Mt. Rainier Professional Baseball League - Is it legit?

[MacDice]

The three CWU players are all great guys. I had them last summer. Glad to see they are getting a chance to play pro ball. Now if their unis could just come in

Opening Day for the Ellensburg Bulls at Rotary Park was closing day for the MRPBL. The Bulls even wore uniforms, after four games without. The game began at 530 though the teams facebook site, newspaper, and schedules indicated the game would start at 600pm. By the final out of the 15 to 8 slugfest the season was over with the following announcement by Commissioner Mike Greene:

http://pointstreaksites.com/view/mrp...72/news_303196

A most inglorious end....

[MacDice]

Feel bad for those players who sacrificed so much for their chance to play pro ball. Half the games never got scored so most of these kids accomplishments will never be recorded

"A lot of very frustrated players and their families right now. Thanks to you for all you've done & hope for a miracle so these young men can continue to go after their dreams they've sacrificed so much for..." Josh Kallunki Skagit Valley Lumberjacks facebook site

Things started to fall apart in the first week of the season when Opening Day at Moses Lake was cancelled, though the teams did play a three game series Moses Lake v. Ellensburg Bulls. An unscheduled Memorial Day game between Ellensburg and the Glacier Outlaws at Moses Lake was strange. Players were sans uniforms.

The league fell apart on May 29th, when a Grays Harbor Gulls v. Skagit Valley Lumberjacks did not start until 7:50pm though scheduled to start at 6pm. The Gulls were late to the ballpark for unknown reasons. The Oregon City Mud Turtles game versus Moses Lake was cancelled one minute before the first pitch, according to their facebook page: "Game tonight has been rescheduled as part of a double header tomorrow..." When asked for a reason, "Moses Lake didn't show?", the only explanation given was "We were trying to get umpires but will have some tomorrow." On May 30th, the Gulls left Skagit Valley back home for Hoquiam, the game was cancelled, and Mike Greene's state of the league address was made.

I believe Ellensburg will finish their series with Glacier, but it is not yet known what the ownership group SLYSPORTS LLC will do with no league. It is really a shame how this all unfolded after four to six games. RIP MRPBL.

After the bomb, the fallout....The Ellensburg Bulls cancelled their last game with the Glacier Outlaws due to a scheduling conflict at Rotary Park?! Bizarre. Rumors of a contracted four-team MRPBL were immediately quashed by Ellensburg Bulls & Moses Lake Rattlesnakes GM Keith Marshall on the Bulls facebook site:

"This is not true folks, none of the Bulls have been paid per our contract with Mike Greene, including Coach Jim (Hayes) and myself, yet more is expected from us. Selwyn did not buy the team according to his attorney.... At some point you have to stop working so hard without pay. I'm so sorry for the players, they are incredible human beings, and deserve much more. This was a great idea, just underfunded, which happens with many ideas in life. I really hope this can work sometime."

Here's todays Daily Record article about the demise of the league with a couple interesting quotes from players, manager, and GM:

http://www.dailyrecordnews.com/membe...157fb4544.html

[bnorth]

That is horrible for the kids playing and the coaches. Just shows how 1 idiot with a dream and no plan can ruin a lot of peoples lives. Pretty much the same thing happened here in the mid 90's.