Daily News Keeps Policing The Yankees

The NY Daily News continues their excellent job of keeping an eye on stadium money shenanigans.


Ask Not What Your Yankees Can Do For You is worth a read.  Excerpts below.

Nowhere in Paterson’s budget cuts is there a mention of the state’s agreement to fund about $103 million in maintenance, construction and bond costs for parking garages at their new stadium.


Are we expected to believe that giving back a little less than $3.1 million would prevent a franchise valued at $1.2 billion from finishing construction on a stadium that is nearly completed?



Wow. New York State school systems can be expected to manage $585 million in cuts through 2009, but the Yankees’ entire stadium project would crumble because of a $3.1 million shortfall?
When asked about giving back a little to help the state in its dire time, the Yankees said through a representative that “they don’t comment on hypotheticals.”
Of course not. They’re too busy counting their money.
According to Good Jobs New York, a public watchdog group, in addition to the $103 million from the state, the Bombers have received $491 million from city subsidies and $251 million in federal funding. They’re also seeking more than $300 million in additional tax-exempt bonds.

Why I Hope Jimmie Johnson’s Car Breaks (or He Decides To Use Mets Bullpen)

I hope Jimmie Johnson’s car breaks today.  Early.  Like lap two.  

I have nothing against Jimmie.  In fact I hope he wins the Chase today (that’s the NASCAR championship for you Mets fans).   Let me catch the Yankees up – basically Jimmie has a huge lead (think “games back”) and the only way he can lose the championship is if Omar Minaya hires the Mets bullpen to be the pit crew or if he finishes really really poorly, worse then 36th.   That would give Carl Edwards a shot to catch up if Edwards has a great day.

So back to my point – I hope Jimmie’s car breaks down early.   I don’t want a wreck.  I don’t want him to get hurt.  I just want to see him standing on the side frustrated while the Mets bullpen tries to repair his ride.   Meanwhile I’d like to see Carl have a great day.

Why?   I’d like the Chase to have theater.  It’s boring if Jimmie can cruise around at 60 miles an hour hoping not to wreck, or waiting until a bunch of other guys do.   I want to see a race.  I want to see Edwards furiously trying to pull one out.

So Jimmie, I hope your car stalls…and best of luck on winning today, it’s a great accomplishment.

The Continuing Adventures of Tom Seaver

This is fun…Seaver Article In The Daily Pilot


Tom Seaver seemed to be so comfortable, sitting at The Cannery with a beer in front of him, Tommy Davis to his left and Doug DeCinces to his right.

Seaver, the former New York Mets star pitcher, was at the Newport Beach restaurant as the debut speaker for the Hot Stove League series. Before he spoke, he mingled at the bar, talking wine with Davis, the former Dodger, and baseball with DeCinces, the former Angel.

Tom Seaver with a beer?  I thought he only drank fine wines these days.

Anyway, fun article click the link to hear what Tom thinks about Scott Boras and some other things.

I Coulda Owned The Newark Bears

The Newark Bears have sold for $100,000.   I think I could scrape up that much cash if I had to.   The bad news is the new owner assumes $1 million in liabilities.  I can’t float that, but it does make them more honorable than the Devils who refuse to pay their rent.

I hope I’m wrong but I still think Newark is a tough place to sell.   If I’m going to an Atlantic League game I’m hitting the Ducks or Patriots.

Speaking of the Bears, Mets Police send some love back to the Star-Ledger who printed us in the actual newspaper!  Here’s the e-version but we were in the actual newspaper (see below)!   Also a shout out to Metsblog who linked us thus we got a ton of hits.  Thanks!  (Now walk down the hall and get Mazzilli rehired).

On a Sunday afternoon in late September, the Newark Bears took the field and got pummeled by the Somerset Patriots 14-8.

Was that season-ending game, played in a half-filled Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium in Newark, the team’s last?

The minor league baseball team filed for bankruptcy protection last week, just a decade after bringing baseball back to New Jersey’s largest city. Despite millions in public funds invested in a new stadium, public transportation and parking facilities in downtown Newark, team owner Marc Berson said the Bears never caught on with fans.

Last season the team averaged 2,746 fans a game, the second lowest in the independent Atlantic League. The team is now $4.6 million in debt, Berson said.

But a buyer may be willing to take another chance on the team. The Bases Loaded Group is offering to pay $100,000 and take on the team’s debts. A bankruptcy judge is scheduled to review the offer tomorrow.

While the 2009 season remains in jeopardy, the state’s bloggers have been analyzing the Bears’ decline. Did the team fail because suburban crowds won’t venture into Newark? Is the economy too soft to support independent minor league baseball? Was the city’s 6,200-seat stadium project too ambitious?

Is it naive to think a team can ever revive the spirit that made Newark one of the nation’s great minor league baseball cities in the 1930s and ’40s?

From The Mets Police:

The Newark Bears are filing for bankruptcy. Why? They’re in Newark.

I like the Atlantic League. Hit a Long Island Ducks game sometime, it’s tons of fun. In fact you pull into a big, giant free parking lot and walk ten feet into a park that still feels brand new. The game is less important than the fun between innings. Kids have a ball.

