Mt. Rainier Professional Baseball League - Is it legit?

Ellensburg, Washington has been without minor league baseball for 60 years, and the Yakima Bears recently packed up and left town for greener pastures in Oregon (2014). This is an area hungry for baseball again.

Along comes Mike Greene, a former manager affiliated with the Douglas Diablos of the Pecos League. I am not familiar with the reality television show, but understand the League "burned a lot of bridges" in their communities. I do not want businesses to be fleeced in Ellensburg, and have my concerns about the legitimacy of the Mt. Rainier Professional Baseball League (MRPBL). I understand historically these teams fail, and lose money.

Timeline; Greene wants to establish an independent "professional baseball league" with 6 teams in the PNW, August 1, 2014. August 27, 2014 the MRPBL website announced Centralia, Grays Harbor, Skagit Valley, Moses Lake, Oregon City, and Lake Oswego as locations. On October 12, 2014 the MRPBL announced the Centralia Minotaurs have relocated to Ellensburg. I consider myself pretty plugged into local baseball but did not hear about this "team" until an article appeared in the Daily Record March 1, 2015 (season set to begin May 21, 2015)

Other locations and teams that have been linked to the MRPBL (which has not played a game yet); Kennewick Sockeyes, Olympia Osprey, Lacey Osprey, Richland Sun Rays, McMinnville Mad Hatters, Vancouver Mud Turtles, etc. It seems this league is randomly going from city to city asking for cash, and sponsorships without guarantee there will be a product on the field.

Red Flags: There is one owner of all six teams, Mike Greene, who has a couple unnamed financial backers. The Moses Lake Rattlesnakes and Ellensburg Bulls have the same GM, Keith Marshall. Rotary Park in Ellensburg does not have lights, and seats only 400-500. Games would have to start at 4, or 5 in the evening, and many people are not off work by then.

That being said; I'd rather take my daughter to a ballgame outdoors for $6 than to a movie theater to watch blood and gore for $10. Does anyone have information to share on the possible revival of small town baseball (less than 15,000 people)? Thank you in advance....

A suspicious but hopeful baseball fan,
Ty Phelan

[MacDice]

There are a lot of players who get passed over in the draft and want to continue to chase their professional dreams. Finding players for the league is not an issue in fact I have a lot of my former players who have signed to play in that league we will see how it will do. The Mike Greene is putting a lot of effort into getting the league off the ground.

I see tryouts are scheduled across the state, the Ellensburg Bulls have hired Dan Schwam to manage the team, and signed 16 players thus far. I am sure Mike has his hands full.

One concern is: the math seems to be off. He claims 200 people in the stands every game will cover expenses. Players are to be paid $100-$150 per week (depending on attendance). 24 man rosters. That's $4,800 minimum expenditures on $4,800 revenue in ticket sales for every other week Thursday-Sunday games. The operating budget is $0? Logistically I don't see how it is possible to have a team in Whitefish, Montana play a league opponent in Oregon City on an operating budget of $0. I am sure there are other avenues to raise revenue for a ballclub, but this seems unrealistic.

I want professional baseball in Ellensburg probably worse than anyone, but always thought the West Coast League was a better opportunity with more infrastructure. I wish him the best of luck, but sincerely hope Mike's efforts do not sour the appetite for organized baseball here.

[D. Bergin]

I imagine they will depend on concessions to make up the gap. Whenever I go to minor league games with my family, we always spend way more in the stadium then we ever do on the actual tickets.

That said, most of these Independent leagues bleed money. Hopefully they have a benefactor behind them that this doesn't matter a whole lot to.

Concessions and merchandise may help, but I find reports like the following disheartening, especially the responses by Mike Greene. However, many wrinkles may have been ironed out between October and March:

https://ballparkbiz.wordpress.com/20...seball-league/

[steve B]

Looks a bit strange, but maybe they have some idea to make it all work. Minor league ball in general was a money loser until the advent of marketing the logos and adding more entertainment like stunts or Tshirt slingshots to the games.

Nashua had/has? and independent team and while the stadium was a bit bigger, it wasn't huge or fancy. The baseball was actually quite good, both teams I saw were a mix of undrafted guys giving it another try or two and ex- major leaguers either playing for fun, or attempting a slim chance comeback. The ticket was really inexpensive, and seating was sort of wherever you wanted. We sat a bit behind home plate, far enough back to be near a couple scouts with radar guns. Pretty nice outing overall.

Steve B