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Sports

Rockland Boulders Hunt for Local Help

The Rockland Boulders will sign at least one player from the open tryout they are holding Saturday at Ramapo College in Mahwah, NJ.

The Rockland Boulders--an independent expansion team in the Canadian-American Baseball League -- announced Monday they would definitely sign one player from the open tryout the team is holding Saturday at Ramapo College in Mahwah, NJ.

The cost to participate in the tryout, which begins promptly at 9 a.m., is $100, and must be paid in advance. Lunch and two tickets to a future Boulders game are included in the cost. (The rain date is Sunday.)

Players are required to bring their own uniform and equipment, and are asked to access www.rocklandboulders.com/team to register.

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“We’re expecting a good turnout,” noted St. Thomas Aquinas College graduate Bryan Viggiano of the Boulders' front office staff.

Viggiano, although unable to provide an exact count on the numbers of players who have already signed up for the tryout, said manager Dave LaPoint, a one-time big-league pitcher, would add one utility player to the team’s roster. Team co-owner Ken Lehner, who helped found the seven-member Can-Am League in 2004, will also have some input into any addtion to a roster that recently added Dustin Smith, the son of Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith.

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“We are looking for talent, and hope we have a good turnout,” LaPoint was quoted as saying on the team’s website. “This is an elimination camp. It is going to be competitive.”

Viggiano, perhaps an adherent to the axiom that “you can never have enough pitching,” added that if a pitcher showed exceptional talent, room on the roster might be made available. The Can-Am League permits a 27-player spring-training roster, but rosters are limited to 22 once the season gets under way.

The Boulders will make single-game tickets available next week, but they are higher priced than season tickets. Home box seats for the season are priced at $13 per game, and $17 on an individual game basis; season infield boxes are scaled $11, and $14 on an individual game basis, while grandstand reserve seats are $9 per game, and $7 per for a season plan.

The Boulders are scheduled to open their 94-game Can-Am League season on May 26 at the Newark Bears, who left the Atlantic League to join the Can-Am lineup. The Bears, whose home facility is Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium, are managed by former big-leaguer Tim Raines. Mike Torrez, the former major-league pitcher, and a good one, is the Bears’ general manager.

James Wankmiller, former co-owner of the Bears when they played in the Altantic League, is a proponent of the open tryouts.

“We did them; they are a lot of fun,” said Wankmiller, who also operates Dusk, an Atlantic City, NJ, nightclub at Caesar’s on the boardwalk. “There’s a lot of talent out there, guys who still have the dream. Sure, you get some (tryouts) who are ridiculous, but it’s nice to have the dream—you never know.”

Wankmiller’s group sold the team to Frank Bolton, who, with former Mets shortstop Buddy Harrelson, also owns the Long Island Ducks, a highly successful Independent team that regularly fills its stadium to capacity.

But Bolton, apparently, found that selling baseball was a tough sell in Newark, NJ, and the Bears’ new ownership apparently felt the shorter Can-Am League season would provide more open dates to use Bears & Eagles Stadium for other events. The Atlantic League schedule is 140-plus games, almost as prolonged as the Major League Baseball season, compared to the 94-game Can-Am season.

“Bottom line, you need professionals to run a baseball team. And it all depends on the geography, the location,” Wankmiller added. “Take the Lancaster (PA) Barnstormers or the Ducks—they have a fantastic fan base. I don’t really know much about their (Boulders) park, but I suspect they hope to draw from other areas, too.”

Wankmiller noted, too, that the level of play in the Atlantic and Can-Am leagues often ranks as high or better than Double-A, and sometimes Triple-A ball.

“When we had the Bears, we had 20 players signed off the roster who went either to Double-A or to Triple-A, and some went directly to the big-league club,” he said.

“The quality of baseball is good; we used to brag about it. And the player can sign any time with all 30 (big league) teams. If a pitcher is on a (big league) farm team, he may not get enough starts because he’s behind someone; or maybe a third baseman finds himself stuck behind some stud. Independent ball is a good option.”

The Boulders’ home opener is set for June 16 against defending league champion Quebec Capitales at the team’s new, soon-to-be-named ballpark, which is nearing completion near Exit 12 of the Palisades Parkway in Pomona.

The Capitales, who play at Stade Municipal in Quebec City, went 57-37 last year, winning by 2½ games over the runner-up Brockton Rox, who play at Campanelli Stadium, and are managed by former big-leaguer Bill Buckner.

Other Can-Am League teams: New Jersey Jackals, Little Falls, Yogi Berra Stadium on the campus of Montclair State University; Pitttsfield Colonials, Pittsfield, MA, Wahconah Park; New York Federals, a road team that is replacing the Sussex, NJ, Skyhawks; and Worcester Tornadoes, Worchester, MA, Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field.

Radio waves: The Boulders’ home and away games will be broadcast locally on WRCR, 1300 on the AM dial. Carmine Vetrano and North Rockland alum Seth Cantor of Fair Lawn, NJ, will handle the broadcasting duties.

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