Sports

It would be "very, very sad" way for baseball to end in Batavia and 41 other minor league cities if the baseball season were canceled and a new agreement between Minor League Baseball and Major League Baseball eliminated those small franchises, said Ben Hayes, president of the New York Penn League.

Professional baseball in Batavia was under threat of extinction before a pandemic hit, and news reports have indicated Minor League Baseball has conceded to the MLB's request to consolidate leagues across the nation. Still, Hayes said today that negotiations continue and nothing has been finalized.

Even better news, he isn't giving up on playing NYPL baseball in 2020. The season is indefinitely postponed, but Hayes said he and league owners and officials want players in parks and fans in seats this season if at all possible, including in Batavia.  

The NYPL operates in eight states, and there are only two stadiums so far that are in regions where COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted enough to allow fans and ballplayers into ballparks.

"There's nobody at the Major League level or the Minor League level that has said this season is over and done," Hayes said. "Nothing has been canceled at either the full-season or short-season level."

If a decision was made to play ball, the MLB has suggested it would take players two or three weeks to get ready for the rigors of professional baseball.  

Hayes is currently traveling around the league, including a planned stop in Batavia, and league owners have been holding regular conference calls so they can be ready for the day when there can be baseball again.

Every team is developing plans to ensure social distancing is maintained; there is plenty of personal protective equipment for personnel; there are plans for thorough and regular cleaning and sanitizing in place, and to ensure that hotels and busses are safe and clean. 

"Everybody has a plan right now," Hayes said. "We're following the guidelines to make sure our players are safe but also our fans and stadium staff or safe. Right now, it's just a waiting game."

If the season is washed out, Hayes said he has already communicated with the Minor League's negotiating committee to request that any new agreement that could potentially eliminate teams would be delayed at least a year so that fans in those cities losing their franchises could get a farewell season before shutting down.

"That's my hope," Hayes said. "We voiced that to our representatives on the negotiating committee," Hayes said. "There are 42 clubs out there that if that plan were to go through, they would have never gotten a chance to have a last season, and that would be very, very sad."

As for the current operations of the Muckdogs, if you call the office, the phone is disconnected. It's not possible to get in touch with General Manager Brendan Kelly.  

Hayes said shutting down operations was purely a cost-saving measure and not an indication of the status of the ballclub.

"We're just trying to save money," Hayes said. "We're trying not to accrue costs simply because of the financial situation of the Muckdogs."

Meanwhile, except for the city mowing the infield and outfield grass, the playing surface is not being maintained. Weeds are sprouting up all over the diamond that Cooper Thomas has beautifully manicured over the past couple of seasons. 

None of that is a worry, Hayes said. 

"We can get that back in shape in two or three weeks once we get a grounds crew in there," Hayes said. 

The weeds maybe a little bigger but the situation now isn't much different than it would be in a typical year when crews start preparing the field for high school players in the spring.

"It's amazing what an edger and a lawnmower and a little bit of fertilizer and weed killer can do," Hayes said. "It makes a huge difference and you can really turn a field around quickly."

Whether Thomas will return in 2020 to lead that effort -- assuming the NYPL gets to play baseball -- is up in the air, Hayes said. He would love to have Thomson back and Thomas wants to come back, he said, but President Trump's current moratorium on worker immigration because of COVID-19 could prevent Thomas from making the trip from Australia to Batavia.

Top Photo: Weeds growing in the Dwyer Stadium infield.

Yesterday, the Dwyer Stadium scoreboard was lit up with "Reds 0 / Pirates 0 / PPD."

Press release:

Officials at Batavia Downs today announced that in preparation for the Belmont Stakes running this weekend, they have implemented several promotions that will take place onsite.

At Fortune’s restaurant, guests can order the $25 Belmont special, which consists of two 10 oz. strip steaks, a $5 wager on the Belmont and two $10 Gaming Free Plays, valid to be redeemed once the gaming floor is reopened. This special is for dine-in customers only and can be purchased anytime on Friday or Saturday up until Belmont Post time of 5:42 p.m.

There will be $2.50 Belmont Breeze drinks available at the Gatsby Bar.

The purchase of any entrees this weekend will also allow the purchaser to receive $10 Free Plays to be redeemed once the gaming floor is reopened.

Batavia Downs also announced that their on-site simulcast center will be open on Friday for those wishing to make advance wagers. It will be open Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. Guests may wager on the Belmont Stakes or any other tracks that are running.  Western OTB’s branches across Western and Central New York are also open for advanced wagers on Friday and Saturday.

