We were both at Monday’s big press conference at Dunn Tire Park to usher in the New York Mets era.

This week, it’s “Meet The Mets!” for this edition of Play Ball.

Check it out!

Now it’s official.

The Buffalo Bisons have signed a two year affiliation agreement with the New York Mets to be their AAA affiliate. The announcement was made at a press conference this morning that turned out to be a star studded affair of political leaders, civic luminaries, officials from the Mets and the Bisons, ballplayers and representatives from city public schools and a full compliment of media people who packed Pettibone’s Grill to its seams.

On hand to herald the announcement was none other than New York State Governor David Paterson, who arrived with his entourage in a jet black limo and accompanying security vehicles, all under the watchful eye of state troopers guarding the entrance to the ballpark. Other luminaries included Mayor Byron Brown, County Executive Chris Collins, Erie County Legislature Chairman Lynn Marinelli and State Senator William Stachowski. School Superintendent James Williams accepted a $25,000 check from the New York Mets which will be earmarked towards the baseball program in Buffalo’s public schools.

Representing the Mets was Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon, General Manager Omar Minaya and Director of Minor League Operations Adam Wogan.

The arrival of the Mets to Buffalo capped a chaotic week where the Syracuse Chiefs ended up as the big loser in an attempt to lure the Mets to their city, following their breakup with the Toronto Blue Jays. The deal breaker, according to Mets Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon, was the Chief’s refusal to cede control of the franchise to outside interests. “We’ve been looking to buy a AAA team for quite a while now” Wilpon explained. “We made an offer for controlling interest of the Chiefs, which they refused to listen to. Those conversations were then followed by an offer to sell a minority interest in their team to us, but we really were not interested in that, and by then it was too late anyway.”

Wilpon said that stable ownership in Buffalo is what made the difference in favor of the Bisons. “We recognize that Buffalo has such a strong ownership group and solid management team in place. By the middle of the day on Thursday (the first day that teams could negotiate affiliation agreements) we realized that this was a no brainer and that we would be coming to Buffalo.”

Governor Paterson drew a hearty laugh when we said “What scares me most right now is not the state budget, not AIG, not the Federal Reserve. It’s the Mets bullpen.” Paterson lauded the Mets efforts to position its minor league affiliates throughout New York State. The AA affiliate is located in Binghamton, while their short season A affiliate plays in Brooklyn.

Following the news conference, media representatives, dignitaries and team officials were invited down to the field for photo opportunities and one on one interviews. With a “Welcome New York Mets” message on the scoreboard, the snappy “Meet the Mets” jingle playing on the PA system and a crisp and beautiful WNY fall day, it all made for a perfect backdrop to usher in a new era in Bisons baseball.

Bisons PR Director Brad Bisbing was passing out press kits with a new blue masthead on the letterhead, and Bisons President Jon Dandes stated that the team would be reconfiguring the Bisons logo and colors, with a strong likelihood that the Mets blue and orange will play a part in the new look.

So just to recap the musical chairs in AAA - the New York Mets, of course, come to Buffalo. Cleveland goes to Columbus; Washington goes to Syracuse; Los Angeles goes to Albuquerque; Florida goes to New Orleans. The big loser here? TORONTO! They end up affiliated with the Las Vegas 51s. At least there are non stop flights from Toronto/Pearson for players going up and down, although that’s a far cry from the 90 minute drive to Buffalo had they been able to land the Bisons.

This will be the Bisons’s fourth AAA affiliation in the modern era, following stints with the Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians.

Finding pictures of old Offermann Stadium, online or anyplace else for that matter, is one tough chore, as we found out when we did the research for our feature article in Artvoice back in August.

Frank Offermann III has extended us an invitation to visit with him and see all his stuff, and we are hoping that once we get the time to pay that visit we can get some cool photos of the old yard to scan and post right here and/or on the USRT site.

I got the picture above from Jim Hornung, former head groundskeeper at Dunn Tire Park and now Erie County Parks Commissioner. When I saw this photo hanging in his office, I asked if I could scan it and he said fine.

