Minor League Baseball Status

While Major league games were reporting an average attendance of 39,000 for yesterday's games, the Burlington, Iowa Bees lost to the Peoria Chiefs in front of 390 fans. Can't blame it on bad weather as all the major league teams have faced bad weather and most do not have roofs. The Peoria Chiefs appear not to have have had a money making crowd yet this year yet is a privately owned club counting me as one of a number of discontented stockholders.

Word is that the ball parks largest contributor has not contributed one dime to the Chiefs this year yet one of its past presidents sits on an unelected committee of some sort that supposedly runs the club. By this time in past years, stockholders would have been invited to a stockholder meeting. So far in the past more than a year, no invitation has been issued.

Palm trees that die at the first freeze, were planted again this year at an unknown cost but usually the cost to the stockholders is around $15,000. The act is now becoming the butt of jokes about the club's management.

O'Brien gets free advertising as the stadiums name even though they quit paying for the rights last year. From the "street" I hear talk that O'Brien needs all the advertising they can get. This so called management group that runs the Chiefs, did not have the foresight to write in the "naming" contract that if they failed to pay the Chiefs to renew the contract, O'Brien would be responsible to take the name down.

So the Chiefs are responsible for taking the name down yet why would they because that is how the public perceived the ball park. Since Pete Vonachen gets all the credit for the ball park I recommend the ball park sign be replaced and Petes name go up just like Vonachen's Old Place and Vonachen Grill. Opps, I forgot, they are out of business.

So now the original naming company gets free publicity as long as the Chiefs can't sell naming rights to another or no longer stays in business. Some foresight by the so called "managing board" which I believe consists of Don Fites, Chappy Chapman, Ralph Converse and Dave Beilfeldt.

Every year we don't make money and we haven't made money one year since 1994, Chief officials "blame it on the weather". That old line is used every year. Guess they didn't pay attention, Peoria has almost without exception, has cold and wet springs. Also it's blame it on the economy. Guess they haven't talked to the mayor and some elected officials.