Lodi closing in on deal for new baseball team

Lodi may soon play home to a new baseball team.

The Lodi Parks and Recreation department is currently working out a plan to bring in a summer baseball squad made up of draft-eligible Division I college and junior college players in 2008 as part of the newly developed Sierra Baseball League.

"We think Lodi's a perfect community to support this," said Stevie Mack, the league's owner. "We tried to do this last summer, but a deal wasn't able to get done in time."

The roughly 45-game season would run from the beginning of June into the second week of August, with games held from Thursday through Sunday. Home games would be played at Zupo Field.

Lodi would represent one of six teams in the league, with the others including Stockton, which would play its home games at Billy Hebert Field, Sacramento and Vacaville.

"Everybody's excited about it — they are and we are, too," Lodi Parks and Recreation Director Tony Goehring said. "I think it would certainly be a good opportunity to bring a high level of baseball back to Lodi.

"And because of it's short season, we're not talking about displacing local teams."

In summers past, Zupo Field has been home to American Legion baseball, but its status for upcoming summers is unknown. Should Legion continue, Goehring says, the league could simply play its games earlier in the week.

The idea of the Sierra Baseball League is to give college players who haven't been drafted additional opportunities to improve their games and gain exposure from major league scouts.

"It's really a good caliber of play — sometimes even better than minor league ball," Goehring said.

Most of the details have yet to be figured out, but Goehring says the league is on a relatively stringent timeline and both parties would like to get something figured out by the end of July.

The league's representatives would like to find ways to improve Zupo, including the lighting system.

"We're still trying to hammer out the field issues, and I don't think they're insurmountable," Goehring said. "They came up with ideas of how to make the field look more like old, nostalgic parks."

Goehring believes the team will need to average between 800 and 1,000 fans per game in order to support the cost of the club.

Another issue will be the need for host families who can house the players during the summer.

Reader Feedback

Coach TD wrote on May 31, 2007 5:58 AM:

" Great idea for Lodi. The community should really get behind a team like this. "

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Jason T wrote on May 31, 2007 5:52 AM:

" Awesome -- Lodi needs a team we can wrap our arms around -- and this team will be better than most any single-A team fielded by the A's or the Giant's. Great job Tony of finally getting a pro style team back in Lodi. "

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Dixon Flynn wrote on May 25, 2007 9:59 PM:

" Tony I'll be there to support the team. Good job. Hate to see you retire at a time like this "

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rv wrote on May 25, 2007 8:36 PM:

" unrealistic. "

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think wrote on May 25, 2007 5:56 PM:

" Tony,,I can't believe how naive you are to even think you could draw 800 people,,,,100 is even too high an estimate.The Cal Bears,,which is very good ball only averaged about 400 a game. "

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ex-coach wrote on May 25, 2007 3:25 PM:

" if you happen to go watch any sporting event at the Grape Bowl over the years(except H.S.football) you can get a feeling as to what the attendance will be for this kind of event-bad idea !!! "

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Former lodian wrote on May 25, 2007 11:20 AM:

" Bringing in a semi-pro/high caliber baseball team to lodi is a good idea. A semi-pro/ high caliber baseball has not existed since M&R Packers disbanded in 2002-03. But to expect between 800-1,000 fans to come out to watch the games is unachievable. On the average fans for the M&R Packers was only about 25-30 per game sometimes lower. Lodi will loose money on this deal but Zupo will look more presentable to the community. "

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I am all in wrote on May 25, 2007 10:33 AM:

" If they sell cheap beer and hot dogs they should be able to get a decent crowd out to the games. I would love to take my kids out to a Saturday or Sunday day game. Heat doesnt bother anyone around here. "

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Coach T wrote on May 25, 2007 10:33 AM:

" Is this really a good idea? Tony G needs to do more research. "

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do your homework wrote on May 25, 2007 8:03 AM:

" There is no way this kind of team would average between 800-1000 ! "

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Hot Heat wrote on May 25, 2007 7:26 AM:

" I'm all for it. Couldn't be a better thing to happen in Lodi. Bring on the Sports. BUT who do you think will sit and watch a game in the 110 degree weather? June to August is the hottest months. The older people couldn't handle the heat. Think twice about this. You won't get enough people to support it that time of year unless you have some coverings or shade. "

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