New York-Penn League

A young woman who resides on State Street in the vicinity of Lewis Place and Hutchins Place says she is concerned for her safety due to the ongoing incidents in the neighborhood, and she wants Batavia City Council to do something about it.

Speaking during the public comments portion of Monday night’s Council meeting, the woman (whose name is not being published by The Batavian) said she’s “pretty much at my breaking point with this community.”

She said she has lived on State Street for about 12 years and has volunteered her time to several organizations. She said she is dismayed by the lack of respect shown to police officers by some of her neighbors and worn out by the things she has had to endure.

“That’s why I’m here today to reach out and see what we can do about this situation,” she said.

She said she has had her garden destroyed, car windows smashed and trash dumped onto her property (which she had to pay to have removed), and has had to put up with fireworks at all hours of the day and night as well as constant commotion.

“People working at home (as in her case) have to deal with this 24 hours a day,” she said, adding that she has sent dozens of videos of these incidents to City officials. “We put our jobs and our livelihoods at risk because there are so many altercations outside – you can’t have a conversation with a customer service rep on the phone.”

She said that when she called and sent the videos, the “answer to that was to open the spray park (at Austin Park).”

“But that’s not enough. That spray park has been open for years and it has not stopped anything,” she said. “I live in constant fear. I’m afraid to be here – what if somebody sees that I was here, what’s going to happen to my house and my garden, my livelihood at that point.”

She also said she has been sexually harassed, but despite all of this, she continues “to try and try and try” and asked, “What can we do to solve this?”

The woman also talked about the declining property values in the area, specifically a neighbor whose home was assessed for $71,000, but ended up selling for $11,000.

Council members Rose Mary Christian and Patti Pacino responded to the woman’s pleas.

“I’m ashamed that people have to be harassed,” Christian said. “I want something done about it. The lady and her family shouldn’t have to be fearful.”

Pacino said she was “appalled (to know) that she is afraid to go home after coming to this meeting.”

Police Chief Shawn Heubusch said that he has added a new detail of two officers who are in that area five days a week for eight hours a day – and plans to run that detail through the end of the summer. He also said street surveillance cameras are operational in that area, and encouraged residents to continue to call the police department to report problems.

Council President Eugene Jankowski said this type of “bullying” can be stopped with the community’s help while Council Member John Canale, who acknowledged receiving a lot of phone calls and emails about the neighborhood, vowed to “get the situation under control.”

On another topic, city resident John Roach inquired about the plan for Dwyer Stadium now that the Batavia Muckdogs won’t be playing this year – and maybe not again.

“Are you going to give it away? Knock it down and put something else there? Keep it as a memorial?” Roach asked.

Council Member Robert Bialkowski said Public Works Director Matt Worth has spoken with the teams and the (New York-Penn) league.

“They do have a lease and they are working to get a straight answer,” Bialkowski said. “We do have some other plans, such as college baseball. There are some other options to look into. It is on all of our minds.”

Acting City Manager Rachael Tabelski said she wasn’t aware of recent developments, noting that she has spoken to Worth many times about college or semi-pro teams that could come in to fill the void left by the departure of Minor League Baseball.

Tabelski said she understood that the lease runs through next season.

“If someone like a community group wanted to use that field or another team wanted to use it, they would still have to go through the (NY-)Penn League to get permission to do so. The city couldn’t grant that type of access to the stadium due to the lease that they have,” she said.

Batavia City Manager Martin Moore says the New York-Penn League is “holding its breath” while Brian Paris, president of the Genesee County Baseball Club, is decrying the timing of the likelihood that the era of professional baseball in Batavia may be over.

“I just reached out to the NY-P League President (Ben Hayes, an attorney in Florida) a little while ago and he said they’re (Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball) still in negotiations (concerning a new Professional Baseball Agreement),” Moore said today. “They’re at a sensitive point in negotiations and I think the league is holding its breath.”

Published reports in Baseball America and The Associated Press indicate that details of a new agreement – which could eliminate 42 lower-level franchises, including short-season Class A baseball played by the Batavia Muckdogs – may come out following a teleconference call today.

