We try to be as objective as possible and give start-up leagues the benefit of a doubt, but often times they make it impossible. The wannabe Mount Rainier Professional Baseball League is no exception. Up now — the just-announced Vancouver (WA) Mud Turtles, and the red flags are flying.
First, the team is using the horrendously amateur, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle-like logo used by the adult amateur Northwest Independent Baseball League’s Vancouver Mud Turtles. The league calls it a “preliminary” logo. We have to ask, “but why?”
Second, the claimed baseball stadium (we don’t know if there is an official lease in place or not) is the facility at Clark College. If so, Kindsfather Field, even with the claimed added seating, is in no way prepared to handle professional baseball. If we were talking about Propstra Stadium at nearby Hudson’s Bay High School, bringing in a team might be feasible with significant facility upgrades.
Finally, the header on the Mud Turtles Facebook page displays the initial rendering for the proposed $23-million, 3,500-seat baseball stadium at Clark College for the then-Single-A Yakima Bears (Northwest League), which was proposed and rejected back in 2011. This is disingenuous, misleading, and verges on unethical, even if the Turtles were given permission to use it.
Drawing of the rejected proposed home for the then-Single-A Yakima Bears (Northwest League) on the campus of Clark College
ballparkbiz.wordpress.com 
any up dates on this?
Yes. The Vancouver (WA) Mud Turtles are now the TBD Mud Turtles.
Alan
In this article, you will notice that Aurora, Oregon is listed as a location for the league. Aurora looks to have a nice little high school field but between Aurora and Hubbard, the two towns the high school sits between, there are only about 4,000 people.
http://www.goskagit.com/all_access/new-professional-baseball-team-coming-to-skagit-county/article_fd582a6e-f75c-5d9c-b66c-1455c8773036.html#.VG-vEL0L3YY.facebook
Oh, and I just realized that the original home of the Skagit Valley Steelheads now Skagit Valley Lumberjacks was supposed to be Dream Field at Skagit Valley College but in this article it says they are going to play at Sherman Anderson Ballpark. Here is the Google map of Sherman Anderson Field…
https://www.google.com/maps/@48.4097978,-122.3395388,159a,20y,41.78t/data=!3m1!1e3
Yep, here is the article you mentioned:
http://www.goskagit.com/all_access/new-professional-baseball-team-coming-to-skagit-county/article_fd582a6e-f75c-5d9c-b66c-1455c8773036.html
Dream Field would be a great for summer collegiate ball, if it had adequate seating, restrooms and concessions. One day, I suspect it will. Sherman Anderson Ball Park is not adequate for summer collegiate or professional ball:
https://www.google.com/maps/@48.4112647,-122.3390208,3a,75y,238.69h,82.72t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s7Hfeig6g-BTFcuSiKk91Fg!2e0!6m1!1e1
Alan
Keep doing what you’re doing. Don’t ignore them, because if they are allowed to come into a market underfunded and underprepared, they salt the earth for legitimate operations that may follow.
Well, Centralia is out and Ellensburg is in according to the MRPBL Facebook account. Coincidentally, this news comes just two days after I emailed the Centralia parks department to simply ask whether or not they had signed a lease agreement with the team. They had not.
And for some strange reason, the Vancouver Mud Turtles link goes to the Lake Oswego Buccaneers:
http://www.mrpbl.com/lake-oswego-buccaneers
WTH?
Alan
Love how they used one of my photos without permission and it’s not even the right park ! They used a photo of Civic Stadium (Eugene, OR) for Greys Harbor.
@Brian,
Where are you seeing that?
Alan
This strategy of choosing markets, announcing franchises, and branding the teams all before deals are locked into place is just ridiculous. How many times have we seen this in recent years? Too many times. What have the brain trusts behind some of these proposed circuits been thinking? Below are a few possible speculative explanations:
(1) They simply think announcing and branding a team is a great idea because it will cause everyone in a community to rally around the idea and build momentum. This one is filled with good intentions, but it’s naive and the wrong approach.
