The City’s Chief Executive says he will work to keep the Keys in Frederick.
Frederick, Md (KM) The City of Frederick has no control whether the Keys stay or go. That’s according to Mayor Michael O’Connor who spoke about that recently on WFMD’s “Morning News Express.”I have no control over whether the Keys stay or go,” he said. “That’s a decision that’s going to be made by big Major League Baseball and big Minor League Baseball.”
Last year, Major League Baseball announced that it was reducing the number of minor league teams from their affiliations with major baseball clubs, and one of them could be the Frederick Keys, which is a Advanced Class A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. MLB described it as a way to cost cuts, and improve pay and working conditions for players.
in addition to that, MLB has also called off the minor league baseball season as it concentrates on its Major League Baseball season which was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayor O’Connor says the city will make a big pitch to Major League Baseball to keep the Keys in Frederick. “Where the city has a role is in trying to work with the Keys, with the Orioles, with Major League Baseball for the extent that we can demonstrate to them our commitment to want minor league baseball to stay in the city of Frederick and what that looks like,” he said.
One facet has to with making improvements to Harry Grove Stadium. “Harry Grove Stadium has not undergone any significant renovations in 30-years. The City doesn’t have the resources to do that. We don’t have millions of dollars in money sitting around to do a stadium renovation. So we have to look to how we can create partnerships,” he said.
But in the end, the Mayor says, it’s convincing Major League Baseball that Frederick is a good time for minor league baseball. “It’s going to be, I think, about demonstrating a commitment to work through a plan like that that’s going to give us the best chance to keep the Keys,” he says. “And in the absence of keeping the Keys–which is our first choice–would be to attract minor league baseball from some other location.”
The Keys were established in 1989.
By Kevin McManus