WhiteWings to stay in Harlingen

Team moves into new Baseball league

By Eladio Jaimez
Valley Morning Star

HARLINGEN, July 28, 2005 — Byron Pierce and John Bryant are ready to play
ball again.
The north Texas businessmen announced on Wednesday the establishment of a
new independent baseball league and awarded the first of eight teams to
Harlingen.

The league’s name and the other seven charter cities would be announced in
the coming weeks, Bryant said.

Pierce and Bryant aren’t strangers to Harlingen or the Rio Grande Valley.

The two founded the Texas-Louisiana League, now the Central Baseball League,
in 1994 and awarded Harlingen the eighth and final club: the Rio Grande
Valley WhiteWings.

Harlingen fielded the new team after Edinburg and Hidalgo County officials
elected to pass on the opportunity.

Pierce and Bryant were excited about the opportunity to work with Harlingen
again and bring quality minor league baseball back to the Valley.

“We’re excited to come back to Harlingen,” Pierce said. “We’re looking
forward to this. There’s a great fan base here and with the right management
in place, we can be successful again and treat the community with the
respect it deserves.”

The T-LL was sold to Chicago businessman Horn Chen in 1998 when the various
share holders chose to deal.

Pierce and Bryant stayed with the league until 2000, when the WhiteWings won
their lone league championship.

Soon thereafter, the league made changes including its name and restricting
the participation of “veteran” players on the active roster.

In this new league, only two rookie spots would be available on the roster
giving way to more talent on the field.

A current CBL roster shows several rookies and “veterans” with about five
years of pro experience only.

During the salad days of the T-LL, one of the keys to success was the
quality of talent on the field. Pierce said providing top-notch players
would be top priority again.

A roster in the early days of the T-LL had several players with Triple-A and
some with Major League experience.

Part of the problem became allowing general managers to hire field managers
and players. The CBL still operates this way.

“When you hire a 35-year-old GM with no experience or connections, the
quality is gonna go down,” Pierce said.

Pierce said the hiring process in the new league would mirror that of the
Texas-Louisiana League before the merger with Chen Sports.

The GM will deal solely with the business side and the field manager would
recruit and sign players. The field manager would be hired by league
officials.

“The two would work together but not over each other,” Pierce said.

Pierce said hiring the right field managers with Major League and global
baseball connections was essential to the success of the league.

With numerous connections in the Dominican Republic, former WhiteWings
manager Eddie Dennis was a prototypical manager.

“We’re gonna have the right people in place to go to Major League spring
training and look for players released by teams there,” he said.

Pierce wouldn’t go into detail in other areas like a salary cap or roster
size. But he did mention that the league would stay on par with other
independent leagues across the country.

“We need to stay competitive with other leagues in order to get good talent
here,” Pierce said. “But we haven’t come up with a specific number yet.”

The WhiteWings called Harlingen their home from 1994-2003.

Due to poor fan support and financial problems, though, the club was
suspended for the 2004 season in December 2003.

The CBL kept Harlingen in the dark for nearly a year before the Wings were
disbanded for the 2005 season.