The sound of "Play Ball" can’t come soon enough for the Ottawa Fat Cats.
They’ve got more than 4,000 season tickets already out there, they’ve got a two-year agreement in place with the City of Ottawa for the stadium and they’ve got a new coaching staff in place.
But the big plan includes so much more.
Fat Cats GM Duncan MacDonald believes this is a vibrant community that can support professional baseball.
He wants professional baseball back in the city. And he’s got the Toronto Blue Jays in mind.
Right now, there’s not a lot of legwork MacDonald can do. He needs a long-term stadium agreement in place with the city. But it seems like a perfect match.
“(The Fat Cats) are here until the end of 2012,” said MacDonald. “If we knew we had a 10- or 15- or, ideally, a 20-year lease, we would absolutely be in position to secure a pro franchise. But it’s a chicken and egg thing. Who goes first? Maybe the city could give us a conditional lease so we could at least knock on doors.
“Would we be excited about the prospect of having an affiliation with the Blue Jays? Absolutely.
“The season for the New York-Penn rookie league is mid-June to the end of August. That would be perfect. These are the future Jays.”
For now, it’s the Fat Cats who occupy the stadium.
As an expansion franchise in the Intercounty Baseball League last season, the Fat Cats made strides. And it’s time to move forward with Tim Nelson as the new manager and Gatineau’s Stephane Petronzio as the player development co-ordinator.
http://www.torontosun.com/sports/baseba ... 44746.html