Those wishing to visit Fortune's or OTB Branches must wear a mask.

To reach the simulcast center, guests may enter at the valet entrance and take the elevator by Fortune’s or go through the main doors and up to the second floor. 

The gaming floor remains closed at this time.

“The Belmont Stakes is usually the third leg of the Triple Crown, but this year the order has been restructured and New York’s leg is up first,” said Todd Haight, general manager of Live Racing. “We’re looking forward to a great race and hope to see people take advantage of these great promotions.”

To make an order for take out or to make reservations, guests may call 585-FORTUNE -- (585) 367-8863.

While Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul was in Pavilion today, we asked her if she was still involved in trying to save the Batavia Muckdogs.

This afternoon at Van Detta Stadium, Batavia High School Senior Margaret "Maggie" Andersen received her Athletic Sports Awards today early before leaving for the Air Force Academy. 

Presented by Athletic Director Mike Bromley and Track coaching staff:

• Batavia Coaches' Association 2019 - 2020 Scholar Athlete of the Year Award;
• BHS Senior Athlete Award for three-season athletes throughout four years of High School;
• NYSPHSAA (New York State Public High School Athletic Association) Scholar Athlete Award for indoor track and field;
• Batavia Coaches Association Outstanding Athletic Achievement Section V Champion Indoor Track and Field.

Photos by Steve Ognibene.

For spring athletes, they lost their seasons, and they lost many of the senior-year traditions, such as Senior Night. Rich Hannan, athletic director for Byron-Bergen, organized a parade through the county in their honor.

A Batavia Country Club today, Dave Barone, an avid golfer for nearly 60 years, sank his first hole-in-one.

The perfect shot came on the 178-yard 17th hole. Barone was swinging a 4 hybrid.

He finished the round at 79 strokes.  

In his foursome were Rod Allen, Johnny Lowe, and Doug Cecere.

Photo and info submitted by Doug Cecere.

Horse racing in New York State could resume as early as June 1, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced today at his COVID-19 pandemic press conference.

The governor said that racing would take place without spectators and with safety measures that will be outlined in detail in the days ahead, and the restart would hinge upon the continuous decline of New York’s total hospitalization rate from the virus. 

While live racing isn’t scheduled to officially begin at Batavia Downs Gaming until July 22, Henry Wojtaszek, president of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., said today’s announcement is welcome news.

“We’re certainly happy to hear that, and we have been doing a great deal of work preparing for our opening (of the gaming facility) sometime in June,” he said. “We have been working with the (New York State) Gaming Commission internally and will start working on the track in about a week or so to get that ready.”

Batavia Downs’ harness racing slate currently lists 65 dates, beginning on Wed., July 22 and ending in early December.

When asked if Batavia Downs Gaming has a reopening plan in place, Wojtaszek said that “it’s a work in progress” that is being shared at every step with the Gaming Commission.

Live Racing GM/Director Todd Haight, Vice President of Operations Scott Kiedrowski, and Wojtaszek are steering the drafting of the facility’s reopening plan in conjunction with the Western New York Harness Horsemen’s Association, “with whom we have a very good relationship,” Wojtaszek said.

“We’re also working with our trade association, the New York Gaming Association, and individually to cleanse and sanitize, and put the safety protocols in place,” he said, noting that some parts of the operation are included in Phase Three and some in Phase Four of the state’s four-phase reopening strategy.

“That’s why we’re hoping to open sometime in June,” he said.

Wojtaszek said that all employees are back to work, some on a regular basis – such as security, surveillance and maintenance staff – and others either working at the Park Road site, from home or on call.

Also, today, Cuomo said that Watkins Glen International race track would be able to reopen for NASCAR races in August, and baseball was mentioned as a sport that could conduct its season without fans in the stands.

The governor reported that daily hospitalizations and intubations have dropped to around 400 new cases per day.

Tim McArdle, Le Roy High School principal, created a series of videos celebrating the Oatkan Knights spring sports teams, which had their spring seasons canceled by the pandemic. For the full playlist, click here.

At 8:20 p.m. (20:20 on a 24-hour clock) Batavia High School faculty and coaches lined Richmond Avenue next to a lit up Van Detta Stadium to honor students of the Class of 2020.

They were also there to honor all the athletes who did not finish, or never played spring sports this truncated school year.

The scoreboard was lit up with a score of 20-20, 20 min. 20 sec. with the message “Batavia High School Celebrates the Class of 2020."

Students and their families were asked to drive by to see the scoreboard lit up in their honor. 

Tribute to Batavia High School's 2020 baseball team by Nickie Fazio.

