Could Indy League shuffle bring baseball back to Ozark?

A flurry of activity in the Independent Leagues could lead to Ozark getting back into the world of professional baseball.

First came this tidbit from Ballpark Watch.com, quoting an article in the Springfield Business Journal:

"Price Cutter Park, the former home of the Springfield-Ozark Mountain Ducks (independent; Central League), may be sold by owner Horn Chen to the Council of Churches of the Ozarks Foundation. The ballpark sat unoccupied after the Ducks left town following the 2004 season. But this summer saw renewed activity there, as former Ducks General Manager Brad Eldridge has volunteered to organize various youth, high school, college and community baseball games and tournaments. Apparently Chen might have other plans for the ballpark, so things could change in the next few months."

The SBJ's article makes mention of Mr. Chen's desire to bring baseball back to Price Cutter.

Next came Baseball America's Oct. 24 issue and an article on the recent shuffle of Independent Leagues. The St. Paul Saints, Lincoln Salt Dogs and Sioux City Explorers and Sioux Falls Canaries are leaving the Northern League to join a new Independent League. That league will apparently be the American Association, which has been snapping up teams from the Central League (the Ducks' former home), including the El Paso Diablos, Fort Worth Cats, Pensacola Pelicans, Shreveport Sports and Coastal Bend Aviators. That league will also include a team in Manhattan, Kan. Waco is also a possibility, but it looks like Edinburg will not field a team this coming season.

The Northern League has announced it will play in 2006 with eight teams.

San Angelo, another CBL franchise, looks to be headed to the newly-formed United League, which wants to expand into places like Alexandria and Laredo.

The Frontier League (the Ducks' last league) has seen its Ohio Valley Red Coats (the displaced Ducks) suspend operations and is apparently backing off Lee's Summit as an expansion site. Independence could be the next focus.

Reports out of Columbia had the Mid-Missouri Mavericks closing up shop...that apparently isn't the case. The Mavericks are still around and are looking for monety to build a ballpark of their own in Columbia.

Confusing? You bet. Where does Price Cutter Park fit in? No clue. But with a stadium and - possibly - ownership already in place, it makes Ozark a lot more attractive than communities with no place to play. Not that The Pond is necessarily an attractive venue. There's just one lane in and one lane out of the parking lot, so traffic was a nightmare. The park lacks the amenities of Hammons Field and the great success of the Springfield Cardinals will hurt the potential fan base any new team has.

On the plus side, though, Christian County is growing. The cities of Ozark and Nixa combined have around 21,000 people (not counting those outside the city limits) and are still growing. New owners would be smart not to tag the team Springfield or Springfield-Ozark. I think they'll get much better support marketing to Christian County. I don't know what kind of attendance they would need to make the whole thing work.

The Frontier League is the best fit of any of them. With teams in Columbia, St. Charles (River City Rascals) and the St. Louis area (Gateway Grizzlies) - and the possibility of a team in the KC area - travel costs aren't as great as in the old Texas-Louisiana League days. The proximity of those teams provides some natural, regional rivalries as well.

I think a smart promoter could make this thing work. The question is do we have any of those in southwest Missouri? The Springfield Spirit didn't market well at all, and I think Missouri State misses more than they hit. The Springfield Cardinals do well, but they have some very experienced people in the front office. In the SBJ article, Brad Eldridge expresses his interest in getting minor league ball back into Ozark. He's a former Ducks GM and the man responsible for their early success. He has Texas League experience (with the Wichita Wranglers) and if anyone could make it work, I think he could.

Thoughts, anyone?

By the way, here's a link to the SBJ article:
Price Cutter Park draws interest

And the mystery opponent is...

Yeah, that headline's a little overdramatic.

MO State's baseball opponent May 5-7 will be...Creighton. The Sunday game (at 12:05 p.m.) will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net as part of the Missouri Valley Conference's TV package. The league will produce 36 telecasts in-house in addition to games on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPN U and CBS.

MO State's TV games are:
Dec. 31: Richmond @ Missouri State (WBB), 5:05 p.m., FSN
Jan. 14: Missouri State @ Wichita State (MBB), 7:05 pm, FSN
Jan. 22: Missouri State @ Indiana State (WBB), 3:05 pm, FSN
Wichita State @ Missouri State (MBB), 2:05 pm, ESPNU
Jan. 29: UNI @ Missouri State (WBB), 12:05 pm, FSN
Feb. 1: Drake @ Missouri State (MBB), 7:05 pm, FSN
Feb. 7: Missouri State @ Southern Illinois (MBB), 8:05 pm, ESPNU
Feb. 11: Missouri State @ UNI (MBB), 7:05 pm, FSN
Feb. 25: Creighton @ Missouri State (MBB), 7:35 pm, FSN
April 16: Missouri State @ Wichita State (Baseball), 1:05 pm, ESPNU
May 7: Creighton @ Missouri State (Baseball), 12:05 pm, FSN

It's interesting to note that - prior to the MVC Baseball Tournament - the only two MVC games to be broadcast both involve Missouri State.

