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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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?)
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...
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.
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.
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 . . .
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?
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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Baltimore, Washington, and the Yankees are candidates.
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.
So many cool teams and names lost now.
At the lower levels, there is even more movement.
That paragraph goes a long way towards explaining why I hate Cal Ripken Jr's guts.
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?)
13 Gotta put the team in Allentown though, because out in Bethlehem they're killing time, filling out forms, standing in line...
Wait, that's not the right Billy Joel song either.
12 Shaun, are you from Utica?!
Does your fiance (or you) know the Florentine by any chance? I only ask because so many ex-Uticans are of Italian descent . . .
Yep.
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?
Comment status: comments have been closed. Baseball Toaster is now out of business.