So here it is… East Ferry St runs directly behind third base and Michigan St runs behind first base. The buildings directly behind first base were actually part of the stadium property and served as administrative and ticket offices. Behind the center field scoreboard is the corner of Masten Ave and Woodlawn Ave.

Enjoy!

In what has become an annual end of baseball season tradition, we are pleased to  announce our awards for the worst Bisons hitter and worst Bisons pitcher for the season.

Each year we team up with superfan Christopher Mach to make the designation, named for former AL Rookie of the Year Pat Listach, whose career unceremoniously ended here in Buffalo in 1998. Jimmy Hamilton was a sad sack of a pitching prospect whose infamy involved blowing up in the 1997 AAA World Series in Las Vegas. 

This year we low keyed the whole selection process, not wanting to rub salt in the wounds of what has been such a disappointing season in Bisonsland. Read all about it in this week’s Play Ball in Artvoice.   

The first 4000 fans walking through the gates at Dunn Tire Park next Wednesday at the Bisons game will receive one special souvenir - a replica statue of old Offermann Stadium, the neighborhood ballpark which served as the home of the Buffalo Bisons from 1924-1960.

This is the third in the series of Bisons’ stadium replicas - they did Dunn Tire Park in 2006, and The Old Rockpile last year. Both replicas were very well received by the fans and this years replica should be an especially coveted item.

So for this week in Artvoice, we did more than just the usual Play Ball. We actually compiled a feature story called “Memories of Offermann Stadium”, a retrospective on some of the great moments and history of that storied venue.

We want to thank associate editor Buck Quigley (who spelled our vacationing editor Geoff Kelly this past week and put up with our endless phone calls) and photographer Rose Mattrey for helping us out with the article.

We’ve been covering the Bisons since 2001, at first for the really awful and unwatchable Sportsblast TV, and since 2004 writing Play Ball for Artvoice. This piece represents our most comprehensive work on the Bisons and one we put a lot of effort into. We hope you enjoy the article!

“The Worst Bisons Team Ever?”

In this week’s Play Ball, we compare this year’s Bisons squad to some of the teams of yesteryear, and discover that things aren’t really all that dire.

Check it out!

“A Star Spangled Bisons Celebration”

This week’s Play Ball resets last week’s Independence Day eve festivities at Dunn Tire Park.

Check it out!

“This gets me one step closer to saying I have seen everything.”
-Torey Lovullo

An exasperated Torey Lovullo struggled to keep his composure tonight after one of the strangest nights ever in Dunn Tire Park history.

For the record, the game is suspended in the bottom of the 9th, with the game tied at 1 and the Bisons batting with 2 outs and nobody on base.

But what happened leading up to this outcome was absolutely outrageous.

The game was played in a persistent fog, with routine fly balls becoming an adventure in the outfield all night long. The postgame fireworks show was cancelled, with fans receiving a free ticket to their choice of games on July 6 or 7 and fireworks on those nights, that’s how bad the conditions were.

But as the game went to the 9th inning, the Bisons nursing a 1-0 lead on Dan Reichert’s great start, the fog got even worse.

The Bisons got the first out on a fly ball to Jason Cooper which was by no means easy. On the next at bat, another towering fly ball ended up being a ground rule double which nobody saw bounce off the warning track and over the fence, another play which would have been an easy out for outfielder Jason Tyner. Following a strikeout, the next batter hits another fly ball which should have ended the game, except outfielder Brad Snyder could not see the ball. Result? RBI… game tied at one.

In the bottom of the 9th, the umpires FINALLY call the game, to a chorus of boos by the huge crowd of fans who came down to the ballpark tonight. It’s a little late for that umps!!!!

“We can’t be any more frustrated right now” said Lovullo. “For about four or five innings we all couldn’t see the balls. Obviously the umpires saw it differently.”

When the umpires convened to call the game in the bottom of the 9th, Lovullo let the umpires hear it… “I was trying to voice my opinion. We were all frustrated. I wanted to continue the inning.”

“It was terrible from the third inning on. Any ball that was put in play could potentially drop” said right fielder Jason Cooper. Cooper repeatedly commented about the unsafe conditions which made things hazardous, especially for the outfielders. And he admitted that the bullpen guys were assisting him in calling out the location of the balls as they flew in the air. “There was really nothing we could do. The conditions were as bad during the middle of the game as they were at the end so why call it at that point? Just frustrating.’

