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Orioles to play final games in BluefieldBy TOM BONEBluefield Daily TelegraphLUEFIELD — Fans of the Bluefield Orioles will bid their team a final good-bye this evening at Bowen Field as Baltimore’s 53-year affiliation with local minor league baseball con eludes.Flayer and staff introductions will begin about 5.45p.m. with the first pitch to the visiting Princeton Rays scheduled for 6 p.m.A doubleheader between the two local rivals, the result of a rainout eariier this season, will end the regular season and close a chapter in Bluefield sports history.The Baltimore Orioles decided to cut back on its short-season minor league affiliates and has chosen not to renewits year-to-year operating agreement with the Bluefield Baseball Club. The 53 straight years of affiliation is thought to be a baseball record.George McGonagle, club president, provided some perspective about that span during the press conference on Saturday that announced Baltimore’s decision.More than 1.5 million fans have attended the approximately 1,800 home games since the Bluefield Orioles debuted in 1958, he said.“Somewhere around 1,300 different players have enjoyed the Bluefield experience,” he said. “We estimate somewhere around 150 (to) 160 of them went on to the Major Leagues — not necessarily Baltimore...The most recent BluefieldBirds, C-3
Newspaper Details
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Bluefield, West Virginia, US
Tue, Aug 31, 2010
Page 13
Full Page
Clipped by
Becky K.
NA, 02 Jun 2023
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