By Staff
Sad news came our way Thursday morning when a proposed sale of the South Bend Silver Hawks went public.
We were saddened by the news because with new owners comes the realization that the team may be moved to Marion, Ill.
South Bend, Ind., Mayor Steve Luecke said the city will put up a fight.
The Silver Hawks are locked into their deal with the city until 2008. So the team would not move before that date.
A group of five investors, Chautauqua LLC, has reached an agreement with Palisades Baseball, it was announced Wednesday by managing general partner Alan M. Levin.
It was Levin who brought minor league baseball to South Bend in 1988.
Since that time, The Silver Hawks, or as they were originally called, the White Sox, have topped the 200,000 mark in attendance in all but five years.
In 2004 the franchise reached 213,624 fans. The team is on pace to top the 209,000 mark this year.
The Silver Hawks were in their heyday back in the mid-1990s when they drew better than 225,000 in three consecutive seasons. The franchise record for attendance is 229,951.
As a member of the Midwest League the Silver Hawks flourished.
The Silver Hawks have won a couple of Midwest League championships and have made the playoffs three of the past four years.
South Bend won the first half of the Midwest League season which will put them in the post season again this year.
The Chautauqua group broke ground on June 23 for a stadium in Marion which will be built with a combination of money from the city and state. Marion is a community of 16,000 people in southern Illinois.
That would mean the Silver Hawks would be moving to a smaller market than South Bend.
Midwest League President George Spelius has been quoted as saying that attendance levels are used in making decisions about moving a franchise.
If that is the case, then there is still time to save the Silver Hawks.
Fans need to flock to Coveleski Stadium in record numbers the remainder of this season and perhaps there is a chance that the league would not approve such a move.
But we all know that money talks and the chances of the team remaining in South Bend are remote at best if the deal goes through.
Minor league baseball has found a home in South Bend and it would truly be a shame to see it taken away.
Even if the Silver Hawks, an affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, are sold and moved to Marion, Luecke said that the city would work hard to find another team.
Published reports have stated that South Bend has already received interest from another team about coming to Coveleski Stadium.
Hopefully we will be able to hear the cry "play ball" for many years to come.