Word: minority
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...earnest but second-rate play on the diamond. Fans know that any player who becomes a star will soon be promoted to a higher league. "We can't really highlight a player," says Bill Terlecky, general manager of the Maine Phillies, "because we might lose him." One consolation: many minor-league buffs can boast of having seen Dwight Gooden and other superstars play when they were fresh out of high school...
...customers can sit in the top row of the grandstand and still catch snippets of conversations among ballplayers in the batting cage below. Trotting down to the bullpen wall for an autograph is easy. And to the delight of baseball purists, Astroturf has not made it to many minor-league parks...
...estimated three-quarters of all minor-league clubs are running in the black, in contrast to one-quarter 15 years ago. One Triple A team, the Columbus Clippers, earned $665,000 last year. Of the twelve Class A teams in the Midwest League last year, eleven earned profits that averaged $30,000 a team. That may not sound like much, but some of the owners bought or started their teams for less than...
Perhaps the Buffalo Bisons best illustrate the metamorphosis of the minors. In 1982 the Double A team drew an audience of just 77,000 for the season. That year Rich bought the franchise for $100,000. In 1984 he sold the team for $350,000 to investors who moved it to Pittsfield, Mass. A few months later, Rich picked up the Triple A Wichita Aeros for $1 million and moved the team to Buffalo. In 1987 the new Bisons attracted close to 500,000 to their games, the best attendance in the minors. This year the Bisons are playing...
Some veteran bush-leaguers are concerned that people are paying far too much for minor-league franchises. "It's a rich man's game now," says Harry Steve, general manager of the San Jose Giants. Adds El Paso Diablos Owner Jim Paul: "I keep saying prices are going to hit a limit, although they don't." Like gold at $800 an oz. and stocks when the Dow hit 2700, the value of minor- league clubs could be due for a tumble...