The Muckdogs need to make money and draw more fans, according to NY-Penn League Commissioner Ben Hayes, but even that might not be enough to keep the team in the city of the NYPL's birth.
Hayes said Dwyer Stadium is one of three or four ballparks in the league that is not up to professional baseball standards.
"It's not that I want them to relocate," Hayes said while visiting Dwyer for Thursday's game. "It's not something I want to happen. But it is something that, if the market is not supporting the ball club, or you have a stadium that’s not in condition for professional baseball, either one of those can end a franchise, and that’s where we are."
The infield is a particular concern, Hayes said. He said he's heard, but doesn't know about firsthand, that one team that visited Dwyer this year refused to take infield practice because the manager was concerned about the condition of the playing surface.
Minutes earlier Hayes spoke with the groundskeeper. Hayes said the groundskeeper told him the field needed to be bulldozed.
"The infield needs to be laser leveled," Hayes said. "Those things are very costly."
The local ownership group is nonprofit, Hayes noted, and doesn't have the resources to take on those kinds of improvements.
The commissioner pointed to Aberdeen, State College, Staten Island and Brooklyn as franchises with professional quality facilities. He singled out Vermont as a club that, while profitable, will need to relocate if it can't solve its ballpark problems.
Hayes agreed that it would be a shame if one of the last original franchises had to relocate.
"We considered that three years ago," Hayes said. "That was one of the top things on our minds. It's one of the last original, founding clubs in the New York-Penn League.
Unfortunately," he added, "it’s a situation where I’m not sure this club can make money. It’s losing money every year and if that’s the case, then, you know, like the other original members, those clubs will have to depart and go somewhere else."
UPDATE, Friday, 9:22 p.m.: Groundskeeper Donald Rock called to clarify -- he's concerned that some might read his comments as meaning that the whole stadium needs to be leveled. That's not what he said. He said Hayes came to him before the game and asked, "If you could do one thing, what would it be?" and he replied bulldoze the field (both infield and outfield) and level it. Rock said years of football play on the field has left it uneven. He said Hayes told him he does a great job with the field and it's in the best condition it can be under the circumstances. He said Hayes said, "The things that need to be repaired, you can't do yourself."
