Normal for the Frontier League

It appears Normal, Ill., will join the Frontier League in 2010 with an ownership group led by Mike Veeck (pictured), son of former Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox Bill Veeck, who once sent a midget to bat in a major-league game.

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/06/04/sportsextra/doc4845fffba6ba7316518298.txt

You might recall that Mike Veeck almost was an owner of Washington's Frontier League franchise. This is from a story that appeared in the Observer-Reporter in September of 2005:

For quite a while, it appeared the Goldklang Group, led by attorney Marv Goldklang, comedian Bill Murray and Veeck, would be the majority owners of the Washington team. The developers of Falconi Field, Ballpark Scholarships Inc. (BSI) entered into extensive negotiations with the Goldklang Group. Former Rep. Leo Trich, who led the drive to bring minor league baseball toWashington, felt the ownership would be in good hands with the experience of Veeck and the Goldklang Group.

"We were down to the details of the lease and it was within a day or two of happening," said Trich, who is now director of development for the Frontier League. "The Goldklang Group required about $400,000 in local investors and so we were working on that."

This where John Swiatek came in. When contacted by Trich about being a minority owner, Swiatek said he'd like to be a majority owner and would attempt to get a local ownership group together.

Back to the O-R story from 2005:

The BSI board had two options for ownership and, after some debate, a straw vote was taken. The Goldklang Group received the majority vote. Trich called Swiatek with the news.

"Leo said they were going to go in a different direction and I just went my merry way," Swiatek said. "It was a little different from the typical business situation because it was the chance to have some fun at the same time. From that point, BSI's decision was disappointing."

The disappointment didn't last long. The Goldklang Group had problems with the structure of the lease for Falconi Field that would see the payment rise to cover the needed improvements. Goldklang wasn't interested in being held responsible for building parking lots and other needs, so Trich made another call to Swiatek. After talking with both prospective ownership groups, BSI took another vote.

"One of the comments that will always stand out in my mind was when (the late Observer-Reporter treasurer) Ed DeVoge said, 'Whose kitchen table do you want to be sitting across from if there are problems in year two or three?' That made a strong impression on me," Trich said. "It was a choice of going with a group from South Carolina that had a lot of experience but was upset with the lease, or a local group that had no baseball experience but was committed to making it work. By one vote, the BSI board went with the local group.

"The decision thrilled Frontier League commissioner Bill Lee, who had been advocating the local ownership group throughout the negotiations. The Goldklang Group was also operating the Evansville Otters at that time, and the franchise was struggling. Goldklang severed its ties with Evansville following the 2002 season after three years and has no ownership investment in the Frontier League."