Cal League Shakeup Coming

SF Giants Minor Lines, July 10, 2024

Sad news, indeed! Modesto, under a variety of different names, has been a part of the California League landscape since the end of World War II. And for the last 70 years, they’ve called the venerable John Thurman Field home. On one of San Jose’s trips into Modesto this year, the Nuts’ broadcaster reminisced about John Thurman’s connection to the 1962 World Series — which you old timers may recall was heavily impacted by some torrential rains in the Bay Area that delayed Game 7 for several days. Apparently, while efforts were being made to dry out the turf at Candlestick Park, the Giants and Yankees decamped to Modesto, where they held workouts and batting practice at John Thurman, and the good San Joaquin folk could come watch legends of the game — Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and more — take on the deep recesses and high walls of the then-new John Thurman. Perhaps a young George Lucas was among the attendees! I’m going to guess that my later-to-become sister-in-law probably wasn’t, though I know her father did take her to see Mays play sometimes.

So, yes, it’s a very sad day for a great Cal League town. But this is part of a greater reshuffling that is probably only just beginning, and could be the start of a positive trend for the future health of this old league.

The key to this story is that the city of Ontario has signed off on a new $95 million dollar stadium that will be hosting the Dodgers’ affiliate. The Quakes will then become the Angels’ affiliate and the 66ers will be the Mariners’ (the Nuts have been partially owned by the Mariners up until now, but, as has been the case throughout the minors over the past couple of years, it appears that Seattle is divesting the team and selling it to a private equity firm, most likely Diamond, which has been the primary purchaser of clubs all over the country).

The new stadium in Ontario is the key to all of this, and it’s a significant development. The Cal League has lost several cities this century due to an inability of localities to put together funding for new stadiums — to the point where some have questioned the future viability of the league. Most of the stadiums in this league are very old and don’t come close to meeting MLB’s facility guidelines. It’s far from clear how leagues like the Cal and NWL are ever supposed to meet those guidelines at this point, as funding for professional sports facilities has been a very difficult thing to obtain on the West Coast — for very legitimate reasons, as it’s not generally been proven to be a beneficial use of public funds. The fact that Ontario has cleared some of these hurdles could be good news long-term for both of these leagues — and maybe should make us feel more optimistic about the fate of Eugene’s search for a new home.

There are still questions to be answered. Ontario’s new stadium — which was just approved — has an expected opening date of 2026. Modesto’s lease runs out in 2024. Where that leaves these three franchises in 2025 is unclear — possibly we’ll see a shared stadium for two of them next year. One other benefit of the move is that it will balance out the North-South divide of the league. For the past four years, Visalia has had a very ill-fitting part of the South division, burdening the Rawhide with some of the worst travel requirements in the minors. Modesto’s move down south should bring Visalia back into the North where they belong — though it’s worth noting that Visalia’s Recreation Field is one of the poorest facilities in the league at this point, and they don’t seem close to a happy resolution that will keep the Rawhide in my old stomping grounds.

As I said above, I think we’re going to be seeing a lot more of this in the years to come. MLB is demanding that every minor league stadium meet facilities standards that the vast majority of them don’t come close to — a huge and intractable gap that will only be bridged by a lot of money from somebody. It’s far from clear who that somebody is, or where they will be located… Stay tuned!

HITTER of the NIGHT: David Villar (Sac), 3 for 4, 2 2b (16), 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB
PITCHER of the NIGHT: Seth Lonsway (Rich), 6.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K

Big innings were the bane of most of the affiliates’ existence last night (and not only the affiliates!), but at least one club was putting a little mustard on it last night!

(Tip o’ the hat to Jordan and Sam for their amazing work on this in honor of National Hot Dog day:)