Riverpigs ready for opening day on June 12; face the N.H. Wild

By Rich Rosentreter

The Tupper Lake Riverpigs baseball team, and the village, are ready to start its first season beginning with opening day on June 12 against the New Hampshire Wild, and those involved are eager to see the team hit the diamond and play ball.

Eddie Gonzalez, the president and director of the Empire Baseball League and Haji Maroun, who led the effort to bring the franchise here and who chairs the “Keepers of the Diamond” committee, recently discussed the upcoming season with the Free Press.

In recent years the village board has devoted considerable expense to improving the local playing field and Mr. Maroun and his committee of volunteers have devoted hundreds of man hours to that effort. The members of the “Keepers of the Diamond” group includes the Skiff brothers- Jay and Rick, Trustee Ron LaScala, Jed Dukette, Tom Callaghan, Paul Moeller and Royce Cole.

The Keepers of the Diamond raised through donations the $30,000 that has been spent so far on improving the local stadium, including the $8,000 that went for new infield sod two years ago and the $22,000 for the professional grade clay last summer.

This season there will be four teams competing in the league in this region - the Riverpigs, Wild, Saranac Lake Surge and Plattsburgh Thunderbirds. The Puerto Rico Islanders and Georgia Rhinos are also members of the league, however, those two teams, because of the travel and coming back from COVID, did not meet the timeline after the restrictions started slowing down, therefore will be inactive for this season, according to Mr. Gonzalez.

The league

The Empire League is not a major league baseball league, not an affiliate nor a pro-federation league, Mr. Gonzalez said.

“It’s a truly, truly an independent rookie-level baseball league. It’s focus is not on what team is going to do good or what team is going to be the best. The focus is more on developing young talent out of college or rookie-level pros that get released so that we can develop them and get them ready so that MLB can pick them back up or we can send them up to the higher federation pro leagues that are MLB-affiliated,” he said, adding that some of those are the Atlantic League, Frontier League, the American Association and the Pioneer League. “These are certified minor leagues, that, when there’s a need, when guys get injured, they look into our league as a feeder league to feed players to them. We’re kind of like a first step into pro baseball. We help them get to move up in the ranks.”

With that said, the league truly follows the premise that “It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.”

“Every game is important, your statistics and how you progress is very important, so yes, we want the team and the individual to do good, but ultimately we want to make sure we’re developing players and help the standouts, the best players, move on to an MLB league or a partner league and move up in their careers,” Eddie explained.

The league president also gave his take on what fans can expect to see when they come to a Riverpigs' game.

“They’re going to see some great national-quality talent, guys that are prospects that could someday be wearing a MLB uniform in their early stages. They’re going to see them right out of college or rookie ball and some guys who have already achieved Triple A ball or got released and are working their way back,” he said, adding that the league recruits players who are still young enough to qualify to play in the league and not older such as a 15-year veteran who is 30 years old trying to use the league to get to the next level. “We want ones that are of the age who has one or two years of experience.”

“What (fans) are going to see is great major-league quality talent at their beginning stages competing against one another,” he added.

The final roster for the Riverpigs has not been set because the team has been busy scouting and has watched nearly 1,000 ballplayers during the past three months so that team officials “can make the best 20-man roster available.” Mr. Gonzalez said this week’s team workouts at the field “is more like a spring training” and as the team prepares for the season, next week, the manager will make the final roster decision.

“It’s more of a training period to get ready for the season and the opener on June 12,” he said. “The goal is having some fun helping these young men get to the next level. That’s our mission.”

Ready for action

Everyone in the league is geared up and ready for action, Mr. Gonzalez said, especially after a near fatal hit by the pandemic.

“We’re very excited. COVID destroyed a lot of baseball, a lot of leagues. MLB cut down their minor league system by almost half. MLB went from about 9,000 minor leaguers to about 5,000 minor leaguers, so there was a lot of young talent that wound ended being home without a place to play,“ he said. “The league almost folded, we almost didn’t exist anymore because we didn’t know how long this COVID thing was gong to be. With marketing and our partners and everybody involved in helping us try to make sure that didn’t happen, it worked out. We had some national showcases and a lot of good talent show up, sponsors got back on board, so, the excitement is there and we’re ready to put some good fun, affordable entertainment in the community.”

Eddie said bringing baseball back in the community is only one of the positive aspects of the Riverpigs and the Empire League.

“It’s not just about helping these ballplayers, but we want to have an impact socially on the kids (in village) to get them away from video games and bad tracks, drugs and other things, and come out to the ballpark,” he said. “It’s also about the economic impact we can have in the community by having so many visitors and families, and tourists come in as another attraction in town.”

So far, the local response to the league and the Riverpigs has been positive, Mr. Gonzalez said - and he shared a moment that demonstrated to him just how important this is for the region.

“I was invited to be a guest at the Adirondack Young Professionals group meetings and they got all these great plans and future ideas in place for how they could put together an economic development plan so that they can pursue an economic development grant. They’re looking to upgrade some of the trails, the lake activities and several other things,” he said. “It was surprising to see some of the people at the meetings stand up and say ’This baseball thing is a really big deal and we should really put a lot of attention into making sure this thing works. This is great for our community. I think it’s a great thing to be utilized as a starting point to bring another great attraction into the town.’”

“That was really neat and overwhelmingly humbling to hear - other folks seeing us as a great way to really kick-starting something here, getting some impact into the town. It was exciting to hear that. That gives me reason to keep doing this kind of stuff and keep the teams and launch the league even though we almost lost it because of COVID,” he added.

Former Village Trustee Haji Maroun, who led the local effort to bring the team to his beloved municipal park ball field, said he is equally thrilled to have the team ready to play ball in the local field and stressed just how important the Riverpigs are to the community.

“Because after COVID, I want people to get out of the house and have a good time. We haven’t had baseball here for a long time and people are going to see top-quality baseball,” Maroun said, adding that it will definitely be kid and family friendly. “I am so excited and ready for the action. I love baseball and I couldn’t wait for this. This is what Tupper Lake needs to bring people into town. Hopefully this is something that will be around here for years to come, and for people to come out and to travel here just to watch a baseball game. I’m excited because I just can’t wait to watch good baseball.”

Tickets and support

Tickets for Riverpigs game will be available online, in addition, fans will be able to show their support and local pride by purchasing merchandise such as caps and shirts.

Mr. Maroun said the plan is to have hats and shirts made up by a local business and the team will give the shop the rights to the logo that will allow them to produce merchandise. Also the field is about 90% ready for action.

“We still have to put up screens for the fans and the bullpen and bleachers are coming in,” he said.

“Right now tickets are limited and available only online,” Mr. Gonzalez said.

Currently there are still some COVID restrictions, however, those are being relaxed daily and as the season progresses, more tickets should become available. Right now it is too soon to announce just how many tickets will be available for games but the exact number of tickets that will be available should be known in the next few days.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re following all the restrictions and guidelines,” he said. “Since tickets are limited right now, it’s important for fans to know, they do sell out.”

For now, tickets will only be available online so that the team can keep track of sales and restrict attendance numbers until all restrictions are lifted. Cost for tickets will be $5.

“We just want to prove it is another great Tupper Lake-Adirondack tourist attraction. We want people to know about it and join us for an incredibly affordable great activity - and have fun and support their local team,” the Empire League president explained to the Free Press last week.