Meanwhile, in Newark you get to drive to a crowded aging still scary city (sorry Corey). There’s a tiered lot– everyone loves those. Sure you’re encouraged to take mass transit. The NJ Transit system is horrible enough at rush hour. You want to wait 59 minutes for a train if you don’t time things right?

Meanwhile, a few blocks away the Devils have announced they don’t want to pay the rent. That’s what Newark gets for building this new unnecessary arena. You know that $2.1 million the Devils were going to pay? Psyche!

A few miles up the road an unnecessary football stadium is being built– with no rail link. There’s a giant parking lot sitting there day after day but no rail link to New York City.

The Giants get their blood money in personal seat licenses. The Devils get their fancy new building on which they don’t pay rent.

As for the Bears– sorry, nobody cared. Good try.

From Cranford Pundit:

Here are some suggestions on what Newark can do to woo the suburbanites who are still too scared to come:

For public events, a visible police presence– such as for Newark Bears games. People want to feel safe even if they leave in the fifth inning.

Why do you think the Somerset Patriots are the team of choice for people in our area? Essex and Union County residents have options . . . and driving 30 minutes to an area where we feel safe will often trump driving 15 minutes to somewhere we do not.

From Chuck King, blogging at Minor League Dugout:

Newark made national news early in their existence by signing the likes of Rickey Henderson and Jose Canseco. The Bears have been far less flashy of late and apparently that has not helped . . .

The good news for the Atlantic League is that their newer clubs in Lancaster, York and Southern Maryland appear to be doing well. Earlier this season Atlantic League commissioner Joe Klein optimistically talked about doubling the size of the eight-team league in the coming years. With the economy seemingly on a downturn, Klein’s hopes may have been too grand.

It is unclear as of now whether the Atlantic League will try to find another owner for a Newark club, or will perhaps have to bring back the homeless Road Warriors for another season.

For the past decade the Atlantic League has served as model for other independent leagues to follow. They’ve lost teams (Nashua and Atlantic City) before and continued to grow.

Hopefully this simply serves as another small bump in the road, but for fans of independent baseball this certainly bears watching.

From Tom Biro, blogging at Baristanet:

Over the years, it’s typically been pretty easy to walk up on game day and buy a pretty darn good seat (not that there’s really a bad one in the house), but that lies at the core of what the problem is. While it is probably nice to walk up with your significant other (as I did earlier this year, getting second row tickets behind the visiting team’s bench) or your kids, it doesn’t push much desire for people to buy a block of ten tickets, or season tickets, even.

Obviously, some people have chosen to throw the “white people in Newark” statement into the fray, which only makes matters worse. But there’s obviously a bigger issue of anyone purchasing tickets to see the Bears on a regular basis, irrelevant of race.

All that said, having the Bears in town is definitely part of making Newark a better place for everyone– whether it be those who live there, those who work there, or those who like to dine or be entertained. Isn’t it?

From Joe McDonald, blogging at New York Sports Report:

With an empty stadium comes opportunity and another league may come in to Newark. The Can-Am League– where former Atlantic League teams, the Atlantic City Surf and Nashua Pride, found homes– may be interested in fielding a team. A deal will have to be made with Essex County and Berson, who still owns the rights to the stadium.

As for the Atlantic League, the Bear move won’t hurt the league in the long run. Over the past few seasons, it has been shedding its weaker teams in favor of expansion in stronger markets . . .

The biggest losers in this whole debacle are the full-time Bear employees who will be forced to find jobs in a very tough economic environment.

Just remember it’s still very early in the off-season, so there is still time to resolve this situation and have some sort of professional baseball in Newark for the 2009 season.

From Paul, blogging at Paul’s Random Stuff :

Will there be Bears baseball in Newark in 2009?

Maybe . . .

If a bankruptcy court signs off on the deal, there will be baseball in Newark next year.

However, the 2009 edition of the Bears will probably have a very different look than the fans have seen in the past few years. Former Montreal Expos star (and one-time Yankee) Tim Raines could be the team’s manager next year, replacing popular and successful skipper Wayne Krenchicki — who only won the Atlantic League title in 2007 and came close to defending the title last year.

From a marketing point of view, I understand the reasoning . . . but that doesn’t mean I like it.

Still, this is good news . . . even if it is a little sad at the same time.

Read other Jersey Blogs columns

Go Get Sabathia

I know I’m usually a crank about free agents but I want the Mets to go get C.C. Sabathia.  He’s not 40 years old like they usually chase.   He’s in his prime.  He’s left handed.  If you can get the best free agent pitcher available you do it.

I don’t want to hear about payroll and the Mets money woes.  They have plenty of money, drew 4 million last year, will sell out the place this year and since they are going to jack us on ticket prices whether they have Sabathia or not, I’d rather have him.

In a post below Cyclones Fan ruined my day.  I can’t believe SNY let Lee Mazzilli go.   Good old Lee.  One of the foundations of this blog is that we will not rest until Lee Mazzilli takes his rightful spot in the managers office (hopefully after Jerry runs off 15 straight championships then decides to retire, we support Jerry).