UPDATED – The North Shore Navigators will have a new owner, general manager and league when they begin the 2012 summer season.
The Futures Collegiate Baseball League announced Wednesday that not only would the Lynn, Massachusetts summer league team move to the league, but that they would do so under new ownership. They made the announcement via a tweet:
We would like to welcome the North Shore Navigators and new owner Pat Salvi who owns @Flyersbaseball and @railcats to the FCBL!
— FCBL (@FuturesLeague) February 8, 2012
Salvi gained ownership of the Navigators after several weeks of negotiation with former Navigators owner Tim Haley. Salvi owns two Northern League pro baseball teams in the Midwest – the Schaumburg (IL) Flyers and Gary (IN) South Shore Railcats, and will own the team under the auspices of Salvi Sports New England LLC. Salvi will place former Minor League manager Bill Terlecky in the role of general manager of the team.
Also on Wednesday, the City of Lynn approved the Fraser Field lease transfer between ownership groups. Lynn mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy told The Daily Item that she had done her due diligence on Salvi before approving the transfer, and was impressed with two organizations he already owns.
The news signals the end of the Navigators’ involvement in the NECBL, which dated back to the league’s founding in 1994. At the outset, the franchise was located in Middletown, Connecticut. They moved to Holyoke, MA in 2004, and then landed in Lynn in 2008. The Navigators became the historic Fraser Field’s major tenant after the demise of the Can-Am league’s North Shore Spirit.
Futures League commissioner Chris Hall is excited for another team to join his league, which added a team in Brockton, MA just a few weeks ago. “As a league we are excited to have such devoted owners as the Salvi’s heading up the franchise and we feel the North Shore Navigators will be an excellent addition to the Futures League,” he said in a statement.
