Effort under way to draw baseball team to Bangor

There is no press box, no concession stands, and no public restrooms. There’s not enough seating for 1,500 fans or more at Husson College’s newly refurbished baseball field.

Heck, there’s not even a professional team to watch play there, but the possibility of attending pro baseball games in Bangor is getting better by the day.

Local business, political and sports leaders are quietly attempting to lay the groundwork to entice an independent or lower division affiliated minor league to locate a franchise in Bangor.

“Things are happening, but it’s nothing that I can talk about, but it looks like something we can get excited about,” said attorney and Penobscot County Commissioner Peter Baldacci. “I can say that I am more optimistic than I’ve been in recent years.”

Former University of Maine baseball coach and current Husson College Fellow and assistant coach John Winkin is also excited about the possible return of minor league baseball to the area after a four-year absence.

“There is something big brewing, but I don’t want to hurt the people involved who don’t want any publicity in regard to this until everything is nailed down,” said Winkin, who sold his family camp to raise money to start the refurbishment of Husson’s field with an eye toward attracting a pro team to the area.

Winkin did say that prospective franchises could come from the Double A level, Single A level, or independent leagues like the 18-team Northern League, the same league that the former Bangor Blue Ox franchise was absorbed into three years ago after two years of operation in Orono. That team, now known as the Quebec Capitales, averaged over 4,000 fans per game last season, according to Baldacci and Winkin.

“It’s in the exploratory stages, but I think this will happen because the people involved in this are the right kind of people to make it happen,” said Winkin. “We have been contacted by more than one league about the possibility of fielding a team in this area. We’re a place that people are looking at.”

Last summer, officials from the fledgling Liberty League of Professional Baseball contacted Winkin and several Bangor officials about the possibility of locating a team in Bangor to begin play in 2003. Baldacci said a best-case scenario would result in a team starting play in the spring of 2003 because 2002 “would be a building year.”

Both Winkin and Baldacci said several prominent local people have pledged their support in Bangor’s quest to lure a pro team here and refurbish or build a facility suitable for such a team.

“All options are being looked at as far as the appropriate facility. Having the appropriate seating, lights… and I’d love to see field turf installed,” Winkin said. “That’s the artificial turf that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Fitzpatrick Stadium [in Portland] uses.”

Although a self-professed baseball purist, Winkin has been won over by the arguments for a turf, rather than grass surface.

“I think it would be the perfect fit for the area we’re in because we lose time in the spring due to the weather and the mud season,” Winkin said. “It suits our environment the best because we can start earlier and play later.”

Winkin said another advantage is the fact that many rainouts could be averted with such a surface, since it can be dried quicker.

Winkin said the time may be right for pro baseball in Bangor as Major League Baseball’s current efforts at contraction may result in a flood of talented players available to independent leagues since each Major League team has at least five farm league teams of 20 players each. If two parent teams are dissolved, 200 or more players would be looking for jobs.

As far as area support goes, Winkin is convinced the time is right as long as the team is solid on and off the field.

“It’s a pretty savvy sports fan area. If the product is good, people will come out for it,” he said.