2-26-10
If 900 fans are attending Mohawk Valley Diamond Dogs’ games in Little Falls on summer nights, how much better might we expect in Cooperstown, where 500,000 baseball aficionados from all over the country gravitate every summer?
If 8,926 people living in the Little Falls’ zip code can achieve that turnout, how much better can Oneonta do with 21,058 people in its zip?
How much indeed? The inaugural seasons of the Cooperstown Hawkeyes and the Oneonta Outlaws, both New York Collegiate Baseball League teams, are exciting prospects.
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Past is often prelude, and in the early 1900s, Cooperstown merchants chipped in to underwrite local teams – like the Outlaws and Hawkeyes, those team were made up of college players as well.Particularly with the state Sen. James L. Seward Cup – Oneonta Mayor Richard P. Miller, Jr., devised it for that very purpose – an Oneonta-Cooperstown rivalry could be effective promotional vehicle, and fun to boot.
All has moved swiftly to make the upcoming season happen, and there has been a wrinkle.
To allow the Saratoga Phillies to move to Oneonta as the Outlaws, the NYCBL team owners had to bend a rule that gives teams exclusivity within a 25-mile radius: The home plates at Doubleday and Damaschke are 24.2 miles apart.
As noted, there are all sorts of benefits of two teams in the county – cross-promotions, shared expenses, as well as the heightened competitive atmosphere – but there is also a downside for Hawkeyes owner Tom Hickey of Fly Creek.
In particular, both teams may find themselves competing for some of the same sponsors. Signs along the outfield fences, for instance, are a potentially lucrative revenue source.
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Hickey could challenge the owners in court, sure, but that would be costly to both sides, plus it would dampen the friendly rivalry/competition that could benefit both.The shortterm goal should be to quickly settle differences, erase any unhappiness, and move forward with the mutually fruitful collaboration that awaits.
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