Independent League Commissioner Promises "Great Success" Despite History

March 28, 2010 The Commissioner of the Independent Can-Am League, Christopher St. Lawrence's partner in the proposed $25 million baseball park in Ramapo, claimed in a Community View in The Journal News: " In every market where our leagues have built new facilities, the municipalities have enjoyed great success and seen strong positive economic benefits. I hope this helps clear up some of the discussion, and I am sure that a new stadium with Can-Am baseball will be providing great baseball entertainment for decades to come in Rockland County." Actually, the Can-Am League has fielded seven teams in New York State and all seven have gone belly-up and/or moved out. Of the 22 modern franchises, this League has seen 16 fail.

Miles Wolff, the Commissioner of the Can-Am League likes to point to one of his teams, the team made famous in the movie Bull Durham. Wolff sold the Durham Bulls years ago when a neighboring city, Raleigh, began to talk up some competition for the team. Sports Illustrated reported on the attempt to get the town to build a new stadium for Wolff's most famous team: "To head off the threat, and to ensure that a major league team would continue to be affiliated with Durham, Wolff pushed a bond issue this spring for a new but traditional downtown stadium in Durham, complete with the Bull. The voters resoundingly said no, however, so now a frustrated Wolff may sell the team to Raleigh media mogul Jim Goodmon for a reported $4 million. Not a bad price, considering that in 1980, when Wolff brought the Bulls back to Durham after an eight-year absence, he gave the Class A Carolina League $2,417 for the franchise rights." (The Bulls moved in 1997 to Danville Virginia, playing as the Danville 97s, and then moved in 1998 to Myrtle Beach SC to become the Pelicans.)

Fast forward to today and Supervisor St. Lawrence is offering more than a million Ramapo tax dollars for the franchise license to Wolff for an unknown Can-Am League team. A League with a 73% failure rate. And the people of Ramapo are being asked to float a $25.5 million loan for a new stadium when the people of Durham, despite the temporary fame brought by the Bulls, refused when they were asked to spend their tax money on a new stadium for their own team.

We have included tables below showing the current teams in the Can-Am League and the failed teams and what happened to them. Visit the Indy Leagues Graveyard online at www.indygraveyard.com, but note that it is a little behind our chart (last update was October 2007--more have failed since). Also check the page that has the Northeast League deceased at http://www.indygraveyard.com/teams/index.htm. A number of past New York teams appear there.

Current Teams in the Can-Am League

Team

City

Founded

Stadium

Brockton Rox

 Broxton, Mass.

2002

 Campanelli Stadium
New Jersey Jackals Little Falls, NJ

1998

 Yogi Berra Stadium
Pittsfield Pittsfield, Mass.

1998

 Wahconah Park
Quebec Capitales Quebec City, Quebec

1999

 Stade Municipal
Sussex Skyhawks Augusta, NJ

2006

 Skylands Park
Worcester Tornadoes Worcester, Mass

2005

 Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field

Teams that have Failed in the Can-Am League
Team City Founded Folded History
Adirondack Lumberjacks Glens Falls, New York 1995 2002 Became the Bangor Lumberjacks (also failed)
Albany-Colonie

Diamond Dogs

 Colonie, New York 1995 2002 Folded after the 2002 season
Allentown Ambassadors Allentown, Pennsylvania 1997 2003 Folded shortly before start of 2004 season
Atlantic City Surf Atlantic City, New Jersey 2007 2008 Folded shortly before start of 2009 season
Bangor Blue Ox Bangor, Maine 1996 1997 Went dormant after 1997 season; franchise moved to Quebec for 1999 season
Bangor Lumberjacks Orono, Maine Bangor, Maine 2003 2004 Folded in April 2005; replaced by Can-Am traveling team*
Catskill Cougars/Sullivan Mountain Lions Mountaindale, New York 1995

1997

2000

 1995

1998

2000

 Played in North Atlantic League during 1996 season; folded after 1998 season; revived franchise folded after 2000 season
Berkshire Black Bears Pittsfield, Mass. 2002 2003 Left and became the New Haven County Cutters which folded in 2007
Elmira Pioneers Elmira, New York 1996 2005 Moved to New York Collegiate Baseball League an amateur summer league
Massachusetts Mad Dogs Lynn, Massachusetts 1997 1999 Went dormant after 1999 season; was moved to Berkshire for 2002 season and folded in 2007
Mohawk Valley Landsharks Little Falls, New York 1995 1995 Left to become the Rhode Island Tiger Sharks which folded the next year (1996)
Newburgh Nighthawks Newburgh, New York 1995 1996 Folded after the 1996 season; replaced by Waterbury Spirit which went dormant 2002
New Haven County Cutters New Haven, Conn. 2004 2007 Folded after the 2007 season
North Shore Spirit Lynn, Massachusetts 2003 2007 Folded after 2007 season
Ottawa Rapidz Ottawa, Ontario 2008 2008 League disbanded team shortly before the 2009 season
Rhode Island Tiger Sharks West Warwick, Rhode Island 1996 1996 Folded after the 1996 season, replaced by Allentown Ambassadors which folded in 2003
Waterbury Spirit Waterbury, Conn. 1997 2000 Went dormant after 2000 season; franchise was moved to North Shore for 2003 season where it folded after 2007 season
Yonkers Hoot Owls Yonkers, New York 1995 1995 Folded after the 1995 season

Teams in the Can-Am League fail 73% of the time

In New York State that failure rate is 100%--No Can-Am team has ever succeeded in New York State

There have been seven Can-Am teams tried in New York State. They were in Glens Falls, Colonie, Mountaindale, Elmira, Little Falls, Newburg, and Yonkers. Three of the teams left New York to new locations where they subsequently folded, and four of the teams folded while in their New York stadiums. (Seven teams failed 9 times.) Of the 22 modern franchises for this league, 16 have folded. That’s an overall failure rate of 73%.

Michael Castelluccio
www.PreserveRamapo.org 　
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