PRESS RELEASE – Embark Holdings, Inc., the parent company to American West Baseball League (a Professional Minor Baseball League), is pleased to announce the appointment of Danny DiPace to the position of President/GM and the new logo of the Fullerton Flyers.
Danny signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1963. He hit .263/.358/.383 with 24 steals in 32 tries for the 1964 Salisbury Dodgers. In ’65, he moved to the Minnesota Twins chain for the Wisconsin Rapids Twins to win the Midwest League batting title by 24 points. He beat out over two dozen future major leaguers, including Joe Rudi, Sal Bando and Nate Colbert. He outhit teammate Rod Carew by 37 points and would have been second in the Carolina League had he qualified (falling 26 plate appearances shy), .001 behind Jose Calero and .001 ahead of Manny Sanguillen.
DiPace has a long history of coaching, beginning in 2000 as a first base and hitting coach for the Aberdeen Arsenal. In 2002 he went on to become a first base and hitting coach for the Allentown Ambassadors in the Northern League, and the Long Beach Armada in 2005. DiPace was a first base coach for the Orange County Flyers in 2007-2008, winning the 2008 Golden Baseball League Championship. He was a coach, and in charge of player procurement, for the Palm Springs Chill from 2008 to 2009 and was the bench hitting coach for the Victoria Seals of the Golden Baseball League in 2010. DiPace was part of the 2011 Palm Springs POWER SCCBL Championship coaching staff under Harry Gurley.
Also, unveiled was the logo for American West Baseball League’s (AWBL) Fullerton Flyers that will start its new season in 2013. The team name for Fullerton will be the Fullerton Flyers vs. the OC Flyers and you can see the logo on Twitter @FullertonFlyer1 or go to Facebook at Fullerton-Flyers.
Michael Cummings, Chief Executive Officer, commented on the appointment of Mr. DiPace saying, “We are very pleased to welcome DiPace to the Management Team of the Fullerton Flyers and view his appointment as being very positive for the team. DiPace’s desire and commitment to participate in the management of the Fullerton Flyers combined with his successful experience in business and baseball makes him especially well-suited to join our Team. I am also very pleased with the outcome of the logo; it has been done with class, shows professionalism and stays with the concept of the original Flyers that made Fullerton their home back in 2005.”
ballparkbiz.wordpress.com 
Love the team, love the logo, and can’t wait for the season to start!! But I can’t find a schedule anywhere….. or any way to buy tickets…. help me??
Team won’t be playing. The league pulled the plug on launching this year.
Alan
Double Head – Ron
This is way off topic, but can anyone tell me why on the atlantic league site there was 12,000 people in Long Island and between 10,000-12,000 in both Lancaster and York? Are they just trying to boost year end attendance figures or was there double headers that weren’t listed on the site? Very confused!
I can understand why the GBL/NAL had a fall/winter league as most of the teams we’re owned & operated by the league. Very similar to the United League as all the teams are owned by one person. To me it reaks lack of money but to others maybe they want some pocket change. Most of the players that do sign up are straight out of college or from over seas looking to play in the US/Canada. If you can convince mom & dad to write a check why not… I mean it’s only $3,600.
It should cover most things on the “league level” but if it is just to raise money then it should be avoided.
I think $3,600 is ridiculous, with a chance to get signed by an indy team that will maybe pay $500-$1000 per month? Hardly worth it, time to find a new career as Alan said.
It’s all about MONEY. The fall/winter league that was ran by the GBL/NAL ultimately keep the league operating longer than it should’ve. I know for myself I’m not a fan of a fall/winter league. The American Association/Atlantic League don’t run a fall/winter league but those leagues are established. For the TWL this year it’s costs $3,600.00 it includes hotels & meals. That’s a ton of cash, if you want to play. I look at it this way if you have to pay money to play pro ball with no guarantee of getting sigend maybe you should look to another career.
Yes, the purpose is to make money to keep these leagues afloat (at the expense of giving false hope to wannabes). I view these the same as modeling agencies that require aspiring “models” to pay for photo shoots and fees. If you have what it takes to be a model (starting with looks), you shouldn’t have to pay a dime to anyone. Buyer beware. Now, if you know what you are getting into, and you are fine “buying the fantasy” to fill your bucket list or improve your self esteem, all the power to you, I guess.
Alan
Wait a minute. So I’m not really a model? I knew I paid too much.
