Atlantic League Celebrates Its Two Newest Major Leaguers And Looks Forward to an Eventual Three-Division Setup

The Atlantic Leagueknew it had an upbeat day Tuesday well before the All-Starswere scheduled to swelter their way through near 100-degree temperatures to put on a display of their talent before a number of major league scouts and a sellout crowd of more than 6,000 fans at Citibank Parkon Long Island .

Mid-year planning sessions of both owners and general managers could be expected to have an extra jolt of pride because two more of the league’s players had been promoted during the holiday weekend to major league opportunities they had pursued for several years.  Left-handed-hitting outfielders Cory Aldridgeand Matt Watsonwere promoted, Aldridge to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheimand Watsonto Oakland .

Watson, alone, was worth boasting about because he was at Lancaster as recently as May 28, so every one of the 44 All-Stars knew their goal of major league gratification was possible.  He had not been in the majors since 2005, ironically also with the Athletics.Aldridge, who played at Newark two years ago, had only been in the majors back in 2001 when he spent 27 days with Atlanta .

League Hopes to Establish Four-Team Western Division

CEO and Founder Frank Boultonsaid part of the two-hour ownership meeting was taken up with updates on possible new franchises, and he told this typist “our desire would be to develop out to four teams” when the league expands west, which would allow for three four-team divisions.  That type of growth does not seem likely by 2012, the target date multiple team Owner Peter Kirkand his Opening Day Partnershope to be able to launch a team in Sugar Land, TX, in the shadow of Houston, since other markets have not been publicly identified and, presuming they follow the normal pattern, would still need to build stadiums.

The other well known possibility in the east is in Northern Virginia .“It has a lot of moving parts” because of the scope of the overall (Loudoun County)project, Boulton said, with the next key step a July 12 vote on the real estate developer’s proposal to construct homes, offices and retail space.

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Sparky Remembers Another All-Star Classic

This wasn’t the first All-Star Gameon a rare 100-degree day in the New York area.  The thermometer hit 102 when the Yankeeshosted the 1977 major league classic.

Asked if he remembered the game in ’77, Freedom DivisionManager Sparky Lyle, who manages Somerset now, quickly retorted that he was playing for the Yankees at that time. “I was the losing pitcher (in the All-Star Game,” he said with a smile.  The record book shows he was not actually charged with the American League’s7-5 defeat although he gave up the last two National Leagueruns during a two-inning stint.

( Subscriptions to the Atlantic League Notebook are available on a monthly or full season basis via   www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com or www.WirzandAssociates.com .  Bob Wirz also writes a weekly subscription column, the Independent Baseball Insider , which can be found via his blog, www.IndyBaseballChatter.com. The author has 16 years of major league baseball public relations experience with Kansas City and as chief spokesman for two Commissioners and lives in Stratford, CT.)