This story comes to us via Friend of the Lynx, Joe Bisenius Sr. It seems that incoming manager Ed Nottle, was the manager in Joe Sr.’s home town of Sioux City Iowa. Former Lynx Player (FLP), Joe Bisenius (Jr.) was a bat boy during Ed’s first stint as a manager with the Explorers, when they were in the Northern League.
Sometime last summer, Ed Nottle pulled off the rose-colored glasses and started taking inventory. The eternal optimist peeked in the mirror and realized that looking good for your age can’t entirely stop the march of time. He scanned all the empty seats at Lewis and Clark Park, conceding to himself that a second tour of duty as manager of the Sioux City Explorers wasn’t bringing back the crowds he’d helped attract the first time around.
There were plenty of disillusionments for a guy who gives the human race more credit than it probably deserves. And, Nottle, who believes minor league managers should stand at third base and take the heat, waved yet another runner home.
At age 68, the Philadelphia native rolled the dice, surrendering a bird in the hand for that one in the bush by stepping down as manager of the X’s with no new job yet in sight.
A verbal promise from ownership here would have kept Nottle employed for at least another two years. However, he’d made the rounds to service clubs several times over, heard various acquaintances vow they’d see him at the park, and noticed more and more they weren’t showing up.
This lifelong baseball salesman needed a new audience and a new challenge. And, Thursday, he got it, being named the skipper for the new Ottawa franchise in independent baseball’s Can-Am League.
In many respects, it’s a best case scenario for Nottle, who should relish the larger market and all its attendant media scrutiny.
“The press conference was unbelievable, there were something like 70 media there,” reported Ed late Thursday afternoon. “This may be the greatest situation I’ve ever been in. The ballpark is gorgeous and the city is mobbed.”
The Canadian capital is the country’s fourth largest city with a population of 812,129 and a metro area of over 1.5 million. Ottawa stadium, the new team’s home, is a 15-year-old gem with seating for 10,332.
Best of all, there are just enough skeptics around, thinking Ottawa and baseball aren’t a good match, that expectation levels should be easy enough for Nottle to surpass.
Ottawa, you see, petitioned the Can-Am League for a franchise after 15 years in the Class AAA International League. First, the Baltimore Orioles pulled out, relocating their top farm club to Norfolk, Va. Then, last year, the city became a pit stop for the Philadelphia Phillies, already committed to a new ballpark in Allentown, just 60 miles from the parent club.
Ottawa responded accordingly, attracting just 1,922 fans a game, which was easily the worst in all of Triple-A baseball. No sense getting caught up in a team that has one foot out the door.
These independent leagues, of course, are not just a phone call away from the bigs, like Triple-A. Nonetheless, Winnipeg, a Canadian metropolis much like Ottawa, has enjoyed a 15-year love affair with their Northern League Goldeyes, ranking 29th for all minor league teams with attendance of 6,542 a game last summer.
Like Winnipeg, Ottawa has two English language newspapers (also a French daily) that compete rather vigorously. Neither of them waited for Thursday’s press conference to report the new team’s managerial choice.
“The pro baseball club in Ottawa will be singing a different tune this season,” wrote Don Campbell of the Ottawa Citizen, “and not just because it will be a new team in a new league with new ownership.
“The still-unnamed Can-Am Baseball League club, which comes to Ottawa after the departure of the Triple-A Lynx, appears poised to hire minor league managing legend Ed Nottle, who is known throughout the minors at ‘Singing Ed,’ for obvious reasons.”
“Can-Am Manager in tune?” asked the headline in the Ottawa Sun, where writer Chris Stevenson was good enough to drop the “g” while introducing “Singin’ Ed.”
Miles Wolff, the Baseball America publisher who started the Northern League, heads up the ownership group for a team that will be called the Ottawa Rapids. Wolff saw Ed start from scratch in Sioux City and build attendance to over 3,500 a game and the two have been good friends ever since.
So, our friend should be off and running by now and we wish him the best, just as we we’re waiting anxiously for his successor, Les Lancaster, to put a fresh set of eyes on baseball in our town.
Judging from the roster Lancaster has worked hard all winter to assemble, the former Chicago Cubs pitcher could be fairly popular around here, too.
And, we’ll be telling you plenty about all of that in the weeks to come.
Sioux City Journal sports editor Terry Hersom can be reached at (712) 293-4214 or by e-mail at terryhersom@siouxcityjournal.com.
(Cross posted from the UORB)
