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League to Marion: You're out; Mayor Butler says he is still confident city will land minor league baseball team

BY JOHN D. HOMAN, THE SOUTHERN

Wednesday, December 7, 2005 6:46 AM CST

MARION - The press release on the Midwest League baseball Web site was brief, but packed quite a wallop.

It stated that a resolution was recently passed by the league's board of directors, disallowing Marion as a "territory" for the league.

While this news is most certainly troubling to Southern Illinoisans who love baseball, it's not necessarily the death knell for professional baseball in Southern Illinois.

The resolution was passed after discussion among league members and consultation with the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, the governing body of Minor League Baseball, which supported the Midwest League's resolution.

The Southern Illinoisan has also learned that Midwest League owners have at least temporarily rejected John Simmons' bid to purchase the South Bend, Ind., Silver Hawks. It is possible that Simmons might later be able to reapply to league officials in an effort to purchase the team.

Marion Mayor Bob Butler, whose city has committed a one-eighth of a cent increase in the sales tax to help construct the stadium, said he remains confident that the project will move forward.

"The baseball organization is a unique sort of organization with the owners deciding who can buy a team and where. My understanding is that they felt Marion would not fit into their league arrangement," he said.

"I'm somewhat disappointed but still fully confident that Simmons will construct the ballpark, land a team for Marion and that the project will continue."

Infrastructure improvements have already begun in the area where the ballpark is to be located, funded in part by a state grant awarded to the city for such improvements. "As it turns out, the bulk of the infrastructure was necessary for the new Menard's facility," Butler said.

Dennis Poshard, spokesman for the Southern Illinois Baseball Group, had no comment when reached late Tuesday. Neither Simmons, nor Mike Thiessen, spokesman for Chautauqua Heights, a small investment firm headed up by Simmons, were available for comment. The latter two were said to be attending the winter meetings in Dallas.

Early last month, Thiessen had said he was confident the purchase of the team would be approved by league owners. He had added that relocation plans would eventually follow.

Midwest League Commissioner George Spelius, however, said in November that a league committee, comprising three owners, would thoroughly evaluate Simmons' proposal before reaching a decision. Moreover, Spelius said, it was not a done deal that the league would approve the purchase approval or a subsequent transfer.

Spelius was proven correct - at least for now.

A year ago, Simmons, who is also the lead investor with the Southern Illinois Baseball Group, purchased the Savannah, Ga., Sand Gnats, a Class A minor league baseball team in the South Atlantic League.

League owners there blocked any potential move of that franchise to Marion.

The South Bend team plays in a stadium owned by the city and has a current lease agreement through 2007. Simmons' purchase agreement, had it been accepted, would have allowed Simmons and Thiessen to take over the club's lease with the city.

Construction work on the infrastructure of the $16 million stadium continued at the site in Marion Tuesday. The plan is for the stadium to be ready for baseball in the spring of 2007.

- Becky Malkovich contributed to the story.



john.homan@thesouthern.com

(618) 351-5056