The Martinez City Council on Wednesday is set to discuss an agreement to bring a new professional baseball team to their city, a year after the Martinez Clippers dissolved.
The working name of the team is the Martinez Mackerel.
The aim at this point is to have a non-binding letter of intent to develop a professional baseball license agreement for the City Council to vote on at its Dec. 18 meeting. The end game is to have the team playing at Waterfront Park in time for the start of the 2020 season, which begins in late May.
The Mackerel would be in the Pecos League of Professional Baseball Clubs, an independent professional baseball league headquartered in Houston.
In 2019, the league fielded 12 teams in cities in California, New Mexico, Arizona, southern Colorado, Kansas and West Texas.
In June, a Pecos League official told Martinez city staff he is interested in starting a new team in Martinez. The city’s Baseball Ad Hoc Subcommittee met Oct. 9 and Nov. 7 to evaluate that possibility.
At the Nov. 7 meeting, the subcommittee asked city staff to draw up the letter of intent, which will be discussed by the Council Wednesday. That draft letter does not contain a specific time frame for any prospective
agreement.
The Mackerel would play on Waterfront Park’s Field 3, which for the 2018 Pacific Association season was home to the Martinez Clippers. But that team dissolved after the end of the season, when the Clippers’ operating
agreement was terminated by the city due to non-payment of license fees by the team’s owners, Jeff and Paulette Carpoff.
The couple had operated a Benicia-based company, DC Solar, which the FBI had raided after the end of the 2018 baseball season as part of an investigation into what was described as a “Ponzi scheme.”
Wednesday’s Martinez City Council meeting begins at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 525 Henrietta St.
17 comments
A ridiculous waste. How about bringing Quiet Zones to Town. Your 2009 impact study stated that you were going to do something about it.
For every team in the Pecos League, there is a team that has disbanded. Out of the former teams, most only played one or two seasons.
People move out here to get away from this stuff. Soccer stadium and now a basketball team. Hello traffic. Let’s turn Contra Costa County into San Francisco
Basketball too?
We could call them the Bullheads!
Mtz council needs to (finally) start focusing on the redevelopment of the marina. Make the area mixed-use and a hub for commuter ferry service to SF. Priorities, please.
I agree! Waterfront property USE IT!
The Martinez Holy Mackerel.
Here’s an idea: How about making it a Christian team so they can be The Holy Mackerels.
Like the idea…hate the name.
Martinez City Council To Discuss Plan To Bring New Traffic Jams To Town
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A better name would be something reminding us of the only great baseball player to come from Martinez.
Who is that, you newbies say? Why it’s Joltin’ Joe Di Maggio, the Yankee Clipper, that’s who. Mister Coffee, named in song by Simon & Garfield, married to Marilyn. Still has family in the area and gave me a signed baseball.
Too bad they would have to play at the mosquito infested Waterfront Park.
Joe also had a brother, Dominic, who played in the pros.
He had another brother that played in the big leagues too: Vince.
You have a current Reds pitcher, Robert Stephenson, who was born in Martinez and went to Alhambra HS. There are a few MLB’ers from Martinez over the decades.
Love this idea, but this name needs some work. Yeesh.
Discuss bringing a team to Martinez? Perhaps the Council should be aware that a website is already up with games listed. http://www.martinezmackerel.com Apparently the team owner/s think it’s a done deal?
Yes, it is already a done deal. That is the way they roll over here in Martinez…….as they did with the secret passage of the s a n c t u a r y city status.
Holy Mackerel !!!!!!!
This is what will be yelled at every home run.
Will their mascot be “The Kingfish”?
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