Coaches hit hard in wake of ball brawl

Kevin Barrett

Telegraph-Journal

SAINT JOHN - The manager of the Saint John Little League All-Stars says he was never contacted by anyone during an investigation into a wild brawl during the Canadian Senior championship at Memorial Field in August.

And Tom Galbraith plans to appeal his indefinite suspension handed down by a Little League International Tournament Committee that also suspended Saint John coaches Richard Snow and Chris Bartlett as well as the coaches and managers of Les Elites des Valleyfield indefinitely as the result of melee between the teams.

"For anybody who is being disciplined, they should have the right to voice their opinion," Galbraith said Tuesday. "I was never contacted by anybody - not the tournament committee, not by Little League Canada, not by Little League International. Not one person called me, the manager of the team, to ask me what my opinion was, what I saw, what I thought."

None of the players on either team received any disciplinary actions by the committee, which is based in Williamsport, Pa., and rules on all matters relating to any Little League tournament.
In addition, Saint John is prohibited from serving as host of any national Little League championship until major safety and security improvements are made.

The ruling comes almost two months after the incident and following several calls to all parties to forward information in the process, says Little League Canada president Roy Bergerman.
"We never got any kind of a report back from any of those teams, even though we requested it. ?...?We needed to reach a decision," Bergerman said, adding the ruling is open to appeal.
"The indefinite means forever, until they make the next move."

But Galbraith says he was never contacted during any phase of the probe.
"For an individual discipline, I think my right has been kind of violated. No one asked me my opinion," Galbraith said. "For them to suspend me without even contacting me, in my opinion, is wrong."

He said it was not his responsibility to seek out those investigating the incident.
"Someone should have had the gumption to call me and ask me what my opinion was," Galbraith said. "I didn't feel it was my duty to go and find out who I was supposed to contact to voice my opinion. I assumed that would come to me."

The incident followed Saint's John's loss to Edmonton in the playoff round, a tight 1-0 contest where members of the Valleyfield team sat in the stands and heckled the host squad throughout the game.

The Valleyfield team celebrated Edmonton's victory and serenaded the Saint John team during the handshakes afterward. Almost immediately after that, several Saint John players went into the stands and the fight ensured.

That continued a conflict that arose when the teams met earlier in the tournament. The Valleyfield coaching staff was irate after the contest was suspended in the bottom of the fifth inning while they batted in foggy conditions. In clear conditions the next day, Saint John scored three runs to rally from a two-run deficit and earn the victory.

The friction ignited then and carried throughout the tournament, finally exploding with the fights in the stands.

During the brawl, a 70-year-old woman was trampled and taken to the Saint John Regional Hospital wearing a neck brace. She was later released.

"The issue there is training and a little bit of leadership that was lacking," Bergerman said. "You are dealing with a lot of volunteers, who may or may not have any expertise here. Leadership is critical, and that may have been lacking," he said.

He said that training includes the coaching staffs and tournament officials.

"Even though they are 14, 15 and 16, they are still minors and I think the general feeling there was if the adults had taken control of the situation and the coaches led the team like they were supposed to, none of this would have happened."

"In New York it's not whether you win or lose--

it's how you lay the blame."
- Fran Lebowitz

Cost of new Yankee Stadium up to $1.3B
Canadian Press

NEW YORK - The new Yankee Stadium will have party suites, a members-only restaurant, a martini bar and a price tag to match all the luxury - US$1.3 billion, up from the original estimate of $1 billion.
"We tried to reflect a five-star hotel and put a ballfield in the middle," said Yankees chief operating officer Lonn Trost, who hosted a media tour Thursday.
The new ballpark, set to be ready for the 2009 season, is directly across the street from the old House that Ruth Built. The site is now a welter of cranes and construction trailers, with hard-hatted workers patrolling the infield.
The granite and limestone exterior is designed to evoke Yankee Stadium when it opened in 1923, before it was remodelled in the 1970s.
But inside there will be amenities unheard of in Babe Ruth's day - or in Reggie Jackson's.
There will be a conference area with video conferencing so that a corporate group could have a day-long meeting and then stay for a game. A concierge will be available to procure theatre tickets or restaurant reservations.
There will be 51 luxury suites, two large outdoor suites and eight party suites with seating for up to 410 people in total.
The 58-by-103-foot centre-field television screen will be six times the size of the video screen at the current stadium.
The dimensions of the field will be the same as at the old ballpark, which will be partially demolished.
Trost said the cost overruns included $150 million in enhancements such as the giant video screen, $138 million in food and beverage costs not included in the original estimate and $50 million from delays due to a lawsuit by community groups that sought to halt construction of the stadium.
The community groups sued because two city parks were razed to make way for the new stadium. The Yankees have said the lost parkland would be replaced at the site of the old stadium and elsewhere in the Bronx.
Asked if the Yankees had been securing additional financing, Trost said, "We will be."