Frustrating indeed.

My partner Jon Splett was covering tonight’s game as well and has his report at the main WNYMedia site so check it out.

UPDATE: I was cursing myself for not having camera in tow, but Ryan at the Goose’s Roost commented here and has his own excellent take on the game, along with plenty of photos.

“Bisons Warm Up To Lehigh Valley”

This week’s Play Ball. Check it out!

The first leg of this USRT adventure is on the books, and an auspicious start it was.

We planted the flag at Allentown’s Coca Cola Park, the newest team in the International League, meaning that we have again attended a game in each of the league’s 14 venues. And basically, we give high marks to the entire Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs experience.

The stadium is a real gem – small and intimate, with a total capacity of just 10,000, counting berm seating and standing room. There is not a bad seat in the house, with all seating configured towards home plate. And there are awesome vantage points in terms of group seating – a left field picnic deck allows groups of 8 or more to enjoy their own table seating, and access to a buffet meal and beverages. There are party suites at each end of the club level. But we give the highest props to the dugout suites directly behind home plate. There are four suites, with a capacity of 30 in each, with an amazing view of the field, and just 53 feet away from home plate.

The LED scoreboard is massive – the largest we have seen in the minors. The field dimensions also offer a number of quirks, including a high right field wall, and the seating bowl jogs sharply into the field area down each baseline, opening the possibility of weird caroms to rope hits which would normally roll down to the outfield wall.

But the best part of the experience here are the fans – folks here really get into the game. They clap along to the music, shout their “oinks” to rally the team, and the crowds are really intense as they follow the balls and strikes.

In no particular order, here are our “cheers” and “jeers”…

Cheers – to the awesome scoreboard, crowned by a coca cola bottle which opens and shoots off a firework salute each time the home team plates a run.

Cheers – for the largest and best stocked team merchandise store we have seen anywhere. This place was massive!

Jeers – The pressbox is tiny and cramped, reminiscent of Indianapolis’ Victory Field. Room for only six writers, two phone booths for the broadcasters. What were they thinking!?

Cheers – All 72 home games are televised on the local cable system. Some fans have then asked “Why aren’t the road games on TV?”

Jeers – Media meal was the ultimate ballpark dreck, some awful doughy pizza. Hey – teams aren’t obligated to serve up food for the reporters, but in our travel experience we found that the newer the venue and the higher level of play, the nicer the food is. Not here!

Cheers – On a more positive note, the ballpark concession fare looked much better.

Jeers – For a new venue, the visitors clubhouse was somewhat cramped. Again what were they thinking? But the space was nicely appointed – carpeted and nice furnishings and plasma TV sets.

Cheers – The great memorabilia showcasing the community’s industrial heritage. Murals of foundries and steel plants, themed concession stands. All nice but not over the top.

Cheers – the club level is stunning. Step off the elevator and there is a huge bar, and floor to ceiling glass walls offer a great view of home plate from that spot. Nice seating and concession areas add to the ambience.

So that’s about it on Everything Coca Cola Park… now we point the car eastward towards the Big Apple, and tonight we give the final USRT to Shea Stadium and the New York Mets. We’re hooking up with our road trip buds Gary and The King and that is always a hoot!

In the midst of all our ballpark touring and exploring last night was that there was a pretty darned good baseball game on the field as well. And when it was all over, the Buffalo Bisons had themselves a 5-4 win over the Iron Pigs, after having dropped both games of a doubleheader the night before.

Much of Buffalo’s run production came via the long ball, a first inning two run shot by Todd Linden, then Buffalo got the lead for good in the 6th with a two run homer by Jason Cooper.

Matt Ginter got the win for the Herd, but got into a lot of trouble in the fifth inning, even giving up the lead before getting a much needed strikeout with the bases loaded to contain the damage. After the game, Manager Torey Lovullo said “It was that strikeout but it was a lot more tonight. It was that big first inning home run that set the tone, but certainly Matt (Ginter) came up with the big pitches when he needed to.”

