown's team - even if its been around for 75+ years.

That paragraph goes a long way towards explaining why I hate Cal Ripken Jr's guts.

2006-08-30 04:08:28

13. DXMachina

Ottawa has only been in the league since 1993. The IL wasn't very international for a long time before then.

It could've been worse. They could've put the team in Bethlehem (think of the potential nicknames), or just called them ABE, for Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, like the local airport. (The ABE Lincolns?)

2006-08-30 05:56:06

14. mehmattski

You know, the Mayor of Allentown gave Billy Joel the key to the city like ten years ago, for the song. Joel's response was something like, "Um, did you even listen to the lyrics of the song?"

13 Gotta put the team in Allentown though, because out in Bethlehem they're killing time, filling out forms, standing in line...

2006-08-30 06:00:04

15. Cliff Corcoran

Rose, he knows he's such a credit to the game, but the Yankees steal the headlines every time . . .

Wait, that's not the right Billy Joel song either.

12 Shaun, are you from Utica?!

2006-08-30 06:25:48

16. DXMachina

14 Long as they spend their weekends at the Jersey shore.

2006-08-30 07:18:55

17. Cliff Corcoran

Hey, me, I'm only trying to get to second base, and I'd steal it if she'd only give the sign.

2006-08-30 07:48:46

18. Shaun P

15 Yep. And still bitter that, when I get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood, I take a greyhound on the Hudson river line, but I can only see a Blue Sox game in my mind.

2006-08-30 07:53:42

19. Cliff Corcoran

18 My wife-to-be's family is from Utica, I'm there every Christmas. And I share your anger over the loss of the Blue Sox, though I never got to a game there. Fortunately, as a Yankee fan, I always disliked Ripken, so there's no conflict for me there emotionally.

2006-08-30 08:03:37

20. Shaun P

19 No kidding! Wow, what a small world. It wasn't the greatest stadium, and the teams often weren't all that good, but Blue Sox games were a blast. I met Tom Seaver at Blue Sox game once, besides seeing a lot of guys before they made the show. Stupid Ripken.

Does your fiance (or you) know the Florentine by any chance? I only ask because so many ex-Uticans are of Italian descent . . .

2006-08-30 08:23:02

21. Cliff Corcoran

20 nope, sorry, they're German and Polish.

2006-08-30 09:50:10

22. KG16

So, what happens to the minor league rosters when teams change affilations? If everyone on the Vegas 51s is under contract with the Dodgers and then the Dodgers decide to affilate with someone else, does the entire roster move to the new affilate?

2006-08-30 10:09:13

23. Bob Timmermann

22
Yep.

2006-08-30 14:35:26

24. das411

Wow, thanks for asking the same thing I was trying to but actually getting Bob to answer it KG16!

But the sheer weirdness of the Ottawa Lynx morphing into the SWB/Allentown Red Barons might be too much to handle. I mean, it wasn't that long ago that I saw Kirk Reuter and Mark Gzzzzzzzzzlanek and the Lynx beat Scotty Rolen's Barons...or maybe it was that long ago?

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