It had to feel like the old days in the Northern League this week. The league, which deserves lion-sized credit for putting Independent Baseball on the sport’s map in the first place, had a major announcement.
It will have a new franchise in the northern most part of Illinois—upwind about 40 miles from downtown Chicago—starting in 2010. What’s more, it has a marquee name, actor Kevin Costner, in a major ownership role along with Schaumburg, IL boss man Rich Ehrenreich.
The following is an excerpt from an Independent Baseball Insider column including Chicagoland news written by Bob Wirz on 2-15-09 on Independent Baseball. Fans may subscribe at WirzandAssociates.com, be sure to enter promo code THE SPORTS BANK.
Now in its eighth year, the Independent Baseball Insider covers every Independent league. It is written by Bob Wirz, whose lengthy career in sports includes serving as Chief Spokesman for Baseball Commissioners Bowie Kuhn and Peter Ueberroth from 1974-85.
The team will play in a $17,000,000, 5,000-seat stadium to be built in the Lake County community of Zion. While Zion only has about 22,000 residents, the area has considerable population, and the stadium will be only minutes from the Six Flags Great America amusement park and the Gurnee Mills Mall.
“We couldn’t be more excited,” said co-owner Adam Ehlert of the Kansas City (KS) T-Bones. “It adds further credibility”. I can imagine hearing similar thoughts throughout the Northern League, in that the venerable circuit has struggled to get beyond a six-team lineup ever since four teams defected to what has become the American Association to start the 2006 season. That left the Northern without any of its original franchises plus a jagged footprint with Schaumburg, Joliet, IL and Gary, IN in the Chicago area, along with Kansas City, Fargo, ND and Winnipeg, which is further to the north in Manitoba, Canada.
“I just enjoy how the game is played,” Kevin Costner told Chicago’s WGN-TV. “There’s something very, very American about it.” This is said to be Costner’s first active baseball role, aside from youthful fanaticizing and acting in such movies as Bull Durham and Field of Dreams, because “this one is really special.”
Baseball aficionados may even have some fun debating where Costner ranks on the entertainment scale with such other celebrity owners as Bill Murray (St. Paul, MN and most anywhere the Goldklang Group is involved) and Pat Sajak, an investor in the Golden League.
The next task for the Northern League will be coming up with an eighth franchise with previous hints coming from such cities as Burnsville, MN and Topeka, KS.
