Minor Leagues have new look in 1998
Posted: Tues March 24, 1998 at 11:09 a.m EST
An era passed when the Buffalo Bisons won the American
Association title in 1997.
Owners from the American Association, International League and
Pacific Coast League voted last July to realign into two leagues
starting this season. The league that was absorbed was the AA,
ending almost 100 years of history.
The three-division, 14-team IL will be comprised of its 10
existing members -- Charlotte, Columbus, Norfolk, Ottawa,
Pawtucket, Richmond, Rochester, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Syracuse
and Toledo -- plus Buffalo, Indianapolis and Louisville from the
AA and an expansion franchise in Durham, North Carolina.
The 16-team Pacific Coast League maintains its 10 clubs --
Albuquerque, Calgary, Colorado Springs, Edmonton, Las Vegas,
Phoenix, Salt Lake, Tacoma, Tucson and Vancouver. It adds Iowa,
Nashville, New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Omaha from the AA and
an expansion franchise in Memphis. It will contain two
conferences, the American and the Pacific, each divided into two
divisions.
The two-league format will allow for a World Series at the
Triple-A level for the first time since 1983.
While the major league's showcase is played at the sites of the
teams involved, Triple-A has chosen to go in another direction.
Las Vegas will host the event for the first three years, with
the 1998 version beginning September 21st. Playing in one site
with a favorable climate makes for easier preparation and cuts
down on travel expenses.
Minor-league officials are also hoping that baseball fans
vacationing in Las Vegas might take a break from the slot
machines to watch the stars of tomorrow.
"We don't have the luxury of major league press and awareness of
this event," said Branch Rickey III, president of the PCL and
former president of the AA. "We felt at least at the outset that
a single site would help us market the event better. People
could make their plans well in advance, realizing that if their
team doesn't make it to the World Series that they can still
have a good time."
The four division winners of the PCL will advance to postseason
play. In the IL, a wild card team will face the winner of the
North Division while the champions of the West and South
Divisions will square off against each other.
Realignment of the minor leagues did not come overnight.
"There was discussion on Triple-A realignment 10 or 12 years
ago," said Randy Mobley, president of the IL. "As we expanded in
1993, there was some discussion and with the expansion in 1998
it was focused on again and the stars were in alignment. There
were some very vocal advocates in 1993, but it didn't get
rolling, there wasn't the impetus."
"(Realignment) should have been done a long time ago," added
Bill Larsen, general manager of the Nashville Sounds.
"Nationally, (Triple-A baseball) is not anywhere near where it
should be. The structure seems to be more logical now, easier to
understand."
Larsen adds that one benefit of realignment is that fans and
players will have a greater variety.
"It's going to be more positive in the sense we're going to be
able to see more teams," said Larsen. "More diversity is better
for the fans. Players will like it. It was so repetitive, it
wasn't healthy from a player development standpoint."
Even if the realignment had not been approved by the National
Association, the governing body of the minor leagues, the Bisons
were headed to the IL, a league they once called home.
"I think the whole realignment has been nothing short of
magnificent," said GM Mike Buczkowski. "Buffalo was in the
International League for decades and now we're coming home. From
a fan standpoint, three leagues are difficult to understand.
This gives us a national reach. Fans from each league will
understand more about other teams."
Rickey cautions that the Association, disbanded in 1962 before
being revived in 1969, did not agree to cease operations again
as a last resort.
"The American Association was not making a decision from a point
of weakness," said Rickey. "The American Association was
certainly as healthy as you could imagine an eight-team league
being. We thought the new opportunities being presented were
even better than what we had."
Not everyone was in total agreement with the plan.
Travel expenses were a factor that caused one of the eight old
American Association teams, the Iowa Cubs, to vote against the
realignment. According to Cubs GM Sam Barnabe, the club's air
fair costs will rise by 38 percent from last year.
"We hope to sell more tickets to make up the difference. We've
had to raise some prices across the board," Barnabe said. "The
PCL clubs will hurt more than the International. I think the
PCL teams will be at a greater disadvantage monetarily."
"Research was done on travel costs which found that it would not
necessarily be prohibitive," countered Rickey. "There were
projections that there would be a majority of teams that would
not see increased expenses."
Unlike their Major League counterparts, there will be no
interleague games between the IL and PCL. That will be saved for
late September in Las Vegas.
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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