Former Vice President of Operations at Batavia Downs, James P. Samberg, passed away on Wednesday (Apr. 29) at the age of 85.  

Samberg was born in 1935 in Detroit, Mich., where he attended Precious Blood Catholic School and Catholic Central High School. He went on to graduate from St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto with a degree in Theology and Writing. He taught English and history for a year at his alma mater, Catholic Central HS and then at Aquinas Institute. 

In 1983, Samberg transitioned careers and came to Batavia Downs as their Director of Publicity. His leadership in the organization eventually moved him to overseeing the entire plant as vice-president of operations, a position he held until the tracks initial closure in 1997. In 1998 Samberg reached out to Western Regional Off Track Betting (WROTB) with a proposal to sell the track to them and was eventually able to consummate a deal that year. The track reopened under its new ownership in 2002.

It was the efforts of Samberg to move Batavia Downs forward that gave the shuttered track a new life under the guidance of the WROTB and that interaction eventually turned out to be financially beneficial to the residents of 15 Western New York counties (that include the cities of Buffalo and Rochester) by returning more than $220 million in revenues generated by the now modern and thriving racing and gaming venue to the taxpayers of those municipalities over the last 18 years.

Samberg was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend who loved life and everyone he knew. He was well respected by all the horsemen who raced at Batavia Downs during his tenure and will be missed by everyone who knew him.

Samberg was predeceased by his parents, Louis and Martha Samberg; loving wife, Barbara P. Samberg; son, Michael P. McDonald. He is survived by his children, Martha Smith, Mark (Jacqueline) McDonald, Margo McDonald and Meghan McDonald (Scott Boone); 11 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; brother, Carl L. Samberg; sister, Suzanne (Ronald) Marmol; sister-in-law, Donna Warner; several nieces and nephews; and special friend of the family, Bonnie Jones.

A Memorial Mass at St. Ann's Home will be scheduled at a later date due to the current situation. Interment at Holy Sepulchre was held privately. Memorials may be made to the American Kidney Foundation or to the Sisters of Mercy. To share a memory of James please visit www.giltnerfuneralhomes.com.

-- By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs

Nickie Fazio, wife of Batavia High School softball Coach Jim Fazio, made this video as a tribute to the 2020 softball team, whose season has been canceled by the coronavirus pandemic.

Fazio said:

I wanted to do something special for the Varsity girls since they did not get to play this year. My heart goes out to all of them, but especially the seniors. Took me the whole week to get it done. Thank you to everyone that sent me pictures to help me put this together. It evolved into something much bigger than I originally planned. This was the best way Coach and I could express how much these girls mean to us.

Batavia City Manager Martin Moore says the New York-Penn League is “holding its breath” while Brian Paris, president of the Genesee County Baseball Club, is decrying the timing of the likelihood that the era of professional baseball in Batavia may be over.

“I just reached out to the NY-P League President (Ben Hayes, an attorney in Florida) a little while ago and he said they’re (Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball) still in negotiations (concerning a new Professional Baseball Agreement),” Moore said today. “They’re at a sensitive point in negotiations and I think the league is holding its breath.”

Published reports in Baseball America and The Associated Press indicate that details of a new agreement – which could eliminate 42 lower-level franchises, including short-season Class A baseball played by the Batavia Muckdogs – may come out following a teleconference call today.

“About the best I can say is everyone keep their fingers crossed,” said Moore, who would not speculate on the future of the city-owned Dwyer Stadium should the Muckdogs leave.

In January 2018, City Council transferred the lease of the stadium to the Muckdogs and the NY-P League, which had taken over ownership of the team. The NY-P League formed in 1939 with Batavia as an original member.

For Paris, who has been involved with the community-based GCBC for around 20 years, news of the possible end of the Muckdogs couldn’t have come at a worse time.

“This is never the way that we’ve wanted this to come to an end. I don’t even know how to express this … a worse situation could not have unraveled in regard to if it had to be taken from Batavia,” he said. This is not the way to do it. There’s no final season; there’s no way to prepare for what is next. There’s no way to allow people to come and watch a final game.”

Paris said it’s a crushing blow to “small town America.”

“Isn’t there a better time than now to make this announcement, when people that are involved in professional baseball don’t really have the ability to travel or communicate in a way that they would under normal circumstances?” he said. “Small town America is under siege with this crisis, and this only plays into further devastating these small towns.”

He expressed that the downsizing of pro baseball is a slap in the face of the residents of small cities such as Batavia.