With closer Rick Bauer now playing in the bigs, Lovullo is trying different combinations in the late innings to achieve success. Last night, Tom Mastny pitched the 8th with Jeff Stevens pitching the 9th to earn the save. Neither pitcher allowed a runner on base. Said Lovullo, “We’re trying to structure things. Jeff (Stevens) has a great track record as a closer. He’s going to get the bulk of that time in the 9th inning… We like what we see in that role, Mastny in the 8th and Stevens in the 9th.”

We spoke at length with Torey as well as a couple of players about their impressions of Coca Cola Park, and that will be the topic of our next Play Ball column in Artvoice.

It turned out to be an almost 6 hour drive… all of Pennsylvania’s highways are under construction, and rush hour traffic in Allentown is a bi-yutch! But we are at Coca Cola Park, home of the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, and from our first glimpse this is one sweet ballpark!

The Bisons look for their first win against the ‘Pigs on this road trip and it will be Matt Ginter on the mound for the Herd tonight.

We got our creds, a warm welcome from PR guy Dann McGinn, said hi to Bisons voice Ben Wagner, tried the scary “media food” pizza, which just makes us want to light a candle, do a novena and say “thank you” to the chefs in the Dunn Tire Park press room, who we too often take for granted.

Gorgeous night for baseball…. we will have more photos and the full skinny up later.

Tom Griffin, son of the late Mayor James Griffin, throws out the first pitch tonight at Dunn Tire Park

It was a nice ceremony. Short. Poignant.

Tonight at Dunn Tire Park, the Buffalo Bisons honored the memory of Mayor Jimmy Griffin, in the house that he played such a huge part in bringing to fruition back in the 80s.

A short slide show sprinkled with video vignettes, a moment of silence, and then Jimmy’s son throwing out the first pitch. It was moving. It was appropriate. It was done with class.

R.I.P. JDG

I’m still all a glow about this past weekend and the NLL Championship game which our Buffalo Bandits ended up winning in grand style.

In the scheme of things, this wasn’t the sports catharsis that Buffalo fans have been waiting their whole lives for… the National Lacrosse League is still a “minor” sport in terms of revenues, fan support, viewership, salaries etc. A Buffalo Bills Super Bowl win or a Buffalo Sabres Stanley Cup would blow away anything we saw or experienced this past Saturday.

Yet it was so cool, nonetheless. I sat in the pressbox for almost all of the game, but at the 5 minute left mark I decided to take the elevator down to ground level and experience the game amidst the fans.I wasn’t disappointed. Standing in the zamboni entrance, the noise and the din was unbelievable. Other media people, HSBC Arena staff members, league officials and the Bandettes cheerleaders were making this area one crowded place.

I saw Portland’s 13th goal go in, and from there I just had my heart in my throat…please please please, just kill this clock. The last second frenzy around the Buffalo net unfolded right before my eyes. And then it was over…Pandemonium! Jubilation!

Nate was doing photo, so with nothing official to do I had the opportunity to stand there in the middle of the field and just soak it all in. The stands were absolute bedlam. Players were hugging and crying and high fiving in celebration. I felt like I was in some sort of dream state. And I thought to myself…just enjoy this moment. Just savor this moment. How often is it that one gets to experience something like this?

I was at Rogers Centre Skydome back in 1993 when Joe Carter belted his home run to win the World Series for the Jays. I attended both the ‘93 and ‘96 Bandits championships games in the Aud. Remember the RHI Buffalo Stampede? Yes I was there when they beat Portland to win their league title in summer of ‘94. That game also ended in a flurry around the Buffalo net, and when time expired, Stampede star player John Vechiarelli tossed his stick in the stands in celebration. Guess who was in the first row in the upper golds and snagged that souvenir? Yessiree…yours truly!

The most recent Buffalo championship was the Bisons Governors Cup win at Dunn Tire Park in 2004. Yes that too was a special experience that I got to enjoy through the eyes of a media person, but comparing 2004 to last Saturday’s championship, the Bandits win that matchup hands down. For several reasons… the first being the size of the crowd and the intensity of the fans. There were perhaps 7000 in attendnace when the Bisons won their Cup, and an ocean of empty seats. There was no national TV coverage, no glare of big press, just another league title among many minor leagues that play in September. The players on that team were probably more interested in knowing if they were getting a callup to Cleveland than savoring their title. Trust me, for Ryan Garko, Bisons first baseman who recorded the final out, that game and event is but a distant memory. For Mark Steenhuis, who I saw weeping on the field, last Saturday was a night he will remember the rest of his life.

