Lumberjacks are ‘definitely’ back for season Team set for May 26 opener

Despite an offseason of inactivity cloaked in secrecy and marked by uncertainty, professional baseball is on deck for a second season in Bangor as the Bangor Lumberjacks prepare for their third season.

The new-look Lumberjacks will have a new manager, a revamped roster, and play in an independent league with a different name and a new team.

“We’re definitely having a season,” said Lumberjacks general manager Curt Jacey. “We’re getting ready for the 2005 season.”

That statement will come as a surprise to some who assumed the Lumberjacks were a memory after they closed their team offices and store last October and manager Kash Beauchamp accepted a job offer last November to be a manager and scout for the new independent Golden League based in California. Jacey said despite widespread speculation that the team would either fold or move from Bangor, he has conducted his business as usual this winter.

“It hasn’t really been that different, to be honest,” Jacey said. “We’ve been selling tickets and taking orders. We’ve had a lot of calls and interest has been good.”

Jacey said the team has signed 15 players – including some familiar faces – and is looking to set up shop with a team office somewhere in Bangor as soon as possible. So why the move out of the Bangor Mall?

“It worked out for us year one, but it wasn’t financially viable for us to be out there,” Jacey said. ” It was an expensive proposition to be in that location.”

The Lumberjacks begin their 92-game 2005 regular season at home against New Jersey Thursday, May 26 at 6:30 p.m.

As to why the Lumberjacks’ offseason has been so quiet and off the radar, Jacey said it was due to some organizational restructuring and downsizing desired by team owner Charles “Chip” Hutchins.

“I just think the ownership as a whole went back and looked at doing some reorganization and things have taken a little longer to figure out than expected,” said Jacey.

Hutchins could not be reached for comment.

Exactly how negatively the Lumberjacks’ offseason invisibility affects their popularity and viability in the Bangor area is uncertain.

“That’s yet to be seen. I can’t answer that yet,” Jacey said. “I think it’s [pro baseball] viable. I think last year was tough on us for a number of different reasons. We had horrendous weather and a new facility with certain kinks to iron out. I think this can be a very good year, but we have to a better job of getting people to come to the ballpark, and we’ll do everything in our power to do it.”

Although the league the Lumberjacks play in is essentially the same, it is sporting a new name – the Can-Am League – and a new franchise: the Worcester (Mass.) Tornadoes, who replace the “travelling” league-sponsored and run Aces team that was hastily formed to replace the Allentown Ambassadors last spring after the Allentown franchise abruptly folded.

The team will play a second season at Husson College’s Winkin Complex, which is Bangor’s home field through 2008, although team and college officials are meeting to iron out “gray areas” in the lease agreement’s language.

“We have a five-year lease on the field. We have rights starting May 1 for our games and we maintain the field at the times we use it,” Jacey explained. “It basically runs through the end of September with effort made to accommodate playoff games. We’re negotiating things as far as that goes.”

Last year, the team ran into trouble as the Northeast League playoff games started Sept. 10.

Due to a scheduling conflict with Husson’s homecoming football game and the resulting expense and effort to switch Winkin’s artificial turf field from a football to baseball playing surface and back again, the Lumberjacks played their playoff home games at Mansfield Complex. Husson officials mistakenly believed the Lumberjacks’ season ended Sept. 1.