(2) Similar to (1) but more strategically “slick,” they think by announcing and branding a team, the local powers (elected officials, etc.) will become enamored by the shiny new object or feel pressure from the community to approve a deal. “A slam dunk, baby!” Not so fast. A word of advice to baseball entrepreneurs when it comes to dealing with local officials: don’t treat them like they are stupid; don’t try to manipulate them; don’t be presumptuous (like your venture will automatically be approved); and don’t put the screws to them using a local vocal movement to get them on board. All this can be offensive and backfire on you. It’s just dumb and naive politics to go this route.
(3) If they show a bunch of teams are already on board (even if they are not), they hope to drive a perception of legitimacy and convince potential markets and investors to come on board. This is another dumb move. With very little digging, it is easy to find truth. If any market or investor finds out you are not being completely honest with them, you will lose them forever and tarnish your reputation.
Alan
Alan, here’s the link which has my photo of Civic Stadium. I have Olympic Stadium on my site as well, so not sure why they didn’t use it !
http://www.mrpbl.com/ball-parks
@Brian,
It is Civic Stadium. I didn’t look closely enough, and I was just at Olympic Stadium two months ago. Geez!
Alan
There’s also (4): Because they really and truly have absolutely no clue what they’re doing. Coming up with team names and designing logos and web sites is the fun, visible part, so they do that first, and think that everything else will fall into place on its own (“now we just need to sign a few players and name our mascot, and we’ll be good to go!”).
But they have no idea of the amount of behind-the-scenes, non-visible, not-fun work that goes into doing this right – and that includes the time, energy and people skills it takes to build good relationships with local governments.
Alan, I get that you’re trying to “look out for communities, fans and the reputation of the legitimate professional and summer collegiate baseball community,” and it’s honestly appreciated. But I’d argue that you’re helping to legitimize pipe-dream leagues like this by even mentioning them at all. As someone who’s worked in the biz, I feel like it’s better that these wannabe leagues just be ignored, rather than “outed” – they almost always flame out because the people who dream them up are completely clueless, so why even give them the time of day in the first place? It usually just descends into “why are you such a hater why can’t you see the glass as half full” griping from either league management or the obscure-independent-sycophant crowd, anyway.
Regardless, thanks for doing an awesome job with the site.
@eastfirst107,
You are exactly right. When it comes to ventures like this one, I have said “they have no clue what they are doing” on numerous occasions. There is so much work that needs to be done just to get a single franchise off the ground successfully, let alone an entire league. Just to be clear, the MRPBL folks have no clue what they are doing!
I have struggled with the question of whether to engage or just keep quiet when it comes to start-up leagues. In the end, it is just not in my nature to let it be. I think there is too much at stake. Most of these leagues will never see the light of day, but there will be a few that get just enough traction to screw some investor, some market, or some athlete traveling miles and miles for a tryout. Let’s take Michael Cummings and his Xcellence in Entertainment/Godfather Media/Embarking Holdings, for example. I just couldn’t sit on the sidelines and allow him to get away with soliciting investors knowing what I know. Below is the first (very mild) shot over the bow:
I don’t worry too much about those who say I should be more positive and just see what happens. That’s usually a sign that I am barking up the right tree and usually comes when I hear crickets after asking fundamental questions, like who is involved, what experience do they have in operating a league or team, and how much capital are they bringing to the table?
Beyond the start-ups, of course, there are those who are already in operation like our friends at the United League who need to be held accountable like below:
Thank you for the kind words about the site and your thoughtful comments. It’s greatly appreciated.
Alan
I posted a message on their FB page. They promptly changed the photo to one of Olympic Stadium (not mine) and deleted my post without even recognizing it.
@Brian,
That shows legitimacy — or a lack thereof. The fact that they would use a copyrighted photo without permission, fail to apologize for the transgression, and simply wipe away your post like Ramses removing the name of Moses from all the scrolls and pillars in Egypt, shows their true colors.
