Tombstone
Born: 1995 – Northeast League founding franchise
Folded: Postseason 1995
First Game:
Last Game:
Northeast League Championships: None
Stadium
Ownership & Affiliation
Owner: Jay Acton
Major League Affiliation: Independent
Attendance
Tap (mobile) or mouse over chart for figures. Tilting your mobile device may offer better viewing.
Source: 2003 Northeast League Media Guide
Background
The Sullivan County Mountain Lions independent baseball team was a One-Year Wonder that played in the tiny hamlet of Mountain Dale (pop. 869) in New York’s Hudson Valley region during the summer of 1995.
The Mountain Lions were one of six founding franchises in the start-up Northeast League. All six clubs were located in New York state and, by design, had no affiliation with Major League Baseball. League founder Jay Acton, a literary agent and long-time Minor League Baseball investor, owned the Mountain Lions franchise. Two years earlier, Acton published a booked called Green Diamonds: The Pleasures and Profits of Investing in Minor League Baseball. Pleasure and profit would not be part of Acton’s Sullivan County sojourn.
In Competition
Recently retired Major League Ken Oberkfell, starting third baseman for the 1982 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, managed the Mountain Lions. 31-year old former Montreal Expos pitcher Floyd Youmans started two games for the team. He was the only the Mountain Lion to ever appear in the Major Leagues.
The ball club finished its only season 23-43, placing 5th amount the Northeast League’s six clubs.
Outfielder Chris Kokinda led the circuit in batting at a .370 clip.
Mountain Lions to Cougars
During the 1995 season, owner Jay Acton banned reporters from the local Middletown Times Herald-Record from Baxter Stadium, believing the newspaper was providing negative coverage of the team. In another adventure, Acton reportedly stepped behind home plate to umpire a game when the scheduled crew failed to show up for a game against the Yonkers Hoot Owls.1NO BYLINE. “Hello and Goodbye: Tenures of Hudson Valley teams”. The Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY). March 31, 2001
The club left town at the end of the season.
Somewhat surprisingly, the Mountain Lions’ departure was not the end of professional baseball in Mountaindale. The similarly named Catskill Cougars moved into Baxter Stadium the following summer as members of the ramshackle North Atlantic League (and won the league title). The following season, 1997, the Cougars jumped to the Northeast League where the Lions had begun two years earlier.
The Cougars played on and off from 1996 until 2000, sitting out the 1999 season. At one point, Hollywood star Bill Murray was a part-owner of the ballclub.
The Cougars shut down for good after the 2000 season.
Baxter Stadium was demolished in the mid-2000’s barely a decade after it was built.
Trivia
Baxter Stadium was named after Ruth Baxter, whose claim to fame was purchasing the first pair of Mountain Lions season tickets after the ballpark opened in 1995.
“She essentially got naming rights and season tickets for $125,” former Cougars President Mike McGuire recalled to The Middletown Times Herald-Record in 2015.2DeSanto, John. “There used to be a ballpark here”. The Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY). April 12, 2015
Sullivan Mountain Lions Video
Video of the former Baxter Stadium site following demolition.
Links
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