York Baseball

York Dreams of AA Baseball Team Shut Down
by Forest Price

Pretend for a moment that you are a rather successful, well-off citizen of say, Harrisburg, and one day, your not so well-off, slack-jawed yokel of a cousin from a city just south of the Capital came to you and asked, “Hey, how ’bout we put all our money in a pile and split it?” Chances are that after you let out a sigh of relief over the fact that he had not come to ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage, you would more than likely refuse and send him back home on his motorcycle. Right? Of course you would. Maybe from a personal standpoint that may seem to be a rather tight-wadded approach to the situation, but at the same time, an obvious business decision. It would be the logical thing to do. So when the City of York was required to receive Harrisburg’s approval to bring a AA baseball team to York, Mayor Reed, fortunately for Harrisburg, acted logically.

Because of the relationship between York and Harrisburg, it is required that Harrisburg approves of the nearby city getting a team. Mayor Reed, upon reviewing the situation in depth, decided not to allow a AA baseball franchise in York. He has expressed that the City of Harrisburg is willing to help neighboring cities such as York in any way possible. Unfortunately for the City of York, once one examines the details of what such an action would mean, allowing this does not appear to fall into the realm of that which is possible.

One reason the mayor has given for this decision is that the major league team with which a AA ball club in York would be affiliated would have more than likely been the Baltimore Orioles, which is the closest major league team to both York and Harrisburg. Since Baltimore is so close to Harrisburg, the area is populated with a considerable amount of Orioles fans, thus making the Senators, who are currently affiliated with the Montreal Expos, much less interesting in comparison. Just think, if the Orioles ever decided to actually use their farm system instead of blowing all their money on over priced veterans, fans would have been able to see future Orioles stars in action before their Camden Yards debut. This would likely take away a large amount of the Senators’ support.

Another reason that Reed’s refusal is justified is that there are many other establishments on City Island that rely on Senators baseball to be a major draw to the island. All of these establishments are in some way or another interconnected, and if attendance drops at Riverside Stadium, patronage of other City Island operations such as the marinas, jet ski rental, and Harbour Town would also suffer tremendously. Therefore, if a team were to come to York, it would make it much harder to draw necessary patronage, and to make improvements to the stadium as well as other aspects of the island.

The most obvious reason is, of course, the short distance between York and Harrisburg. This alone appears to be an understandable reason for a rejection, as the fan base would inevitably thin out. Taking a look at where the patrons of the Harrisburg Senators come from, it becomes even clearer. A staggering 26.74% of Senators fans hail from Cumberland County, which has relatively close and easy access to the York area via Interstate 83. Also, the area that provides the third largest group of Senators patrons is, in fact, York County, with 16.42%. That means that over 40% of current Senators fans would find it not only more interesting, but more convenient as well, to go to York for minor league baseball as opposed to Harrisburg. These facts, more so than any others, strongly suggest that a AA team in York would almost definitely have extremely damaging effects on the Harrisburg Senators, City Island, and the entire city.

Once all the reasons the mayor had to refuse York’s request are laid out, it’s hard to figure out why he took any time at all to come up with a response, and equally hard to figure out why York felt it was a realistic request in the first place. If the situation were reversed, would York’s decision be any different? You may not think so, although York’s Mayor, Charles Robertson, did not return any of MODE’s calls by press time — so one may never know.

Now that Harrisburg has officially refused York’s request, is this thing over? Probably yes. Unless York is able to bring a AAA to their city, in which case they would not need permission, it is not likely that minor league baseball will be making its way to York any time soon. This is also unlikely because a AAA team requires a larger population, and a larger stadium than does a AA team.

The request has been made and refused and that appears to be that. If you want to see minor league baseball action in the Harrisburg area, you will just have to settle for the undisputed champion Senators.

Imagine that.