Senior Professional Baseball Association (1989-1990)
Tombstone
Born: May 31, 1989 – SPBA founding franchise
Folded: August 1990
First Game: November 1, 1989 (L 9-2 vs. St. Petersburg Pelicans)
Last Game: January 31, 1990 (L 5-4 @ Orlando Juice)
Senior League Championships: None
Stadium
Chain of Lakes Park (4,600)
Ownership & Affiliation
Owners: Mitchell Maxwell, Fred Krones & James Russek
Major League Affiliation: Independent
Background
The Winter Haven Super Sox were one of eight original franchises in the Senior Professional Baseball Association which began play in November 1989. League founder Jim Morley came up with the idea of a Florida-based pro league for players aged 35 and over. Somehow, he managed to move the idea from cocktail napkin to launch in less than 12 months.
The SPBA offered generous salaries in the $5,000 – $15,000 per month range, so luring recently retired ex-Major Leaguers was not a problem. Future Hall-of-Famers Rollie Fingers and Ferguson Jenkins were among the bigger names to join the league, along with former Baltimore Orioles skipper Earl Weaver.
Red Sox Old-Timers
The Super Sox were owned by 37-year old Broadway producer Mitch Maxwell, who went to school just outside Boston at Tufts University. True to their name, the Super Sox loaded their roster with former Boston Red Sox players, including Bill Campbell, Bernie Carbo, Cecil Cooper, Butch Hobson and Rick Wise. The ringmaster was player-manager Bill “Spaceman” Lee, pictured on the cover of the team’s yearbook. Lee’s dual role lasted only seven games, before he was relieved of his managerial role. The Spaceman never belonged in management anyway. Extending the Red Sox fetish, the Super Sox also made their home at Winter Haven’s Chain of Lakes Park, Boston’s long-time spring training home-away-from-home.
Demise
The Super Sox were the second worst team in the league with a 29-43 record. Attendance was also rough. The club attracted just 19,033 fans for the entire 36-game home calendar (529 per game) according to Kenn Tomasch’s SPBA retrospective over at Kenn.com.
After the 1989-90 season, owner Mitch Maxwell attempted to move his club to Sarasota’s Ed Smith Stadium. But the Chicago White Sox, who used the facility for spring training, objected to the team playing in their facility. The Sarasota City Commission rejected a lease deal with the Super Sox by a 3-2 vote in May of 1990.
With the Sarasota move dead in the water, Maxwell folded the Super Sox shortly thereafter and bought the SPBA’s West Palm Beach Tropics franchise instead. But the league made it only one month into its second season before folding abruptly in December 1990.
Downloads
Senior Professional Baseball Association Standard Player Contract
Senior Professional Baseball Association Standard Player Contract
Links
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2 Responses
West Palm Beach became just “The Tropics” the second year as they became a traveling team that was to play no home games.
Vintage Mitchell Maxwell, as quoted in David Whitford’s Extra Innings, when asked if he thought the early (desultory) attendance figures were cause for concern:
“Quite frankly, I think it’s a stupid question. I’m sorry to say that, but I think it’s a stupid question. I don’t think attendance is really the issue in the viability of the league five games into the season. Opening night I had fourteen hundred people here. I was down nine-nothing in the eighth inning and I scored a run, and all the fans stood up and they clapped. To me, that answered all my questions about attendance.”
Later:
“The public has no right to judge us for an idea we believe in. All the public has a right to do is judge the product. And the public that isn’t coming are idiots. They’re scumbags, quite frankly, ’cause they’re sitting home judging something they don’t even know what it is! That’s absurd, that’s just absurd. It’s what’s wrong with this country, also. What’s wrong with the country is everybody’s a wiseass.”
HE scored a run. Everybody ELSE is a wiseass.
Guy had no clue about sports. He was a Broadway producer.