I never understood these winter leagues. If they are to “keep leagues afloat”, then how much does it help? People don’t really attend these games so there isn’t much admission money is there? Not much sponsorship. And if you take 100 players at $3600 each then it’s only $36000. While $36000 might get you a gallon of gas, it doesn’t keep a league afloat.
$360000..oops. I guess that could help defray some costs but not really cover all costs.
I am not sure there is a need for a fall/winter league? I think the Indy Leagues should just come out and put a large group together rather then 5-10 per year plus Independent Spring Training in Myrtle Beach…
I just put two and two together, Dan DiPace & Darrell Evans go hand in hand. I to would like to see the AWBL teams move away from the Managers that we’re part of the GBL/NAL. It seems like Gary Templeton, Mike Marshall, Darrell Evans managed almost all of the teams that the GBL/NAL ever had. Don’t get me wrong they are probably great Managers, and great individuals, but if this league is looking to break away from the GBL/NAL image hire somebody else. California/Arizona is filled with fomer MLB players that I’m sure would gladly do the job.
Another thing I’m interested in seeing from the AWBL is there fall/winter league. There is already a winter league ran in California by Dan DiPace, and now it also looks like the United League is going to run a fall/winter. It should be interesting none the less if the AWBL fall/winter league goes head to head with the California winter league. It’s like Dan DiPace competeing against the people he works for.
Otis,
You don’t know what you’re talking about. Do you’re research first before you make comments about people with a high baseball IQ as Dipace. He doesn’t run the CA Winter league Andrew Starkey does owner of the Palm Springs Power collegiate team, Dan just coaches out here to make some Winter money. Just because coaches worked for the GBL and NAL doesn’t make them a bad hire. The front office of those leagues were idiots and Mike Marshall should never be allowed on a ball field ever again.
haha I was thinking the same thing…I would actually like to see someone hire outside of Darrell Evans, Templeton, etc…there are plenty of great names out there in each market that could make a good fit.
So when will the Fullerton Flyers name Darrell Evans Manager?
John thanks for posting that, I had not scene it yet, and there was no announcement from the league regarding the site launch or any teams being named other then Long Beach, Fullerton and Yuma…I am interested in “North County” the others at least have ballparks where could this team be playing?
Alan I thought i’d share this with you
http://www.americanwestbl.com/
The site is up and running. Interesting team on the side North County Cannons must be San Diego
The day is soon to come for Cummings & Co to back everything up. If everything goes according to plan the AWBL will launch summer of 2013. Then it’s time for them to show everybody, that the money troubles of the past aren’t true etc… I will be keeping my eye on Yuma, Orange County, and Long Beach those teams are owned and operated by Cummings & the other guy whose been mentioned many times… first slip up and it’s on them. I can’t wait for the season to start. Trainwreck written all over it.
Yes, certainly Rockland is drawing some from Orange County as well, but I still believe the market is underserved. Delano-Hitch is in better shape now than when it last hosted pro ball. The problem in Newburgh is that the city has such a bad reputation, that people do not want to venture in there at night.
So it’s Atlantic City, Newark, Bridgeport, etc.
Gene, that is exactly what I had heard..again it is so silly to me how much people say without having any actual connection with the industry
There a lot of people in that area. It’s not all that far from Rockland either. If 3 Rivers in Canada (Trois whatever) can be revived and they didn’t have much success there than why not the place that was a decent draw like Newburgh. And Newburgh has done some renovations since then too. Nothing major but not everyone needs everything to be slick and new. There’s charm in those old parks and Newburgh was never a bad park. Hard to get a contract worked out in the past since they didn’t return calls, etc.
But what do I know anyway, I’m just some guy on the internet that no one knows.
I’m glad to hear someone else out there who thinks Newburgh is a viable market. They were a decent draw while playing in the Northeast League, but were basically a lame duck during their time in the Atlantic League. I know a lot of people think that the HV Renegades own all of the Hudson Valley (including Orange County), but I think there is room for another team. Not everyone likes the over-the-top atmosphere that the Renegades provide.
ATL trial and error with owner groups? They are controlled mainly by 3 groups with others trying to break in. They’re as close to a closed loop as there is, not counting central ownership. Did you mean someone else?
Newark was a first season team but played in Sussex until the ballpark was finished.
Aberdeen was dead before Ripken came in. Aberdeen played in a college ballpark while the Ripken ballpark is not near that location. Would consider them 2 different situations.
