VERO BEACH — Minor League Baseball is going to take a swing at a name other than Dodgertown to sell the 65-acre complex that has worn that name since the late 1940s. (more…)

VERO BEACH — Representatives of the Chicago Cubs are not expected to visit the former Dodgertown site as part of their trip to scout out a possible new spring training home in Florida this week.

The Naples Daily News and ESPN.com both reported earlier that Cubs owner Tom Ricketts would be paying a visit to Southwest Florida this week to check out possible spring training sites.

The team currently trains in Mesa, Ariz., but can opt out of its 20-year agreement next year and leave the city by 2012 for $4.2 million, according to the Naples Daily News. Ricketts also visited Naples in September.
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VERO BEACH — Minor League Baseball officials hope their plans for the former Dodgertown will bring year-round business to local hotels, restaurants, stores and health clubs.

Craig Callan, the vice president of MiLB Vero Beach, updated the Taxpayers’ Association of Indian River County at its monthly membership meeting Wednesday on the future of the former spring training home of the Los Angeles Dodgers. (more…)

VERO BEACH — Spring training is expected to return to the former Dodgertown facility next year, although it won’t involve a major league team.

“In March when people are used to spring training we will hopefully have spring training baseball again in Vero Beach, just at a different level,” said Dave Barnard, owner and president of RussMatt Baseball, who is currently marketing the complex for use by college and high school teams next year.

Barnard’s group has reached an agreement with the Minor League Baseball, which is now operating the facility, to use it from Feb. 20 through April 24 for what is being advertised as the RussMatt Invitational at Dodgertown.

Barnard said the colleges would probably be using the facility from the last part of February to the last week in March, with high school teams coming in from late March to the end of April. (more…)

VERO BEACH — The former Dodgertown Golf Course, with roots deep in the history of baseball, could be restored, possibly with the assistance of Minor League Baseball.

Tough economic conditions, however, are likely to delay any possible restoration for at least of couple of years.

The city of Vero Beach now controls the former golf course and maintains mowing the land once roamed by Los Angeles Dodgers Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson.
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Thursday, April 23, 2009

VERO BEACH — Minor League Baseball executives expect to occupy Dodgertown by June 1 if they can get an agreement with county officials approved by then.

“They want to occupy Dodgertown as soon as possible and we want them there,” County Administrator Joe Baird said Thursday.

At this point, the two sides’ attorneys are poring through the proposed agreement.

“And that takes on a life of its own,” MiLB President Pat O’Conner said.

Neither Baird nor O’Conner envisioned anything holding up the deal. And at least the county won’t have to spruce up the grounds before MiLB moves in, Baird said. (more…)

VERO BEACH — Baseball is scheduled to return to Dodgertown, but it will be primarily amateur level events conducted under the auspices of Minor League Baseball rather than professional players, officials announced today.

The agreement to bring Minor League Baseball here ends months of speculation of what was going to happen to Dodgertown.

History
Photos: Dodgertown’s last hurrah

Gallery: Beginnings of Dodgertown

After 61 years of spring training in Vero Beach, Dodgertown now sits empty
‘Dem bums’

While the facility won’t be hosting Major League Baseball spring training in the near future, officials with Minor League Baseball believe they will still have a major economic impact in the area.

Pat O’Conner, president of Minor League Baseball, said he believes the facility could play host to events for 35 to 40 weeks in the first year of operation alone, which could start as early as spring 2010. (more…)

VERO BEACH — A baseball-related organization is reportedly close to signing a five-year agreement for the use of Dodgertown.

County officials are declining to release the name of the proposed new tenant, although county officials previously met with Minor League Baseball President Pat O’Conner about the facility.

While the deal expected does not involve a Major League team, it leaves open the possibility of one using Holman Stadium for spring training in the future.
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By Laurel Pfahler

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Los Angeles Dodgers have not left Vero Beach just yet, but when they do, Dodgertown will not be completely empty.
The team is leaving behind several items to keep the facility functional for a new tenant, as well as some items that will help the county preserve the Dodgers’ history at the site where they spent 60 spring training seasons.
The Dodgers closed the facility Dec. 31, but they are still packing up and moving out. In the meantime, they continue to pay the electric bill.
“We finished going through all the inventory, and we expect they will be out in a couple weeks,” Indian River County Administrator Joe Baird said.
Baird walked through the property with Craig Callan, the Dodgers’ vice president of spring training and minor league facilities, before the new year, taking the final inventory of what would stay and what would go.
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If the Baltimore Orioles or anyone else want to pitch a new proposal for training at Dodgertown, county commissioners won’t be secretive about it — again.

“Our only big mistake was to agree with the confidentiality clause (in dealing with the Orioles) so citizens and taxpayers were unable to see all the facts and figures,” County Commissioner Peter O’Bryan said Tuesday.

His remark came as the Commission agreed to rescind an Oct. 30 offer to the Orioles for spring training at Dodgertown.

Monday was the deadline to accept or reject the offer, but the team instead issued a counteroffer and asked for substantially more.

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