A suggestion.....

the New York Penn League All-Star Game will be held at Staten Island this season and then take place in Lowell in the 2011 season.
Our new team should bid for the 2012 Game ASAP. It will be the 10th anniversary of the first All-Star Game held at Dodd in 2002. That contest was the last "true" Double A All-Star Game with players from all three Double A leagues sending players to Norwich.
It will also be the 5th anniversary of the ill-fated 2007 All Game held at Dodd. That one featured a fire alarm going off and fog rolling in to blanket the field after an inning or so causing cancellation of the game.
Any thoughts....

ONEONTA MAYOR RIPS NYPL.....

"ONEONTA, N.Y. (WKTV) - The Oneonta Tigers will not play in Oneonta this summer according to Oneonta Mayor Richard Miller. The team will be moving to the Hartford, Connecticut area according to Miller. He said the GM Andy Weber confirmed the teams departure.

A group headed by Miles Prentice bought the Tigers franchise from Sam Nader last year. Oneonta has supported a NY Penn League team for 44 years. Mayor Miller understands the move, yet was very critical of the league. " The NY Penn League’s lack of loyalty and consideration of this community, not to mention the long term former owners, is shocking and reprehensible."

Mayor Miller also said the Weber has confirmed that they will honor their lease agreement with the City and that all season ticket holders who have paid for the upcoming year will be immediately and fully refunded their payments.

Here is Mayor Miller's statement:

"I have been notified by Andy Weber that the Tigers will not be playing in Oneonta this summer. He has confirmed to me that they will honor their lease agreement with the City and that all season ticket holders who have paid for the upcoming year will be immediately and fully refunded their payments.

This is not a time for recriminations toward the group headed by Miles Prentice who bought the Tigers last year. Oneonta has long enjoyed the luxury of professional baseball through the benevolent ownership of Sam Nader and Sid Levine. Their sale of the Tigers was well justified and inevitable. While the new owners had honorable intentions, the economics based on the size of our market and obvious lack of broad community support made the business of their being in Oneonta not tenable.

The fact that they are leaving a year earlier than planned is unfortunate but understandable given the unanticipated opportunity presented to them by the NY Penn league in Connecticut. While I consider their leaving to have been inevitable, their abrupt departure was facilitated and encouraged by the League which the Oneonta community has supported for 44 years. The NY Penn League’s lack of loyalty and consideration of this community, not to mention the long term former owners, is shocking and reprehensible. This action which leaves the community without an assurance of organized baseball less than 5 months before the beginning of the season is prejudicial to our city and was initiated by the league, not the Tigers, in October. Even now, although apparently the Tigers, League and new host city are in agreement the decision is subject to the final approval of Minor League Baseball which could take weeks or months.

My singular interest is in continuing the long tradition of organized baseball in Oneonta this summer. The Tigers, on our behalf, and as an act of good faith, have been working to bring a collegiate league team to Oneonta this summer. Other members of the community have had similar conversations, and I have been approached by an independent professional team who would like to play here. I will devote my energies, with involvement of the Common Council, to working to develop these options for the 2010 season.

Despite my personal disappointment as a fan and Mayor of the City, I wish the Tigers well as they move to the Hartford, CT, area"