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FCBL tweaks things slightly heading into 3rd season

By Staff | Feb 10, 2013

The 2013 Futures Collegiate Baseball League will look like the 2012 FCBL. Well, on the surface, anyway.

Below the surface, the FCBL remains a league making progress. There are some subtle changes, but the league is basically returning this summer with the same nine franchises, although the Seacoast Mavericks will now be based out of Portsmouth rather than Rochester.

Oh, and league founder and owner, partial or full, of three teams, Chris Carminucci, will work in a diminished role thanks to his new scouting position with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

One more thing, the schedule won’t be balanced, to help save travel costs. Ah, and add a new round of playoffs.

So in some respects, league officials say, the same old is better, with a twist, even a year after the league more than doubled in size, going from four to nine clubs.

“We want to be very careful of who we bring in, and how we bring them in,” FCBL Commissioner Chris Hall said. “So we decided this year to ask ourselves, ‘How do we get our nine teams better?’ ”

Not finding the so-called perfect fit for a 10th team for 2013, Hall & Co. set out to make some subtle changes around the league. That includes, for example, sinking some money into the Martha’s Vineyard franchise to improve its field.

“It’s a nice experience on the Vineyard,” Hall said, “but we need to get them more of a ballpark feel.”

That will include, he said, bringing in some chairback seating, as mainly there are just some bleachers and many bring lawn chairs or sit on the hill beyond the outfield, as the Sharks play at basically a high school field carved out in a forest park area on the Vineyard.

Similar upgrades in a phase capacity are set for Doyle Field in Leominster, Mass., for the Wachusett Dirt Dogs, Hall said. Meanwhile, Hall is expecting New Hamphire’s only other franchise besides the Nashua Silver Knights, the Seacoast Mavericks, to reap the benefits of playing at Portsmouth’s Leary Field, where they’ve played a handful of games here and there.

The attendance at Spaulding High School in Rochester had been abysmal. Plus, Leary Field will be receiving some upgrades, about $43,000. Former Portsmouth High School standout Scott Smith is making a $10,000 donation as part of that, and the team is kicking in the rest.

“We’re happy we were able to get them moved out to Portsmouth,” Hall said. “It should be a much better experience
for them.”

To help upgrade both franchises, Old Orchard and Seacoast have entered into a rare season ticket partnership. Buy a season ticket for one team, and get free admission to the other team’s park when your team plays there on the road.

The league is apparently trying to steer away from high school-type facilities. Four of the six franchises that play in stadiums – Nashua, North Shore, Brockton and Pittsfield – all averaged more than 1,000 fans per game. Old Orchard and Torrington were just over 500 per game.

“That’s right,” Hall said. “That’s one thing we’re trying to do, but we can’t fix everything overnight.”

With that in mind, clearly, the FCBL had it sights set on Worcester, Mass., after the Tornadoes of the independent professional CanAm League folded late last summer. That would give the FCBL all four of the former Boston area Can-Am franchises (Brockton, Nashua, North Shore, Worcester) and five in New England if you count Pittsfield.

But city officials, working with the College of Holy Cross, are still exploring their options and are said to be leaning toward independent minor league ball over summer collegiate ball, even after the recent failure, for 2014. But there will still be efforts made to tilt the scales in favor of the FCBL, Hall said.

“We would have loved to be in Worcester,” Hall said. “We had a potential owner there who was ready to go. We’re disappointed in the decision, but we understand the decision. We hope we’re the choice next year. We’re ready to go if they give us an opportunity.”

Hall hopes the league this summer can show itself off to Worcester officials who may take in a game or two.

Meanwhile, the league has evolved. When it was Hall and Carminucci making the bulk of the decisions in its infancy, now there are several respected owners bringing vast experience to the table, including Nashua and Lowell Spinners owner Drew Weber. But there is also the Goldklang Group in Pittsfield, Pat Salvi in Lynn, and there are still some major players in Brockton, including minor league owner and entertainment businessman Van Schley, who is part
of Carminucci’s group
in Martha’s Vineyard as well. So there are some heavy hitters who will absorb the day-to-day loss of Carminucci.

“Chris will still be involved in the league; he’ll still be a member of our board of directors,” Hall said. “We’ll have a clearer picture later of how it will all work out. But if anything, (Carminucci’s limited role) helps, because it gets other people more involved.”

Like Schley, who, Hall said, came up with the idea of adding an extra tier of playoffs. Now six teams will make the playoffs, as opposed to the previous four. The top two seeds will escape the dreaded one-game playoff first round.

“We all thought it was a pretty good idea,” Hall said. “It gets more teams involved, a chance to compete right down to the last few games. I’m pretty excited to see how it’s going to go.”

One way the schedule will go for some teams is heavy with nearby foes. Nashua is not quite as affected but for example, Martha’s Vineyard and Brockton will meet 14 times, as will Pittsfield and Torrington as well as Old Orchard and Seacoast. That reduces the number of games against other franchises.

Players weren’t happy about the extensive travel last summer after the league expanded, and, as Hall said, “We took a lot of feedback from our players in making out this schedule.

“It’s a very unbalanced schedule. But it works
for the league and the players.”

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