Goldeyes to begin season in foreign waters

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This article was published 27/04/2021 (1640 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Goldeyes will be playing their home opener on May 21, it just won’t be at Shaw Park.

With the Canada-U.S. border remaining closed, in addition to Manitoba’s current health orders, the Fish have no choice but to swim somewhere else to start the American Association season.

Goldeyes owner Sam Katz was holding out hope the downtown Winnipeg ballpark would be able to open its doors in late May, but he confirmed to the Free Press Tuesday his team will be playing down south for the time being. Training camp, which is scheduled to start in a week — and which is also where players and staff will be vaccinated, will also take place south of the border, with all signs pointing to it being in Franklin, Wisc., — the home of the Milwaukee Milkmen.

“We’d like to get home, obviously, but nobody knows when that would be,” Katz said.

“You can throw out all sorts of guesses and throw out all sorts of targets knowing they’re nothing more than guesses. The bottom line is we have to wait.”

Katz said they’re still trying to find a temporary home for game action but they plan to finalize something soon. In last year’s 60-game season, the pandemic forced the Goldeyes to become a travelling team, never once setting foot in Winnipeg as they played their “home” games in Fargo, N.D., at Newman Outdoor Field and lived out of a hotel. With this year’s AA season going back to a traditional 100-game season, it at least buys the Fish some more time and gives them a glimmer of hope that they’ll be able to play in Winnipeg at some point this summer.

Pitcher Nate Antone is coming off of his first season with the Goldeyes and he re-signed with the club for 2021. It’s a possibility that Antone, a 29-year-old who resides in Florida, might play two seasons for Winnipeg’s professional baseball team without ever spending a second in the Manitoba capital.

“The idea of getting across the border sometime in like late June, early July, is like maybe the only silver lining,” said Antone in a phone interview.

“There’s a little hope if we can just make it through and give ourselves like a .500 record and then we get a chance to finish the season at Shaw Park, I think that’d be huge for the organization… But it might be one of those things where they say something different and we’re not (going to Winnipeg) and that could be a deflating and that could be one of those things where we go ‘Ah, here we go again.’ But right now, we’re holding out hope that we can play at least half a season as a home team across the border.”

Antone admitted it was draining going a full season without having a crowd showing the team any love. The Fish started 2020 strong before dropping 11 games in a row and ultimately finishing the campaign at 29-31.

“I think we just eventually broke down towards the end because of the mental side of it. It was more mentally exhausting than it was physically,” Antone said.

“You’re trying to come back from say a 3-1 game and it’s the ninth inning and you got a couple guys on base, but you’re still getting booed, no one’s supporting you and you don’t have that momentum shift if fans were getting up on their feet, making noise, and rattling the opposing pitcher.”

The Goldeyes starting the summer away from home didn’t come out of left field, but Katz said that doesn’t make it any less disappointing. If the green light ever comes, no matter how late into the season, the organization will take advantage of it and play in Winnipeg. There’s not much they can do before then as their fate is out of their hands.

“We were anticipating definitely having our training camp (in the states) and hopefully coming back sooner. How soon? We didn’t exactly know but we thought it’d be a lot sooner,” Katz said.

“In light of what’s taking place right now, we know it’s going to take place later so we’re just going to have to wait… This is a guessing game. We all know the number one priority is the safety of everyone.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31