New York-Penn League (1983-1987)
Tombstone
Born: March 1983 – NYPL expansion franchise
Moved: January 1988 (Erie Orioles)
First Game:
Last Game:
New York-Penn League Championships: None
Stadium
Ownership & Affiliation
Owners:
- 1983-1985: Susan Kern / Woody Kern
- 1986-1987: William McKee
Major League Affiliation: Baltimore Orioles
Attendance
Background
The Newark Orioles were a short-season Class A farm club of the Baltimore Orioles during the mid-1980’s. The club played in the tiny village of Newark, New York (pop. 10,000), not the urban metropolis of Newark, New Jersey. The community had a previous entry in the New York-Penn League, the Co-Pilots, that operated from 1968 until 1979.
Newark re-entered the New York-Penn League in 1983 out of necessity. The circuit looked to expand from 10 to 12 teams, but a planned franchise for Cooperstown, New York foundered over facility problems. Ohio nursing home operator Woody Kern had recently purchased the NYPL’s Little Falls Mets club. He agreed to also finance a club in Newark as a late replacement for Cooperstown.1Pitoniak, Scott. “Woody, Susan Kern’s house divided by New York-Pennsylvania baseball.” The Democrat-Chronicle (Rochester, NY). June 16, 1985 To head off conflict of interest charges, Kern gave the Newark club to his wife Susan. Media accounts still occasionally named Woody Kern as the club owner though.
In 1984, Little Falls and Newark met in the New York-Penn League championship, with Woody Kern’s Mets defeating his wife Susan’s Orioles ball club 2 games to 1.
On The Field
The Newark Orioles posted a winning record in all five seasons of existence and reached the New York-Penn League championship series three times. In addition to the aforementioned loss to Little Falls in 1984, Newark lost the finals to the Utica Blue Sox in 1983 and fell to the St. Catharines Blue Jays in 1986.
Newark produced one great Major League player during the Orioles era. 22-year old outfielder Steve Finley played 54 games for Newark in 1987. Finley earned a call-up to Baltimore in 1989 and spent 19 seasons in the Majors, earning a World Series championship and five Gold Glove awards. He was the last active alumnus of the Newark Orioles when he played his final game in 2007.
Demise
Newark’s existence in the NYPL was always tenuous due to the village’s tiny population. The Kerns attempted to sell the franchise to a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania group at the end of the 1985 season, but league officials nixed the deal. At the time, 11 of the 12 NYPL clubs were located in New York state and Harrisburg was viewed as too far away.2Singer, Patti. “Newark fans sitting on fragile bubble – again.” The Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY). January 10, 1988
The Kerns sold the team to William McKee after the 1985 season instead. McKee kept the club in town for two more seasons. But at the end of the 1987 season, the league’s Erie franchise moved to Hamilton, Ontario. Erie had thirty times the population of Newark at the time and had finished first in the league in attendance in 1987, while Newark was 11th. McKee jumped at the chance to fill the void in Erie and moved the club there in January 1988.
Newark Orioles Shop
In Memoriam
Team founder Woody Kern died on January 7, 2014 at age 66. Tampa Bay Times obituary.
Manager Art Mazmanian (Orioles ’83 & ’85-’86) passed away on March 22, 2019 at age 91.
Links
New York Penn-League Media Guides
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