Béisbol es mi deporte favorito

Percentage of non-U.S.-born players near record
Associated Press

NEW YORK — The percentage of major league baseball players born outside the 50 states increased slightly to a near record level.
Of the 849 players on rosters at the start of the season, 246 were born outside the 50 states, the commissioner's office said Tuesday. That comes to 29 per cent, up from 27.4 percent last year and near the record 29.2 per cent set in 2005.
The Dominican Republic had the most non-U.S. players with 98, followed by Venezuela (51), Puerto Rico (28), Canada (19), Japan and Mexico (13 each), Panama (seven), Cuba (six), South Korea (three), Colombia and Taiwan (two apiece), and Aruba, Australia, Curacao and Nicaragua (one apiece).
The New York Mets (15) had the most foreign-born players for the second straight year and were followed by the New York Yankees (13) and Boston, Minnesota and Seattle (12).
There were 3,098 of 6,701 minor leaguers born outside the 50 states, with the percentage rising to 46.2 percent from 45.1 last year.
The pool included players on opening-day rosters and disabled lists, suspended New York Mets reliever Guillermo Mota and two players called up before Monday's openers, Cincinnati pitcher Victor Santos and Philadelphia pitcher Joe Bisenius

Grapefruit or Cactus: The juice on the value of teams in communities

Spring training always a money-losing business
Brian Milner
Globe and Mail

Just about everyone in and around baseball looks forward to spring training, with its timeless traditions and its new-season promise of success — everyone, that is, except perhaps those responsible for the clubs' finances. For them, spring training is all about juggling costs and reducing expenses. While the business of baseball is booming, the business of spring training is a perennial money-loser for major-league clubs, at least on paper.
"There's a huge cost to operating the organization," Toronto Blue Jays president Paul Godfrey said from his office overlooking the Jays' Knology Park in Dunedin, Fla.
The Jays pocket all the revenue from their 14 home games, including ticket, concession and merchandise sales. But it's not enough to offset the costs of housing dozens of major-league and minor-league players, coaches, trainers, administrators, team doctors and every other staffer associated with the baseball operation — more than 200 people in all.
Godfrey estimates that the net shortfall is about $1.5-million (Canadian), which is in the same ballpark as that of other clubs, depending on how they do their accounting for player development and other expenses. The Jays, for example, do not include the accommodation costs of general manager J.P. Ricciardi and other club officials in their spring training tab. These are paid out of their department budgets.
Not even the Yankees, who sell out every game in a stadium that seats 10,200 (almost double the Jays' capacity) and have a valuable television deal, turn a profit in Tampa. "My guess is that it would be a loss for everybody," Godfrey said.
That includes the communities that play host to the teams in Florida and Arizona. When it comes to operating and maintaining facilities, "most municipalities would say they lose money, particularly if they have debt to service," said David Cardwell, the executive director of the Florida Grapefruit League Association. "You have to look at a broader picture to determine whether or not it's viable for the community."
Baseball's economic impact in major cities is typically overblown by proponents of new stadiums. But it's hard to argue that the sport isn't important to the health of smaller communities that depend heavily on tourism. Cardwell cites Florida studies showing that spring training adds $18-million (U.S.) to $24-million, for each club, to community coffers. If you took all the spring training activity in Florida and treated it as a single attraction, he said, "it's roughly equivalent to having a Super Bowl in Florida every March."
So it should come as no surprise that Arizona, Florida's rival for the spring rites, has been waging a full-court press to draw more teams. The latest catches are the Los Angeles Dodgers, who intend to vacate their legendary 60-year home in Vero Beach after next spring, and the Cleveland Indians, a Cactus League pioneer in 1946, who will be heading back in 2009 after 16 years in Florida.
The pending departure of the Dodgers has struck a nerve with people nostalgic for the old days when trainloads of fans from the chilly north would crowd into small, rickety grandstands to see their heroes up close. But baseball is all about business and the Dodgers can scarcely pass up a deal that will produce higher revenue, help them attract a better TV package and bring them close to their West Coast fan base.
Arizona's big advantage over Florida, apart from better golfing weather and the close proximity to West Coast teams, is that it has had more money to spend, thanks to a surcharge on rental cars and hotel rooms that is earmarked for the construction and upgrading of facilities. Local communities, in turn, have set up non-profit clubs to operate spring training. That gets them an exemption from sales taxes, which amounts to savings of $100,000 or more a team each spring training.
The addition of the Dodgers and Indians would give Arizona a record 14 teams. But Florida doesn't have to worry about more poaching. None of the 16 remaining clubs have leases coming up for renewal before 2016. And there isn't much room left in the sprawling Arizona suburbs, where the teams are located within short distances of each other.
"We do not have any interest in taking teams from Florida," said Jon Richardson, a Cactus League committee member and onetime GM of the Calgary Cannons. "We realize that there's a point of diminishing returns." Shoehorn in more teams, and "we would be cannibalizing each other's gates."