Game times for the 'Birds

Game times have been announced for the Springfield Cardinals' 2006 campaign, with very little change involved. The 'Birds will still have their 7:10 weeknight starts and 6:10 Saturday and Sunday night games. There will be a few 12:10 p.m. weekday "Business Person's Specials."

Changes are to Sunday afternoon games - moved back to 2:10 - and a few 12:10 p.m. first pitches on Saturday.

The Saturday change is the most intriguing. The team's release says it's "taking advantage of the early Spring season." Translation: We'll make the Missouri State Bears play in the cold. There are three Saturday afternoon games for the Cardinals: April 8 (Arkansas), April 22 (Tulsa) and May 6 Corpus Christi.

Springfield's press release goes on to mention that the Cardinals and MO State will combine to play a total of 97 games at Hammons Field - good news, the Bears will be playing at the Hamm - with seven double-headers. Those dates are April 21-23, May 5-7 and May 10.

It looks like the Bears and Kansas have flip-flopped home games (or my notes were wrong...surely not), so MSU will host KU now on May 10 - a Wednesday. The Cardinals are playing a getaway 12:10 start against San Antonio, putting the Bears' game at 7 p.m., per KU's web site.

April 21-23 - as we previously reported - will be a visit from the Salukis of Southern Illinois. Expect an early afternoon game Friday, night game Saturday and a dreaded early Sunday start to make room for the Cardinals' 6:10 game with Tulsa.

I'm not sure yet who'll be visiting May 5-7 (either UNI, Evansville or Creighton), but expect the same scheduling format as the SIU weekend. The Cardinals are finishing up with Corpus Christi that Friday and Saturday. San Antonio comes to visit Sunday.

I did notice on KU's schedule they will be playing two games in two days against Creighton and SEMO April 25-26 in something called "Best in the Midwest." What a hot, steaming load that is. You're going to have a "Best in the Midwest" college baseball event and include SEMO and KU?

P.S. - Apologies for the ginormous MSU logo on the previous post. I'll try to correct that next.

Baseball on my mind

The 2-2 Missouri State football team is hitting a crucial stretch in the schedule, the St. Louis Blues are playing their first game of the regular season tonight and basketball season is getting closer every day. So, here I am, thinking about...baseball?

I can't help it.

For some reason I'm already thinking about the middle of winter and the start of college baseball. MO State will return all but one pitcher from 2005 and will add Scott Carroll to the rotation. A youthful team a year ago should be one year better and I think Braden Drake shows a lot of promise in the middle infield. This should be an exciting year.

Unfortunately there's no good info over at MSU sports info...no roster, no updated schedule, no word on the Fall World Series. So, I do what I can. I'm piecing together the schedule a bit at a time until it is...finally...released. Here's what we know so far.

Feb. 24-27 at the Domino's Pizza Aggie Baseball Classic: This should be fun. The Bears take on Texas A&M Sunday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. Other teams in the field are Utah and UNC-Greensboro.

Home-and-home with Arkansas: at Baum April 4, at Hammons Field one week later.

Home-and-home with Kansas: at Hammons April 18, at Lawrence May 9.

As for league play, the Bears are home for Southern Illinois April 21-23 and home for Illinois State May 12-14. MO State visits Indiana State May 18-20.

Road series include Bradley April 28-30.

The Valley Tournament is May 24-27 in Wichita, though next year it should be back at Hammons Field. The hope is for that bad boy to be on a rotating basis.

The Springfield Cardinals have already announced their schedule for the 2006 campaign - minus start times - and conflicts are already appearing. Springfield is scheduled to host Wichita on April 18, the same day MO State hosts Kansas. The KU web site lists that game with a 7 p.m. start time (can anyone say “Business Person’s Special”?). The ’Birds will be starting a five-game series with Tulsa the same time SIU is to visit MSU.

There are some other big names set to play Missouri State, as they chase their first postseason berth since the CWS trip in 2003. I lost that list, unfortunately, but I believe Purdue, Minnesota and Oklahoma are all on it. OU, I believe, is coming to Hammons Field.

It is a crucial year for Missouri State baseball. Attendance must improve. The same can be said for promotion. Will a winning team be the cure-all? Will Athletic Deveopment get creative? I’m intrigued.


Listening to: Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - “The Hardest Part”