Yard Goats Earn National Community Award, Sea Unicorns Splash Tentatively to Life: Uncertainty Reigns as Baseball Winter Meetings Begin

Baseball fans in Connecticut will be turning their attention to the West Coast this week, as the traditional “hot stove league” gets underway.  While much of the interest will focus at the major league level, particularly with an eye towards personnel moves by the Red Sox and Yankees, there will be plenty of action at the concurrent minor league baseball meetings.  Both are held in San Diego this week.

Connecticut’s two minor league baseball franchises, based in Hartford and Norwich, find themselves on very different ends of the see-saw.  The Yard Goats, which overcame a tumultuous first season which saw them play all their home games on the road in their inaugural season, have become a leading franchise and have earned minor league’s baseball’s prestigious Community Service Award, being presented during the week. 

The Norwich franchise, despite the ink being barely dry on a new 10-year agreement with the city, and a new team name announced with much fanfare just days ago, have their very existence in doubt due to a plan floated in recent weeks by Major League Baseball to eliminate 42 of 160 minor league teams across the country.  The newly christened Norwich Sea Unicorns have yet to play a game, but are already in deep water.

The Hartford Yard Goats (Class AA; Eastern League) won Minor League Baseball‘s 2019 John Henry Moss Community Service Award, recognizing the team’s commitment to charitable service, support and leadership within its local community and within the baseball industry.  The Yard Goats will receive the award as part of baseball’s annual extravaganza.

“When we were creating the Hartford Yard Goats brand, we spent a great deal of time talking about the kind of organization we wanted to be. We wanted our actions and our commitment to community to be so demonstrative that people associated us as much with our philanthropy as our baseball,” said Hartford Yard Goats Owner Josh Solomon.

The new Norwich Sea Unicorns (Detroit Tigers Single-A affiliate) unveiled their identity program at Kelly Middle School in Norwich last Thursday. The team was formerly known as the Connecticut Tigers. The new identity is part of a six-month creative overhaul to position Norwich baseball for a continued long run in the Rose City.

"We feel this new identity will bring Norwich and surrounding communities in closer, giving fans something that is uniquely ours," said Norwich Sea Unicorns General Manager Dave Schermerhorn. "We appreciate the support and input of our fans and partners to arrive at this point, with a brand that we can all be proud of. This project was a true labor of love for our entire staff, which in large part is made up of individuals from Norwich and surrounding communities".

The team name was selected after the team received more than 700 suggestions from fans in a month-long name-the-team suggestion process. It is described as a tribute to the legendary sea captains of Norwich's history as well as the tall tales they brought back of sea creatures encountered in their travels, both real and imagined.  Submarine Navy, Captain's Yellow, Streets of Gold, Narwhal Gray and Sound Blue make up the club's new official colors, paying tribute to seafaring heritage. The Sea Unicorns are the first professional sports team to use this color combination.

As for the proposed elimination of Norwich and more than three dozen franchises, the fight has been joined.  Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom has indicated he’ll take baseball to court if necessary, and Rep. Joseph Courtney, joined by more than 100 colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives, is protesting the plan.  And Gov. Ned Lamont, in a similar letter to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, voiced his strong opposition to the proposal.  All of which should add a few degrees to the traditional hot stove league.

“The abandonment of Minor League clubs by Major League Baseball would devastate our communities, their bond purchasers, and other stakeholders affected by the potential loss of these clubs. We want you to fully understand the impact this could have not only on the communities we represent, but also on the long-term support that Congress has always afforded our national pastime on a wide variety of legislative initiatives,” the Members of Congress wrote to Commissioner Manfred.

Courtney’s office noted that the MLB plan was offered in spite of the fact that Minor League Baseball (MiLB) just completed its 15th consecutive season with an attendance above 40 million; and it was the ninth-largest single season total in MiLB’s 100-plus year history.

Regarding the Yard Goats community efforts, the team took a 1,300-foot retail space, open to the street and intended for rental, and turned it into a community center. The Aetna Community Center would not only house the larger-than-life community programs the Yard Goats were building, but become a front door to the people of Hartford.

Since that time, the location has served as the home base for the Yard Goats Foundation, the team’s 501(c)3 devoted to creating, executing and supporting initiatives that enrich the lives of children in the Hartford community. The Yard Goats, a Colorado Rockies affiliate, have created several programs that benefit their community including the Young Ambassadors Program, a Youth Culinary Program, a Theater Arts Program and the Yard Goats Dance Team.

“The lengths to which the Hartford Yard Goats have gone to not only create unique and inclusive programs for members of their community, but to make sure they are far reaching and successful, is unparalleled,” said Minor League Baseball President & CEO Pat O’Conner. “Enhancing our communities has always been a cornerstone of Minor League Baseball, and I’m proud of the work the Yard Goats have done, and continue to do, in Hartford.”

The 2019 season also marked the Yard Goats’ first peanut-free season to better include fans with severe peanut allergies. The team announced that it would no longer sell peanuts or peanut products at Dunkin’ Donuts Park, eliminating a staple of the game. The decision was not an easy one for the team, but the result was a successful season that saw hundreds of children attend their first-ever baseball game thanks to the Yard Goats, according to officials.

It was also announced this fall that the Hartford Yard Goats will host the 2021 Eastern League All-Star Game in July 2021. Whether there will be a baseball franchise in Norwich that year remains an open question.  The Yard Goats will begin its fourth season at Dunkin’ Donuts Park on April 9, 2020; the Norwich Sea Unicorns debut later in the spring.