[Westheim]

THE WASHINGTON GAZETTE
December 6, 1985

Capitals to go out of town?
By J. Smith

Currently, General Managers and other leading personnel of the 24 ABL baseball teams are convening in Richmond for the annual winter meetings. Many players' fates are decided in the meetings, which are held in a different ABL host city every year (they were held in Washington, in fact, in 1980).

Of course, Washington Capitals GM Carlos Morales and manager Steve Howard are among the attendees of the meetings, seeking fresh talent to get the team ahead. We are talking about a team here that is in dire need of fresh talent. The last time that the Capitals finished in the upper half of the Federal League’s Eastern Division was all the way back in 1979. Back then the third place finish was considered a disappointment. Currently, the fanbase would give a lot to get back there, out of the cellar.

The question currently posed however is more like whether there will be Washington Capitals to root for for much longer. Ownership is unsatisfied with the achievements made, and partly blames a tight financial situation for the dilemma the team is in. The Federal League East looks overloaded to many, with all six teams sitting in a rather small circle between Washington and Richmond on the eastern seaboard, and Topeka, Kansas in the west, with the other three teams forming a neat arch between those two extremes.

And then there are the cities around the nations that were not given a franchise when the ABL was formed in 1977. These include f.e. Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, and others. Carlos Morales was recently quoted that he and ownership agreed on the fact that the Capitals lacked breathing space in the division, with the Richmond Rebels only 100 miles to the south, and the Pittsburgh Miners just a little farther away in the west.

Chicago has been named as a possible refuge for the team in the Monday night radio talk show of Bob Sabbler, infamous for his campaign about getting ABL to expand to 25 teams three years ago. Sabbler, 72, whose voice is heard by millions weekly, specifically wanted to see a franchise in Chicago, which happens to be his hometown. “Thousands of Chicago school kids need something to root for, otherwise they will turn to drugs and violent crime”, Sabbler said on Monday. This prompted a man named Carl from Hartford, Connecticut, to call into the show and ask Sabbler if he wouldn’t prefer them school kids doing their homework and engaging in their community. Carl was quickly finished off by the eloquent Sabbler, who then warned the audience that watching baseball was important for children, teaching them a variety of necessary life skills like patience and math.

One, two, three strikes you’re out, it appears. Sabbler claimed to have received letters from a Chicago teacher saying that his students were restless and unwilling to listen. Sabbler went on to warn listening parents that “If you tolerate this, then your children will be next!”

You may take Bob Sabbler with one or two grains of salt, and then too in only small doses. But some pieces seem to come together here. Chicago indeed wants an ABL team (as are about ten other major and minor cities in the nation, and Toronto in Canada). The Capitals look for options outside of Washington.

In a meeting at the league’s commissioner’s office on November 29, just before ABL’s rule 5 draft last week, the commissioner met with various team owners from around the ABL, discussing the possibility of expansion within the next two years. Owners outright refused to agree to this step, keeping the ABL at 24 teams through 1987. The original plan put up in 1975, when the league was formed, nevertheless stated that – in order to allow the league to consolidate – no expansion should happen for at least ten years after the begin of play. We are about to enter the ABL’s tenth season.

It was not disclosed, how many owners were present and if they constituted a qualifying majority. By ABL’s own rules, 75% of owners overall, as well as 75% of the owners in the particular sub-league that would expand, would have to agree to expansion, plus of course the league office. At the moment, this could happen in 1988 at the earliest.

But of course the Capitals can move, if they so please. The City of Chicago would certainly welcome them. But even then, it would be hard for them to move immediately, given that Chicago doesn’t even have a ballpark to ABL standards.

Things thus seem like we will get treated to another season with our Capitals, who have posted 90 or more losses in each of the last four seasons. Beyond that? Things are highly uncertain.