After 53 years of operating a minor league club in Bluefield, the Baltimore Orioles are packing their bags tonight in what is shaping up to be a devastating loss for Nature’s Air-Conditioned City.
The relationship between the city of Bluefield and the Baltimore Orioles dates back to 1958 when the city and the club began a partnership to provide minor league baseball at Bowen Field. That relationship continued with a string of one-year contracts for the next 53 years — the longest such relationship between a city and a minor league club in all of professional baseball.
Today, that long and storied relationship comes to an end. The Bluefield Orioles will play their final game tonight against their local rival, the Princeton Rays, in a double header that will begin at 6 p.m. at Bowen Field. After today’s final game, the Bluefield Orioles — as we have known them for more than five decades — will essentially cease to exist.
During a press conference Saturday, Tripp Norton, assistant director for player development for the Baltimore franchise, said the Orioles are reducing the number of short-season affiliates from three to two, keeping the two rookie league teams at Aberdeen, Md. And Sarasota, Fla., and dropping Bluefield.
While we are disappointed in the league’s decision to leave Bluefield, we also salute the Baltimore Orioles for their long and successful history with Bluefield. This relationship was historic, and one that should certainly be remembered. However, it is unfortunate and truly sad to baseball fans across our region that this long relationship must end.
George McGonagle, president of the Bluefield Baseball Club that operates minor league baseball in Bluefield, said the club has been working with other major league baseball teams to find an immediate replacement for the Orioles and keep a Bluefield team in the Appalachian League.
In fact, McGonagle said the club met with a team Friday.
Appalachian League President Lee Landers has vowed to do everything in his power to make sure a league stays in Bluefield. According to Landers, the Bluefield Orioles were the pillars of the Appalachian League.
We join McGonagle, Landers and the entire Bluefield Baseball Club in urging quick action to find a replacement team for Bluefield and the Appalachian League.
If and when a new team is found, we would also urge families, citizens and baseball fans across our region to support the new team. While attendance was never cited as a reason for Baltimore’s decision to leave Bluefield, the Orioles had been averaging just about 667 fans this summer. We as a region can certainly do better in terms of supporting a minor league team right here in our own backyard.
We urge all baseball fans across the region to come out in large numbers tonight to say a proper good-bye to the Bluefield Orioles, and to show support for the Princeton Rays.
While the regular season of the Appalachian League may be ending tonight, the search to find a new team to replace the Baltimore Orioles is just beginning. It is our hope that a new team will be found — and soon. And we hope the new team will also enjoy a long and amicable relationship with Bluefield as the Orioles did.
It’s the end of an era for Bluefield. Good-bye Baby Birds. You will be missed.
Editorials
August 31, 2010
Good-bye Baby Birds: Orioles departure a sad loss for city
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