Frontier League expands to two divisions in merger with Can-Am League
Two of the oldest professional independent baseball leagues in North America, the Can-Am and Frontier Leagues will become one beginning in the 2020 season.
Frontier League Commissioner Bill Lee and League President Rich Sauget along with Can-Am League Chariman Al Dorso announced Wednesday that the five former members of the Can-Am League will join the Frontier League beginning in the 2020 season.
“This vision started over two years ago and we’ve had meetings ever since,” Lee said. “We’ve been getting together from time to time and we played an all-star game last summer. That’s when things started heating up.
“For those of us in this business for a long tine, we are so excited about the future. These teams are basically from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. We are excited to see this league grow and watch our industry grow with it. We are excited about the potential in marketing and expansion and that our players will continue to have the opportunity to move on. And we are excited that our fans will have the opportunity see all this.’’
The league will be the largest in independent league baseball and will consist of two seven-team divisions, the Can-Am Division and the Midwestern Division. The five teams from the Can-Am League — New Jersey Jackals, Quebec Capitals, Rockland Boulders, Sussex County Miners and Trois-Rivieres Aigles — will be joined by the Washington Wild Things and Lake Erie Crushers in the Can-Am Division.
The Evansville Otters, Florence Freedom, Gateway Grizzlies, Joliet Slammers, Schaumburg Boomers, Southern Illinois Miners and the Windy City ThunderBolts, will compete in the Midwestern Division.
Dorso said the new league hopes to expand to 20 teams over the next two years.
The Frontier League is the oldest independent league in the United States. Since the 1993 season, more than 1,000 of its players have signed major league contracts. The Can-Am League’s predecessor was the Northeast League that began play in 1995. Prior to the 2005 season, the Can-Am League name was officially adopted. During those years, more than 135 players have signed contracts.
Dorso, like Lee, said he said the merging of the Can-Am League teams with the Frontier League is a positive move.
“We have been looking and hoping to move into something bigger and established and now to be part of the biggest and the best independent league in professional baseball, we couldn’t be more happy,” Dorso said.
The Gateway Grizzlies recently completed their 20th season as a member of the Frontier League.
Following the announcement on Wednesday, Gateway general manager Steve Gomric said the addition of five teams is a positive move.
“It opens the New York market now from a sponsorship point of view. We’ll take in a lot more people, a lot more people will be viewing our games, listening to our games on line which will be of added value to our sponsors,’’ Gomric said. “It will also be great for our fans to be able to go new places.
“It’s fun to be able to take a trip to Chicago, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Now our fans will also get to go places like New York, New Jersey and even Canada to see us play. And I know expansion is coming so there will be even more places for fans to watch us play.’’
The 2020 Frontier League season begins May 14.
This story was originally published October 16, 2019 at 3:17 PM.
