Baseball in Bangor gets the ax Weeks away from season opener, league cuts Lumberjacks’ membership

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Less than 24 hours after signing their 25th player to a contract and a week after announcing the hiring of their new manager, the Bangor Lumberjacks baseball team is out.

Eighteen hours after a Wednesday afternoon conference call involving all eight baseball franchises in the Canadian-American League, Lumberjacks team owner Charles M. “Chip” Hutchins announced in a press release that the team’s membership in the 11-year-old independent minor league has been terminated.

“Basically they indicated they’re not going to operate in 2005 and the other league members voted to terminate the membership because we need to have another team to fill that open spot,” said Dan Moushon, Can-Am League president. “The real issue is the timing of it. Here we are a few weeks from the league opening and the schedule’s been done for weeks, and we’re short one team.”

Hutchins, who bought the Bangor franchise for $575,000 in 2002, said in his press release that the Can-Am League’s decision “comes as the result of unsuccessful efforts by the current owner of the team, Lumberjack Baseball LLC, to find a buyer for the team.” He said in the release that he would have no further comment, but “will have one in the future.”

Team general manager Curt Jacey didn’t know about the league’s decision, or even Hutchins’ press release. He found out about the league’s axing of the team when contacted by the Bangor Daily News.

“It’s the first I’ve heard of it. I have not talked to Chip,” said Jacey. “Looks like I don’t have a job right now. I’m in shock right now. I don’t know what would prompt Chip to put out this release.”

Hutchins’ inability to pay either the league’s annual dues of $30,000, a substantial “security deposit,” or both may have prompted Bangor’s ejection from the league, according to league and team sources.

Bangor players and coaches are under a league gag order not to comment specifically about the team’s situation.

Despite averaging a respectable 1,177 fans per season the last two years – last year in Bangor and 2003 in Orono – the Lumberjacks were not making any money, but that was expected.

“I know people involved in this process, and the league made it very clear to them that they shouldn’t expect to make money or break even the first few years,” said Bangor city councilor Dan Tremble. “They said to be prepared to lose $100,000 a year for the next few years.”

Tremble, one of eight councilors to vote in favor of city financing of Husson’s 2-year-old multipurpose John Winkin Complex, the Lumberjacks’ home park, said he believes the team made a couple of missteps along the way.

“I think they got very good coverage and press from the media here, and not just the print media. I think it’s too bad,” Tremble said. “The move down from Orono was good, but it was a strange year because you never had any marketing for the team. There was a lot more promotion done when they were in Orono than when they came to Bangor.”

The team made cuts in its operating budget and pared its work force last winter, trying to minimize financial losses.

The loss of the Lumberjacks means the loss of Husson College’s principal tenant for Winkin Complex, a $1,047,000 facility toward which Bangor taxpayers contributed $381,000 and for which former University of Maine and current Husson baseball coach John Winkin personally kicked in $250,000.

“It’s a loss, but that stadium has many purposes, and it’s part of this area,” said Julie Green, Husson College’s director of public affairs. “The original intent is still there – to have it available as a facility for the community. It can be used for other things, and we’re not going anywhere.”

Green, a baseball fan, will miss the Lumberjacks.

“The more baseball, the better for me,” she said. “I enjoyed the games, and I’ll miss going.”

Lumberjacks season-ticket holders will have their money returned, and sponsors will be reimbursed for their costs, according to Hutchins in his press release.

Frank Farrington was the lone Bangor city councilor to vote against city funding of the complex, but he isn’t gloating.

“I’m very surprised and disappointed. I thought it was a long shot in the beginning, but I thought it was a good thing for the city,” he said. “I would love to have a team here … if it can work.”

Tremble isn’t sure Bangor will get another chance since the Bangor Blue Ox (1996-97) and the Lumberjacks may have poisoned the well for future prospective teams.

“It doesn’t make it any easier for someone to come in here in the future now that we’ve had two teams here that have failed,” he said.

Farrington said the loss of the Lumberjacks isn’t necessarily a loss of the city’s $381,000 investment.

“I think whatever money went into it, it went into a Husson facility and Husson is a key part of the fabric of Bangor,” he said. “We’ve got the facility, so if not the Lumberjacks, I hope we’ll find someone else to use it.”

Bangor is the second team in two seasons in the league to abruptly cease operations. The same thing happened almost a year ago – May 4, to be exact – when Allentown (Pa.) folded just three weeks before the regular-season start of what then was called the Northeast League.

All of the league owners chipped in to fund a traveling team called the Aces that played no home games and filled Allentown’s gap in the league schedule, giving each team an extra six home games in the 92-game season.

It was Allentown’s folding that was the catalyst for renaming the league.

“Part of the reason the Northeast League dissolved was we didn’t have very strong bylaws or a constitution,” Moushon said. “When we formed this, we brought in stricter rules.

“We also have some safeguards in place to make it a smoother transition than last year, but the timing is still key. The time for something like this to happen is at the owners’ meeting in early October.”

Moushon wouldn’t discuss what those “safeguards” are, but one could be a type of surety or security deposit arrangement where teams pay or pledge a substantial sum of money that they would forfeit to the league in the event of the franchise folding.

Hutchins and other team officials had continually denied off-season rumors that the team was for sale, but Moushon confirmed they were trying to find a buyer.

“They said they’ve had ongoing talks,” Moushon said. “I know the owner had been trying to sell the franchise, but I don’t know what the prospects are. That’s their business.”

Potential purchasers were believed to be a New York-based group and another headed by Hiro Masawa, a Japanese businessman and father of former Lumberjacks backup catcher Hide Masawa.

Even if Masawa or some other buyer enters the fold with an ironclad offer in the next few days, the Lumberjacks cannot be saved.

“It’s done. It’s finished,” Moushon said. “They are no longer a member, and there’s nothing for them to sell anyone.”

The players who have been signed by Bangor the last few weeks automatically become free agents and are free to sign with any league’s team, as is now-former manager Chris Carminucci, who was introduced to the media last week.

“I’m disappointed, but I’m actively talking with the league to see what happens next,” Carminucci said from his home in Connecticut.

Moushon would not say if Carminucci is the top choice to coach the traveling team the league will put together this year to fill Bangor’s gap, but he did say, “If he’s interested, he’d certainly be a prime candidate.”

The league announced Thursday that the replacement team will be known as the Grays.

Bangor Lumberjacks timeline

1/24/03 – Charles M. “Chip” Hutchins introduces new team.

1/24/03 – Curt Jacey named general manager, Kash Beauchamp named manager.

5/30/03 – First game played at Mahaney Diamond.

7/14/03 – Bangor City Council votes to contribute $381,000 to Winkin Complex.

9/1/03 – Jacks finish first season with 42-49 record.

9/23/03 – Winkin Complex wins Planning Board approval.

6/3/04 – First game played at Winkin Complex at Husson College.

9/10/04 – Eliminated from semifinals of playoffs. Finished 57-39; 68,251 total attendance

10/1/04 – Team office and store closes at Bangor Mall.

November 2004 – Beauchamp leaves for new Golden League.

4/20/05 – Chris Carminucci named new manager.

2003 average attendance: 1,089 per game.

2004 average attendance: 1,264 per game.