Newburgh was temporary and I still believe could be viable today if someone wanted to make it happen.
Newark successful? Eh…maybe. But when you have major criminal acts that get worldwide attention, it can shift people’s minds from wanting to be in the area even with the gentrification.
Atlantic City I wouldn’t call poor placement. Just nothing around it when there were promises of things getting better. They did fine for a while and I believe they can again. There are several places where ballparks are in bad neighborhoods but you go to the ballpark and leave. Newark is one of those and you believe they can be fine so why can’t AC? Same situation. Bader Field has had plans drawn up several times but no one has followed through. If I had the bankroll I have a plan on paper for the area.
There are markets in the west, I did the research long ago and those markets are still open. There are markets in all areas, just some get overlooked and cash isn’t flowing like it used to be to to build ballparks.
The big thing that I’ve noticed is no new ballparks. They can refer that they are trying to follow the Atlantic League model but the Atl opened up with Bridgeport, Somerset, Newark, Atlantic City, all having new ballparks with Nashua and Newburgh playing in old existing ballparks. You also notice only Bridgeport & Somerset are the only teams left in the Atl since the league opened it’s doors in 1998. If they talk about building ballparks it might have to be on there own dime. I can’t see Long Beach, Orange County building ballparks for a indy team considering the bad history these two cities have had. This is just my opinion but they have one shot at this, if they open the league with six teams in year one whose to say one or two won’t fail based on the past. Then your in big trouble. One thing they have going for them is travel costs shouldn’t be big. But I wonder what the salary cap is, along with how many games this league will play any news on this would be great. Thanks for the info Ron and the AWBL seems to have spread all of it’s info out over the last couple of months. I’m still skepitcal on the whole thing.
Not to sure of the structure yet, remember Newark was built in 1999 the Atlantic Leagues 2nd season, and Somerset I believe was for the 2000 season…teams such as Aberdene, Lehigh Valley, Newburgh, Nashua were all successful in their own right…Aberdene owned by the Ripkens went on to become affiliated with ODP still designing their ballpark, Lehigh Valley ended up with one of the most successful Triple A franchises in recent history, Newark needed special LOCAL people in that market to make it work and Bridgeport same thing…I think Newark can be salvaged if Dronet/Spiel get out and Cetnar is no where to be found…Bridgeport for the first 5 years was the LI Ducks of the league under Mary Jane Foster (local business woman President of local college and recently ran for Mayor), Atlantic City was just a matter of poor placement was a nice idea at first but who wants to take their kids into that area…? The ATL to this day is still playing a lot of trial and error with various ownership groups and markets…so I think if they have a modestly successful 2013 that would be great and that does not mean for example that in 2014 certain teams don’t have to move…I think San Diego should be in Escondino after the Padres situation, Long Beach might have to go North of LA or even into Huntington Beach area…Fullerton should be in Irvine/Costa Mesa/Newport Beach area and I believe there are good markets in Arizona but not sure they got these right, ultimately these will need their own identity in terms of suitable ballparks…and I think there are markets in Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Central Cali, that could all be great for this league.
Ron, the stadium situation is such a big problem because Cal State Fullerton, San Diego State and Long Beach State own the stadia where the AWBL teams are scheduled to play (and where former GBL teams played). Previous Flyers’ ownership owes Cal State Fullerton $75K in back rental. Cummings said he would pay it off but how? He put up his Maui team as collateral for a $100K loan from the Flyers’ ownership, which took over the team when Cummings couldn’t repay the loan. I’m sure the Long Beach Armada and San Diego Surf Dogs still owe back rent.
That’s why I don’t think AWBL will work. It really doesn’t have anybody outside of Cummings with extensive business experience, and Cummings himself is an iffy proposition. I’d love AWBL to work, but the signs just aren’t there even for short-term success.
Joseph, my understanding is Cummings never got a $100k loan from Bob Young and that the agreement was written in a way to prevent the GBL from screwing both ownership groups over. As they did do commonly and the true agreement was that Cummings was paid for the team and the new ownership was to take over the team. But, when it was announced the new ownership through Cummings under the bus, I have also heard that CSUF is receiving payments on the past due amount owed by the Flyers that were with the GBL not AWBL.
