Saratoga Springs, NY — Summer baseball is on its way back to the Spa City for the first time since 2013.
It was officially announced Wednesday evening when the Saratoga Revolution were unveiled as the newest member of the New York Collegiate Baseball League(NYCBL).
The Revolution are owned by Tom and Kim Coons who have a deep background in area baseball. Tom, who also serves as the team president, has been an athletic coach and teacher in Saratoga for more than 30 years and has coached baseball at the college and professional level for the last 15+ years.
The team’s name pays homage to the Battle of Saratoga which is considered to be the turning point of the American Revolution. The star on the team’s logo symbolizes the Saratoga Stars, which was a team made up of community members in the 1800s.
The team itself will be made up of college baseball players from around the country.
“You’re going to see different things from a great makeup of kids,” Tom Coons said during the introductory press conference.
The NYCBL is a wood-bat developmental league for college baseball players. A portion of the league is funded by Major League Baseball. Founded in 1978, its teams play a 46-game schedule beginning in late May and ending in late July, with the playoffs starting in early August. The league also holds an all-star game in mid-July.
The Revolution will play in the Eastern Division along with the Cortland Crush, Rome Generals, Sherrill Silversmiths, Syracuse Spartans and Syracuse Salt Cats.
As for the head coach, it was an extensive search that consisted of more than 40 applicants from all over the country including California, Arizona and Alaska. They settled on CJ Baker whose coaching resume is extensive. He served as the head coach of the Redding Tigers in California, the associate head coach for the Mudville Pinnacle in Washington, an assistant coach at Shoreline Community College in Washington, and was a graduate assistant at Seattle University. He currently serves as an assistant coach at Division II Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania.
“He’s big into player development and working with talent to get the most out of them. He just appealed to what we’re looking at as a brand-new franchise,” Coons said.
The team is a 501(c)3 non-for-profit organization that consists of a board of members from the community. Money that they make will be put back into the team for team travel and other expenses. Money in excess will be given back to the Town of Wilton. Home games will be played at Gavin Park in Wilton.
“We welcome the Saratoga Revolution to Gavin Park and wish them a very successful season,” said Town of Wilton Supervisor Art Johnson.
This expansion of the NYCBL marks the return of collegiate baseball to Saratoga for the first time since 2013. The first team was the Saratoga Phillies who played at the East Side Rec from 2004-2009 in the NYCBL. They relocated to Oneonta following the 2009 season. The second team was the Saratoga Brigade who played at East Side Rec for one season in the summer of 2013 as part of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. They did not return to the league in 2014.
The Revolution will begin their inaugural season in May 2017.
Aidan Joly is the Saratoga bureau chief for 518 Sports
