Pittsfield Colonials

Can-Am League (2010-2011)

Background

The Pittsfield Colonials were an independent pro baseball franchise that toiled for two summers at historic Wahconah Park.  The Colonials failed to find an audience in Western Massachusetts’ Berkshires region, but they did make a fashion statement with their collared, old-timey uniforms.

Colonials owner Buddy Lewis was an executive at Nocona Athletic Goods, a domestic manufacturer of baseball gloves.  In 2009, Lewis was part of the investor group responsible for the American Defenders of New Hampshire and the Pittsfield American Defenders, a disastrous duo of military-themed ball clubs.  The Pittsfield American Defenders were an amateur team, competing in the New England Collegiate Baseball League.  Their season was a washout thanks to poor weather and general lack of interest.

Up in New Hampshire, where Lewis’ group operated a professional team in the independent Can-Am League, things got real weird, real quick. Lewis’ partners included Terry Allvord, a naval veteran and promoter of barnstorming U.S. Military All-Star baseball teams. Allvord cooked up the “American Defenders of New Hampshire” gimmick, cloaking the team in desert-style camouflage uniforms.

The patriotic/military theme quickly crossed into morbid tackiness.  The team’s mascot, a plush figure in fatigues and war paint, was named “Ground Zero”. He wore the jersey number 9-11.  The Defenders were an epic flop, evicted from Holman Stadium after stiffing police and fire fighters for security details. City officials evicted the Defenders and parked a tractor on home plate to make the club go away.

Fresh Start in Pittsfield

Allvord soon vanished and took the military concept with him.  The Pittsfield-based collegiate team was sold and packed off to Bristol, Connecticut.  Buddy Lewis still owned the carcass of the New Hampshire ball club, as well as the lease at Pittsfield.  In December 2009, he decided to give the Can-Am League a second try and moved his Nashua franchise 150 miles west to Pittsfield.  The re-branded Pittsfield Colonials would be the city’s first professional baseball team since the departure of the Berkshire Black Bears after the summer of 2003.

Former Boston Red Sox slugger Brian Daubach (above left), who endured the 2009 debacle in Nashua as the Defenders’ camo-clad field manager, relocated with the team to Pittsfield.  Daubach took the Colonials to a third place finish at 48-45 and then onto the Can-Am League championship series, in 2010 where they lost to the Quebec Capitales.

At the box office, however, the Colonials were a flop, finishing last in the league with 29,485 fans for 42 home dates.  By comparison, the six other Can-Am League clubs drew between 70,000 and 150,000 fans each.

The End

Nevertheless, the Colonials returned for a second season in 2011.  Daubach departed, but the team didn’t miss a beat under new skipper Jamie Keefe, improving to 53-39.  The Colonials made the playoffs again, but lost in the semi-finals.  Attendance ticked up marginally to 37,154 for 44 dates, but was still worst in the league.  At league meetings in October 2011, the Colonials ownership either wouldn’t or couldn’t replenish the team’s $200,000 line of credit. Can-Am League owners terminated Pittsfield’s membership.

The amateur Pittsfield Suns of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League replaced the Colonials at Wahconah Park in 2012.

Trivia

Berkshires resident and Rock n’ Roll Hall of Famer James Taylor performed the National Anthem at the Colonials’ first home game in 2010.

Links

Can-Am League Media Guides

Can-Am League Programs

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