I got a real chuckle, actually a guffaw, on reading the sainted Jerry Sullivan’s column,as well as his blog report on the Bandits game. Nice pieces, but it was clear that Sullivan had never attended a lacrosse game or given a rat’s ass about the Bandits before this night. To wit:

“5:59 left in the second: So much for the funk. Steenhuis scores on a long feed from goalie Thompson. PA man Chris Swenson yells, “Whose House?” Fans answer, “Steenhuis!” It’s pronounced Steen-house.”

Gee Jerr, ya figured that out?

I’m not one to bust on Buffalo News sports guys… I’ll leave that dirty task up to Kevin and his posse at Bfloblog. But as much as it was great seeing the Buffalo News offer top billing coverage to the Bandits all week long, I feel like telling Sullivan to shove his column and his coverage up his ass. Where has he been the past 16 years? Only I won’t tell him, because unlike his colleagues, all of whom are pretty decent guys (yes even Bucky), Jerry Sullivan walks around a sports pressbox, gazes at people like me, a freelance writer for some grubby weekly, or even worse, some blogger, deems me not worthy of his time, and keeps walking, nose ever upturned at a 45 degree angle. See ya at the 2009 NLL Championship Jerr!

We had a really fun night celebrating the championship downtown on Saturday night. Pete and I dropped Nate off at Club Marcella’s, a nightclub where he runs lights and music on weekends, and promised we’d stop in for a nightcap. We then headed to our regular hangout, Washington Square Lounge, for a pitcher and wings. Bob, the owner, was nowhere to be found, only one bartender on duty, and the place was dead. So we left immediately and walked over to Pearl Street Brewery. Big mistake! That place was wall to wall and five deep at the bar, so even getting a drink would be a challenge and require a strategy.

So back in the car we went, and off to Marcellas. Nate had us on the VIP list so we got in without the cover. I got smashed, Pete was fine, and we had a fun time there watching the dance floor get packed (and thankfully, no chix with dix lighting up the stage).

Chippewa Street was in full swing by the time we left the club in search of food… we headed to Jim’s Steakout, chowed down on their famous steak and cheese, and were ready to call it a night, except we ran into Brendan McDaniels (fellow media guy and Bisons game night host). Brendan had worked with the ESPN crew for the Bandits game and was on a patio at one of the bars He spotted us and called out “C’mon in guys, I’m here with the league guys! Sure enough, there was NLL Communications Veep Doug Fritts and some of the other league officials, enjoying the Buffalo nightlife.

Still feeling the effects of the grand marniers, I started busting Doug - “Yeah you guys wanted the Titans to win last week so you could have this game in the Big Apple. Some of those non calls looked pretty suspect!” I told Doug, tongue in cheek the whole time.

But Doug and his posse would hear none of that. “Are you kidding?” he said. “Look at that great pumped crowd here tonight. Buffalo is such a great sports city. Look at these fans. Look at the jerseys and the costumes. This entire night and the way it came off just helps to grow our sport.” Yeah, the NLL honchos seemed to have a good time and they really meant it when they paid their props to B-Lo. I liked what I heard.

Brendan and his group headed out to the Buckin’ Buffalo for country jams, and yet more libations and partying. He invited us to come along, but me being an Old Fart and Pete being an Old Fart-In-Training, we decided to call it a night at 2AM. Still, it was cool going out and partying like this, on a championship night, and really wish we could do it more often. Just imagine what it would be like… the Sabres… or the Bills. Sigh!

Our buddy and fellow free lance sportswriter Mike Haim was covering the Bisons/PawSox game for the Providence Journal on Pawtucket’s recent visit to Dunn Tire Park. Wednesday night’s game, got rained out, and and the headline and byline got mashed together in their paper the next day.

So if Mike can order up rainouts, can locusts and other plagues of Egypt be far behind?