ABILENE, Texas — America’s favorite pastime is baseball. It is a saying that we have all heard before, but for the Mid-America League, they are bringing that past time to Abilene – fielding its first team starting next year.
Club presidents Scott Kirk and Matt Perry have led the charge to bring Abilene its own baseball team, and while this is not a professional team, the goal of this team is to farm and develop talent that wants to continue to play baseball.
"We are going to be primarily very close to a collegiate league team. We formed the league so that non-college players could play. This could be a guy who's got no more college eligibility and graduated this year. (If) He wants to continue playing baseball to see if he can advance (to the pro level), he has a way to do so and put stuff out there," Kirk said.
Other sports have similar farm systems in place that do not have a direct stream to the professional league, but many players parlay their time in developmental or semi-pro leagues into professional careers. The Mid-America League will be that avenue for players who want to put the tape out there that they could send to professional teams and agents across the globe.
"All of our players, whether they're college players or non-college players, want to continue their baseball career. They want to make it to the major league level (hopefully). Some guys are just not ready to give up baseball. We are providing opportunities for them to advance their career and that is how this league will operate," Kirk said.
The Key City's team is nameless right now, but the two men in charge of the team are asking for fans to rate the final four options on the ballot. The names are listed, below.
- Yodel Dogs
- Red Dogs
- Space Bison
- Flying Bison
Kirk is asking for you to rank these names from best to worst, and send your submissions to abilenebaseball2024@gmail.com -- as the winner will be selected in December. Each name has been selected to honor the city's past, present and future both on the diamond and off.
In addition to Abilene, there will be five other teams. White Oak, Fort Smith and Sherman have been announced, but two other teams will be fielding their own squads. The league is planning to make the official cities known by the beginning of next year.
As for Abilene's baseball team, they will be playing its home games at Walt Driggers Field and games are expected to begin in summer 2024. This will be the first time the city has had its own developmental baseball team since the departure of the Prairie Dogs in 2012.