The Boston Globe revealed a prospective ownership group has scouted sites in the Boston area with the hopes of building a $30-million minor league baseball stadium. The Globe reported lawyer Alex Bok confirmed his prospective ownership group would field an Atlantic League team.
The Atlantic League will have an eight-team, 140-game schedule next season — with the expansion Sugar Land (Texas) Skeeters joining the league. Atlantic League officials hope to one day form a four-team West Division, consisting entirely of teams in the Texas/Louisiana area. And although the league wants to continue to expand outside the Northeast, the majority of the league will remain in the Northeast. Earlier this year, a prospective ownership group attempted to outbid the Class A Frederick (Md.) Keys for the lease at Harry Grove Stadium. The league also planned to welcome the Loudoun Hounds (Va.) in 2011, but without a ballpark to open the Hounds needed to reset their first-pitch countdown — which is now scheduled for 2012. The league has also attempted to place a franchise in Nassau County (N.Y.) and create a natural rivalry with the nearby Long Island Ducks.
If they find a site in the Boston area, Bok plans to model his group’s minor league stadium after Hammons Field — the home of the Double-A Springfield (Mo.) Cardinals. Ballparks.com named Hammons Field the 2005 “Ballpark of the Year.”
York Daily Record/Sunday News Sportswriter Jim Seip has covered minor league baseball since 2001. He's covered the York Revolution since the franchise's first game in 2007.
Boston expansion would be great for the league! Baseball in the Boston area is like cake is to ice cream!