The California League might be ending its long run in Modesto, but professional baseball appears poised to remain.
The independent Pioneer League is in talks to place a team at John Thurman Field, the current home of the Modesto Nuts.
In a closed session Tuesday, the Modesto City Council discussed the potential terms of a lease under negotiation between the city manager and Pioneer League President Michael Shapiro. The council took no action Tuesday, and neither Shapiro nor a city spokesperson immediately returned messages seeking comment.
Modesto’s California League history dates to 1946 — John Thurman Field opened in 1955 — but the Nuts are down to their final three homestands.
After negotiations for a renovated stadium and a new lease collapsed, the team was sold last December and will move to San Bernardino next season, part of a California League shuffle that includes the Dodgers’ affiliate moving into a new ballpark in Ontario.
A Modesto team would give the league two new teams next year and 14 in all; leagues prefer an even number of teams for scheduling purposes.
The other new team would play in Long Beach, in what would be the city’s first entry in an independent league since 2009.
On Tuesday, the Long Beach City Council unanimously approved pursuing an agreement with an expansion Pioneer League team that would share historic Blair Field with the Long Beach State baseball program.
“A team in Long Beach is a chance to show what makes Long Beach great: our diversity, our passion and our community spirit,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said in a statement.
Paul Freedman, the co-founder of the Pioneer League’s Oakland Ballers, would be one of the owners of the Long Beach team. In a Times story last year about the Ballers and how they were filling the baseball void created in Oakland by the departure of the Athletics, Freedman already had his eye on Long Beach.
“I think Long Beach should have a Pioneer League team,” Freedman said then. “Long Beach has its own unique identity. If I’m from Long Beach, I don’t want to be told I have to be a Dodger or Angel fan.”