Alan
Oh, I completely agree that if a league is clearly swindling people, then light needs to be shone on that.
But if someone’s just messing around and building a web site and thinks that now they’ve created a “new independent league!”, then that’s a really low bar to set, and it’s frustrating to those who do it the right way to see them receive coverage (even if it is negative) and get lumped in with “independent baseball.”
Or, if they veer towards being pay-to-play (which the Pecos does, although it’s unclear to what extent), then they’re not much different from the dozens of other men’s leagues out there, who don’t get coverage (nor should they).
Anyway, it’s your (excellent) site, not mine, so do as you see fit, and no lost sleep on this – just my two cents. Carry on – thanks!
Check out the latest FB post. Now they are minimizing the copyright laws of this country among other things. You can’t make this stuff up.
I have been following any news that I can get on the progress of this new league, as I live in WA state and would love to see it work out. Have you spoken with anyone involved with the league and discussed his/her plans for success? Maybe they would appreciate your insight, and you could direct any misguided paths they might be stepping on!
Like I said, I really hope this league somehow works out….and I kinda like that Turtle logo too!
Phyllis, of course they didn’t call. Responsibility and ethics? All assumptions. I did not realize the picture wasn’t of Olympic stadium. Brian pointed it out and I took it off. Easy to bash people and be negative because they don’t know me, or the 15 hours a day I spend on this league working on all aspects so it doesn’t fail. Will it be the Frontier League from
the start? No. Can it be better than the Pecos League. YES. There are places for all kinds of players and fans. Just like there are “journalists” at different levels.
I like the logo! I hope it works out.
@Gerald and William,
Please know we track IP addresses here and know these two posts came from the same location. Don’t get too clever. We have been through this many times before.
Alan
Thank you William. I think it is a good logo too. I will send you a shirt.
You assume much. Maybe a simple call to the commissioner will answer any of your assumptions. Try to not be so negative and consider you glass half full!
@Gerald,
What assumptions? One of our jobs is to look out for communities, fans and the reputation of the legitimate professional and summer collegiate baseball community. From our perspective, there is no glass half full here. The glass is empty. Your “relax, let’s just see what happens”-type of comment is standard for those who don’t understand the business.
By the way, it is my understanding that a lease is not in place at Clark College and an actual in-person meeting has not even taken place. Please don’t let this turn into the kind of mess below:
Alan
Gerald, they did not call me at all. Just like the “PROFESSIONAL” Oly sports blog. I guess you can just make a blog or website, write whatever you like and call yourself a writer. Commissioner. And I met Clark in person just like I met Grays Harbor, Skagit, Ellensburg, Oregon City and Moses Lake.
That’s funny. I did write an opinion piece when I heard about the league that did make some assumptions, I’ll admit. But then I reached out to you, to let you clear up those assumptions and I published your responses and even gave you a little credit and tried to be optimistic.
Then, while looking for something else, I found the Wheeler Field schedule of events for 2015 and noticed that there weren’t very many dates available for Minotaurs baseball in Centralia. So, I started to do some research and fact finding and emailed a few people and I found out that some of the things you told me weren’t exactly true. Like that you had deals in place for some of these ballparks.
I emailed the designer of the Steelheads logo you have been using for Skagit to ask if you had paid him to use his logo. I recognized that logo from when I was doing some research of my own on a Steelheads logo that I was working on. He said he had not and was thinking about contacting you but has not followed up yet.
I also doubt that the Minot Minotauros hockey team would take too kindly to you using their logo for the Ellensburg Bulls. I hope that when you release logos in the next week on your new website, they are original works of art that you have full permission to use.
Yet another “Barnum & Bailey” act for Indy baseball. If only these guys’ and not Pinocchio’s nose grew with every lie, we would have a bridge from the mainland to Maui. (Of course they would then use that as another basis for Indy ball in Hawaii.
John Ircandia
Managing Director
Okotoks Dawgs Baseball