5 have been announced through the AWBL…Long Beach, Fullerton, Yuma, San Diego, Mesa…I am hoping for 1-3 more I think any more then 8 will make it very difficult for the league to get each team on some type of regulated business model. I think that Fullerton, Long Beach are good markets, while I am concerned of the 4th league with old ballparks and San Diego there isn’t much there and the MLB team isn’t even supported…while I think the Spring Training homes in Arizona are such a drastic size variation that even if they draw well 2,500-4,000 the parks will still seam very empty…
In my opinion the only way this league is going to make it last and take advantage of the Western Markets is if they follow the Atlantic League, Frontier League and American Association and Northern League before those to develop new ballparks and serve each community as a long term partner…I think then and ONLY then this league could survive!
The Atlantic League announced at one point around the time Sugar Land started that they were interested in several southern markets and even some western markets as there are some very untapped markets in the areas. New York like Los Angeles is a hot bed for entertainment, heavy traffic and an abundance of Major and Affiliated Sports Competition…and yet the Atlantic League proved that there are great markets in Long Island, Somerset, and a times Bridgeport and Newark and I feel a similar situation happened in the Northern League surrounding Chicago with the early success of Schaumburg and Joliet….I think the same can be said for the Los Angeles Metro area, people don’t always have $100s of dollars to spend per person on entertainment, and often times it does not work into the schedule to travel into a Metro Downtown to see a Yankees, Mets, Cubs, White Sox or Dodgers or Angels game for that matter…and with the high population of Athletes coming out of SoCal I think if done right, these guys can have a lot of success….you must remember the GBL/NAL was all about the “quick buck” where they (the league owners: Kaval/Outcalt) had no money, but they worked in the model of the stereotypical used car salesmen where “talking and not producing” is the key to their operation…they would use markets like Long Beach, Fullerton, San Diego, Yuma, etc. and place a team there in an inadequate ballpark and immediately try to sell the team for $1-$1.5 million dollars (often successful in duping people to buy)…in doing this, while waiting for teams to sell, they often failed to deliver on building a product, and in this business a product is built by building long term value, on and off the field…in most circumstances bills went left unpaid and unannounced, so I would not be so quick as to defame any ownership group that is simply trying to make good on what was done bad…
This fellas, is why I have given them the benefit of any and all doubts…I am hoping for someone in this group to come forth and begin to develop some type of working model, because lets face it there is 20 years worth the failures on the Western United States in all forms of Professional Baseball and all it takes is the one person to do it right and the rest is history!
One can hope right?
Ed is right when he says Indy Ball is a tough business, in which to be successful in. I don’t know how many teams the AWBL will start with but with the mentioned markets this league is entering they better have a few back up plans. It happens in every league teams fail. I don’t see to many successful/viable markets available where this league is looking to start up. You can say it’s different now and everything like that but soon the time will tell, and soon it will be time to put your money where your mouth is. We Shall See.
Ron you seem to know what’s going on with this league. Do you know how many teams are confimed as of right now?
P.S….I like the logo…
About time someone on here with some actual insight say something with some experience behind it.
Danny is a good guy, and I worked with him indirectly wnen I was the original GM of the Flyers from 2005 – 2007. I like him a lot, and wish him, and the Flyers, nothing but success. Indy ball is a very tough business in which to be successful, so I hope they can make it work! I will be in their corner, no matter what! Fullerton is my home town, and I would love to see the Flyers stick around, and be profitable, for years to come!
Well said gene! I like the logo!
Don’t tell me they hired another guy who was involved with the GBL/NAL in some way.
JK
The only way he was involved with the GBL he was a base coach. So, don’t make a big deal out of that. And who cares if the parent company changed their name. It does not effect the league.
gene63:
It’s relevant because the parent is the organization seeking investors. Not everyone is paying as close attention to Michael Cummings’ ventures as you have been going back to at least XnE, Inc.:
http://finance.yahoo.com/mbview/threadview/?&bn=c3884b93-8f2c-3c63-b08d-922671c5ea23&tid=1289410268000-23062f61-5a28-3037-88e2-932cd1775c66
Folks should be less concerned about any relationship DiPace had with the GBL and focus on his experience in running a professional baseball franchise. All I see is player/coaching experience. This doesn’t mean a non-front-office person can’t learn the business, but why not mitigate your risk and hire an experienced GM?
Gene63 is Michael Cummings guys!!!
In case you are confused about the parent company, Embark Holdings, Inc. was Godfather Media, Inc.
http://www.embarkholdings.com/news.php?id=3
Alan
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to be a GM in Minor league baseball. I’ve terrible GM’s who had plenty of experience.