Major League city? Or just provincial?

Triple-A era closing in Canada
Canadian Press

The Vancouver Canadians were the first to leave, down to Sacramento after the 1999 season. Three years later it was the Calgary Cannons, headed to Albuquerque. The Edmonton Trappers became the Round Rock Express two years after that.
Once the Ottawa Lynx move to Allentown, Pa., following the 2007 season, the demise of triple-A baseball in Canada will be complete. In just eight short years four franchises firmly entrenched in their communities, built on solid foundations, will have disappeared.
The Vancouver Canadians, reborn as a single-A club, will soon be the country's last affiliated minor-league club. Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton have franchises in the independent Northern League.
Along with the Toronto Blue Jays, only five pro ball teams will call Canada home in 2008.
"It's not an easy situation when most of your partners are based in the United States," says Branch B. Rickey, owner and president of the Pacific Coast League, which was home to the clubs in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.
Adds Blue Jays pitcher Scott Downs, who graduated to the Montreal Expos - now the Washington Nationals - in 2004 after playing in Ottawa and Edmonton: "They were great places to play. It's sad to see minor-league baseball dwindling in Canada."
There are no simple answers to how, or why, no common formula that would have changed things. Geographic isolation, travel issues and aging facilities left the three PCL clubs prone to predatory buyers from more motivated baseball markets in the U.S., and now all three clubs rank in the top-five for minor-league attendance among the 176 teams across the continent.
Ottawa, which plays in the International League, faced fewer challenges but people just stopped going to games and couldn't be lured back. The Lynx will play out the string next summer stocked with the Philadelphia Phillies prospects who will move on to Allentown.
"All of the challenges (in Ottawa) could have been overcome with better attendance," says Randy Mobley, president of the International League. "It has nothing to do with geography, nothing to do with the travel, nothing to do with the Canadian economy.
"The main problem was they couldn't draw 6,000-7,000 fans a night."
But there were larger issues, too.
Major-league teams have never been as demanding of their triple-A affiliates as they are now. They want top-notch facilities, easy access to their players, less travel, worry-free living conditions.
Tampa Bay Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon recalls how when he was the Los Angeles Angels' roving hitting instructor and their triple-A club was in Vancouver, several players couldn't afford to pay their rent.
"The organization had to top them up for a while," he says. "Part of it is also the inconvenience of bringing players back and forth across the border if you need somebody rapidly."
There were troubles with the Canadian dollar, which was substantially weaker than the American greenback only a handful of years ago.
Travel costs for Edmonton, Vancouver and Calgary were also prohibitive, with several flights down to the southwestern U.S., and vice-versa for the rest of the league. Concerns about making connecting flights, weather delays, lost luggage and border issues left the league worried about teams arriving late or missing games.
"There was a lot of money at risk," says Rickey, who oversaw all three departures. "There was an extraordinary intersection of opportunity and availability in these three cases."
Vancouver lost its team when ownership in Sacramento approached Rickey and said it had promises of a new stadium from the city and was looking for a team that could be convinced to sell and would be easy to move.
A similar scenario played out in Calgary, when the sting of losing its team to Portland prompted Albuquerque, N.M., to build a stadium and seek out another club.
Alone in Canada, Edmonton was a sitting duck for the buyers from Round Rock, Texas led by Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, who wanted a triple-A team to replace the double-A club it already owned in the city. The double-A team was moved to Corpus Christi once the triple-A club arrived.
In each instance, the prospective buyers were pointed north as the viability of running a PCL team in Canada diminished. Despite being longstanding fixtures in their communities, the Canadians (1978-99), Trappers (1981-2004) and Cannons (1985-2002) were surprisingly easy to uproot. Their moves were met with little to no resistance.
"Honestly, I would have to admit that's the case," says Rickey.
The Lynx, on the other hand, struggled for years before another suitor came calling for them.
They set International League attendance records when the began play in 1993, averaging nearly 10,000 fans a game. But those numbers steadily declined into the 2,000-range as apathy inexplicably grew toward the team.
"I've thought long and hard about that, I don't have a simple answer for that, I wish I did," says Mobley. "If we could have identified a single issue, we would have tried to address it.
"There were several factors but the predominant one is that spending the night at a triple-A game was not a high priority for the people of the Ottawa area."
Owner Ray Pecor did not return a message seeking comment and has yet to publicly confirm his sale of the club to businessmen in Allentown. Mobley confirms that there's an agreement and approvals in place with a closing date of November 2007.
Travel, by bus, wasn't a problem for the Lynx and crossing the border was not a major problem. There were no geographical issues that made having Ottawa an inconvenience for the other clubs.
"The weather wasn't always the best but we had good fans, they were fun places to play," says Downs. "Edmonton was one of my favourite places to play. I was able to spend a year and a half there and the fans were unbelievable.
"The weather was a little cold but other than that I enjoyed it."
Few former players and coaches have a bad thing to say about their experience in Canada.
"I truly enjoy the Canadian people," says Maddon. "By nature they're very polite, very hospitable. "They treated us great."
But for business reasons, it's unlikely triple-A baseball will be back in Canada anytime soon.
"Certainly there are scenarios that could be extremely favourable to doing so," says Rickey. "I don't think it's in the foreseeable future."
Adds Mobley: "I wouldn't say never but I don't see it happening. I have no reason to believe that may happen."