“About the best I can say is everyone keep their fingers crossed,” said Moore, who would not speculate on the future of the city-owned Dwyer Stadium should the Muckdogs leave.

In January 2018, City Council transferred the lease of the stadium to the Muckdogs and the NY-P League, which had taken over ownership of the team. The NY-P League formed in 1939 with Batavia as an original member.

For Paris, who has been involved with the community-based GCBC for around 20 years, news of the possible end of the Muckdogs couldn’t have come at a worse time.

“This is never the way that we’ve wanted this to come to an end. I don’t even know how to express this … a worse situation could not have unraveled in regard to if it had to be taken from Batavia,” he said. This is not the way to do it. There’s no final season; there’s no way to prepare for what is next. There’s no way to allow people to come and watch a final game.”

Paris said it’s a crushing blow to “small town America.”

“Isn’t there a better time than now to make this announcement, when people that are involved in professional baseball don’t really have the ability to travel or communicate in a way that they would under normal circumstances?” he said. “Small town America is under siege with this crisis, and this only plays into further devastating these small towns.”

He expressed that the downsizing of pro baseball is a slap in the face of the residents of small cities such as Batavia.

“Baseball has always been about the people. The secondary portion of baseball is the people on the field. The primary portion has been the people in this country who have supported it over the last 100 years or more,” he said.

An email sent to Muckdogs General Manager Brendan Kelly was not returned by the time this article was posted.

Minor League Baseball on Tuesday released a statement disputing the Baseball America story.

“Recent articles on the negotiations between MiLB and Major League Baseball (MLB) are largely inaccurate," the statement read. "There have been no agreements on contraction or any other issues. MiLB looks forward to continuing the good faith negotiations with MLB tomorrow as we work toward an agreement that best ensures the future of professional baseball throughout the United States and Canada.”

The Associated Press today reported the following:

The minor leagues are prepared to agree to Major League Baseball’s proposal to cut guaranteed affiliations from 160 to 120 next year, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press, a plan that would impact hundreds of prospects and cut player development expenses.

The person spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because no announcements were authorized. The development was first reported by Baseball America.

An electronic negotiating session is scheduled for Wednesday (today).

In informal talks, parties have discussed the possibility of a radical overhaul in which MLB would take over all of many of the duties of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, the minor league governing body, another person familiar with the negotiations said.

Instead of franchise affiliations, there would be licensing agreements similar to those of hotel chains, that person said. MLB would then sell sponsorship, licensing and media rights, a switch that may lead to decreased overhead and increased revenue.

In talks to replace the Professional Baseball Agreement that expires after the 2020 season, MLB last year proposed cutting 42 affiliates, including Double-A teams in Binghamton, N.Y., and Erie, Pa., along with Chattanooga and Jackson, Tenn.

The plan would eliminate affiliations for the 28 teams from four Class A Short Season, including the NY-P, and Rookie Advanced leagues that do not play at spring training complexes.

Batavia Muckdog closer Adam Reifer, who leads the league in saves with 18, picked up the win Tuesday night, and Muckdog Charles Cutler scored the winning run, as the National League erased a two-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth to cap a 4-3 walk-off victory.

In fact, NL manager Darin Everson said it was Reifer's performance that semi-inspired the comeback win.

"It was very dramatic," Everson said. "I was telling the other guys that having the energy of Reifer throwing in the ninth inning, our dugout was kind of bubbling with energy after watching him throw."

Muckdog Frederick Parejo broke the game's scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth when he he homered off of right-hander Robert Bell (Auburn).

Here's the game's box score.

The Muckdogs host Mahoning Valley tomorrow to open the closing weeks of the season in first place with a half-game lead over Jamestown.

Thursday and Friday's games start at 7:50 p.m. 

Williamsport is in town Saturday and Sunday. After that, there are only four more regular season home games (the team is 18-10 at Dwyer this year), including two against Jamestown, which should make for a dramatic close of the season.

Your team is fighting for the division pennant, Genesee County, go support them. General admission tickets are only $5. These kids have put on a great show all season; they deserve to see the stands packed with fans.

My wife and I will be there Friday night. Look for us in the third-base bleachers. I expect I'll be wearing my old school San Diego Padres cap.