“Baseball has always been about the people. The secondary portion of baseball is the people on the field. The primary portion has been the people in this country who have supported it over the last 100 years or more,” he said.

An email sent to Muckdogs General Manager Brendan Kelly was not returned by the time this article was posted.

Minor League Baseball on Tuesday released a statement disputing the Baseball America story.

“Recent articles on the negotiations between MiLB and Major League Baseball (MLB) are largely inaccurate," the statement read. "There have been no agreements on contraction or any other issues. MiLB looks forward to continuing the good faith negotiations with MLB tomorrow as we work toward an agreement that best ensures the future of professional baseball throughout the United States and Canada.”

The Associated Press today reported the following:

The minor leagues are prepared to agree to Major League Baseball’s proposal to cut guaranteed affiliations from 160 to 120 next year, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press, a plan that would impact hundreds of prospects and cut player development expenses.

The person spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because no announcements were authorized. The development was first reported by Baseball America.

An electronic negotiating session is scheduled for Wednesday (today).

In informal talks, parties have discussed the possibility of a radical overhaul in which MLB would take over all of many of the duties of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, the minor league governing body, another person familiar with the negotiations said.

Instead of franchise affiliations, there would be licensing agreements similar to those of hotel chains, that person said. MLB would then sell sponsorship, licensing and media rights, a switch that may lead to decreased overhead and increased revenue.

In talks to replace the Professional Baseball Agreement that expires after the 2020 season, MLB last year proposed cutting 42 affiliates, including Double-A teams in Binghamton, N.Y., and Erie, Pa., along with Chattanooga and Jackson, Tenn.

The plan would eliminate affiliations for the 28 teams from four Class A Short Season, including the NY-P, and Rookie Advanced leagues that do not play at spring training complexes.

Minor League Baseball appears to be ready to accept a deal with MLB, Baseball America reports, that would eliminate 42 franchises and wipe out short-season Single-A baseball, ending an 81-year history of the New York Penn League that began in Batavia.

With a pandemic threatening the 2020 baseball season, Dwyer Stadium may have hosted its last professional baseball game on Sept. 6, 2019.

We don't know yet, of course. If there is 2020 baseball, the new deal -- which BA indicates isn't final yet -- wouldn't take effect until 2021.

There's no indication in the article how team owners would be compensated for the loss of their properties. The Batavia Muckdogs are owned by the NYPL but the Genesee County Baseball Club, a community group, and the Rochester Red Wings still have a financial stake in the team.

Todd Haight, director and general manager of Live Racing at Batavia Downs, was named the interim chairman of United States Trotting Association District 8 region on Friday.

Haight will replace longtime District 8 chairman Michael Kane, who resigned earlier this year.

Haight was elected by his peers to his first term as a director during voting in January of this year and was assigned to the Communications/Marketing, Pari-Mutuel and Regulatory committees. He was again voted by his peers to the chairman position last week.

District 8 covers all of New York State as far south as Orange County. The roster of current directors include Kim Crawford, Mark Ford, John Matarazzo, Ray Schnittker, Mike Torcello and Scott Warren.

“I want to thank Mike Kane for the outstanding job he did during his tenure as chair," Haight said. "Having worked with Mike for many years, I feel the transition to his position should be seamless. I’m honored to take over and look forward to working with USTA President Russell Williams, Chairman Joe Faraldo, Vice-chair Mark Loewe and all the USTA directors.

“Despite the unprecedented times we are all currently working through, I feel that harness racing will return to the sports scene very soon and regain its popularity once again. And in my new role I plan on doing whatever I can to be a part of that resurgence in New York and across North America.”

Kelly Young is the Executive Director at Agriculture and New York State Horse Breeding Development Fund and oversees the operations of the New York Sire Stakes.

She works closely with the chairman of District 8 during the stakes year as well as running the awards banquet in the fall. Young has worked with Haight for many years and looks forward to further concerted state racing promotional efforts with him in his new role.

“I have been pleased to work with Todd for nearly two decades at Batavia Downs and am excited to welcome him to, and work with him in this new role leading Upstate New York," Young said. "I would also like to thank outgoing chairman Mike Kane for his collaboration and leadership over the years."

Haight started his career with Western Regional OTB in 1998 when they became the new owners of Batavia Downs. He then served in various positions at the track before taking over as the director and general manager of racing in May of 2011.

Le Roy Oatkan Knight Golf Coach Amy Brotherton rallied her current and former players to produce a quarantine golf video. 

Principal Tim McArdle said it is a tribute to all Section V golfers and pros missing "Moving Day at the Masters Golf Tournament."