Does this jersey make me look fat?

Food for thought: Dodgers opening all-you-can-eat right field pavilion
Associated Press

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack ... and throw in a dozen Dodger Dogs, too.
The Los Angeles Dodgers will give fans something to chew on next season: all-you-can eat seats. The right-field pavilion at Dodger Stadium will be converted into the special section, giving around 3,000 fans as many hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn, nachos and sodas as they want.
Tickets will sell for $35 in advance and $40 on gameday, and some items at the concession stand aren't in play -- beer, ice cream and candy will be sold separately at regular prices.
"Instead of paying cash, fans ask for whatever they want, and they get it. There are going to be some self-service parts, buffet-style, as well," Dodgers executive vice president and chief operating officer Marty Greenspun said.
There will be some other limitations. Food booths open 90 minutes before games and close two hours after the first pitch.
And anybody who walks up and wants 100 hot dogs -- they're sold as Dodger Dogs, from $4.50 to the all-beef variety for $5.25 -- will have to curb their appetite.
"If a person goes up there and asks for four for his family, he won't be told no," Dodgers senior vice president of communications Camille Johnston said.
Greenspun said the team tested the all-you-can-eat concept three times late last season. "The response was overwhelmingly positive" and gave the Dodgers food for thought, he said.
A few other teams have had all-you-can-eat sections. "The St. Louis Cardinals have done it," Greenspun said. "It hasn't been anything of this size." In addition, he said, "the other ballparks charge a higher rate than this."
All-you-can-eat isn't exactly the most health-conscious concept these days, but as Greenspun put it: "We're offering a fan amenity. Fans can elect to choose it or not choose it. We are offering basic ballpark fare that most fans enjoy."
Tickets in left field, meanwhile, will be $10.