Gurganus Takes Manhattan
Expansion Gray Sox to Play in Polo Grounds
NEW YORK (July 15) -- Veteran baseball mogul Jeffrey N. Gurganus will take the reins of one of the United League’s two expansion teams next season, filling the void left in the Big Apple’s core by the New York Gothams' departure for Boston. 
   Gurganus was on the short list of expansion owners, and had his eye on the Boston vacancy, Baltimore, and Atlanta, but jumped at the opportunity to get his foot in the New York market after owner Shawn Martin skipped town with his lackluster Gothams.
   The Manhattan Gray Sox will occupy Harlem’s Polo Grounds on the north end of the island, and will play in the UL’s East Division.  Gurganus, who has been busy scouting 1962 rookies and potential expansion draft candidates for weeks, in anticipation of the announcement, held a brief news conference with reporters after the official unveiling of the expansion club at UL headquarters in midtown Manhattan, just miles from the Gray Sox home. 

Q: What kind of team do you plan to build?
A: What kind of team do I plan to build?  Given the level of talent my fellow owners are making available, not a very good one.

Q: Why did you choose New York when there are so many cities where you could have been the only show in town?
A: I'm not a creative guy.  New York was easy.  My mom always told me if I could make it here, I'll make it anywhere.  So I was like, what the hey, let's blow some of dad's money.  Plus, I like apples.

Q: What does this mean for New York baseball?
A: This means Brooklyn will still be the best team in New York.

DeGrass Signs Lease at Turnpike Stadium
FT. WORTH (July 10) -- Expansion owner Benjamin DeGrass inked a deal that will have his as-yet unnamed expansion team playing its first few seasons in Turnpike Stadium, a 20,000-seat minor league stadium that will be enlarged to 35,185 in time for opening day next spring.  Renovations actually began last winter, in anticipation of a possible UL franchise.  "We have a healthy Triple-A franchise and a healthy appetite for baseball here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, so it was a bit of a gamble, but not much," said Billy Joe Johnson, vice president of baseball operations for Dallas Ball Club, Inc.
   Turnpike Stadium is located in suburban Arlington, equidistant from Dallas and Fort Worth, north Texas' double metropolises.  The ballpark is unique because it was built in a natural bowl.  The playing field is 40 feet below the surrounding area, allowing the stadium to be built for a fraction of the cost of a facility at another site.  Since 1955, the ballpark has been home to the Dallas Drillers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Outlaws, who joined the United League in the first expansion round.  "It's not fancy-shmanzy, like they've got out there in La-La Land, but it's cozy and it's home," Johnson said of the six-year-old ballpark.

Horsemen and (Robber) Barons
Chicago and Cleveland Swap Stars of Today and Tomorrow
by Lance Mueller
CHICAGO (June 16th) – In a deal sure to shock many around the UL, the Cleveland Barons traded the league’s winningest – and some would say, best – pitcher, Billy Pierce, to the Western Division leading Chicago Colts. Slugging first sacker Norm Cash and reliever Bob Tiefenauer are also headed to the Windy City with Pierce. Bowing to the belief that there’s just no way anyone will catch the superior Superbas, Barons’ GM Charlie Qualls dealt the trio of current stars in the hopes of gearing up for the arms war of tomorrow. Case in point, the deal netted Cleveland pitching prospects Juan Marichal and Jack Fisher, along with highly regarded first baseman Billy White, second base prospect Chuck Schilling and Chicago’s 1962 first round rookie selection. Clearly Qualls is following in the footsteps of fellow GM and league President, Timothy Smith, and mounting a youth moment he believes will help him climb to the top of the East heap in the near future.
  As for the Colts, they took a decidedly Superbas style approach to the trade: screw waiting for the youth to develop, let’s get some proven powerhouses now. With Pierce, Erskine, Mossi and Strudivant/Daley, Chicago now not only has the top two hurlers in UL history, they also possess a rotation they believe could give Brooklyn a run for their money. And hey, Cash is no slouch either; his bat will certainly add some punch to the middle of the Colts’ lineup. There were rumors after Chicago snapped off twelve straight wins that the deal might be nixed, but Colts’ GM Lance Mueller says nothing could be further from the truth. “I firmly believe in striking while the iron is hot, and with expansion looming large, there’s no better time then now to insure this team’s future.” Mueller added, “Plus, it’s Billy F-ing Pierce! Who’s gonna pass up on adding him to their squad!” Now that the deal of the decade (so far) is done, it’s time to sit back and see where all of this takes us.

Cuba Revolt Paves Way for Havana Club
MIAMI (July 10) -- The recent overthrow of Fidel Castro paves the way for a minor league team in the Cuban capital, league officials said today.  “The demise of this repressive, Communist regime not only eliminates a menace 90 miles from our shores, it affords us the opportunity to plant the seed of baseball on the fertile ballfields of Cuba,” league president Timothy J. Smith said at a Miami press conference.  Smith was in Canada earlier in the week, where he announced a new Triple-A franchise in Toronto.
     Havana and Toronto will become the first minor league affiliates outside the United States next season.  The two cities will join the newly formed Triple-A International League, successor to the American Association, the United League’s highest minor league affiliate.  The UL’s minor league system will be restructured next season in an effort to give the Triple-A level a boost by making it nationwide by placing teams in the biggest cities coast to coast.
     The UL’s minor leagues are currently divided into regional leagues.  The American Association consists mostly of former major league cities in the Northeast, the Double A Southern League is stocked with southern teams, and the Pacific Coast League provides eight Single-A teams.  The new national structure will allow big western cities, like San Diego and Seattle, to compete with Triple-A cities on the East Coast.
     Adding two teams to the UL will result in eight new minor league cities – three for each expansion team, and two to replace Boston and Dallas.  The league announced a provisional list of the new minor league cities, as well as the planned structure, at a press conference in New York on Tuesday.