ONEONTA - Sam Nader has had better days.
Nader announced Tuesday that he was selling the Oneonta franchise of the Class A New York-Penn League, ending his 42-year tenure at the helm.
“It's a sad day. It's like I lost a member of my family,” Nader said. “But I'm hanging in there. I've had many sleepless nights. Maybe now, the weight is lifted. I'm going to move on.”
Nader is selling the team to a group headed by attorney E. Miles Prentice, who also owns minor-league clubs in Texas and Alabama. Nader said the sale would keep the Tigers in the city through at least 2010.
“He's indicated a desire to stay in the city, and that's one of the criteria we discussed,” said Nader, who declined to reveal terms of the agreement.
That Nader turns 89 in a week had a lot to do with his decision.
“I've had several offers for several years,” he said. “But about the end of last year I pretty much decided. It's pretty difficult for me to spend that time and devotion to it because I just don't have the energy.”
Neither does 95-year-old Sid Levine, the only other living member of the Oneonta Athletic Corp., which purchased the franchise for $10,000 in 1966.
The team was affiliated with the Boston Red Sox that season and the New York Yankees from 1967 to 1998. The Detroit Tigers have been the parent club the past decade.
The team has always played its home games at Oneonta's Damaschke Field, and Nader voluntarily banned the sale of beer and all other alcoholic beverages.
“We've never sold beer in Oneonta. They (fellow league owners) think I'm nuts,” Nader told The Associated Press in a 1990 interview. “I don't need that and we don't want that. We're trying to sell this as a family affair.”
Nader was proud of his alcohol policy, even though many fans over the years wished he would relent. He said he was hopeful the policy would continue under the new ownership. “I'm not going to try to tell them how to operate,” Nader said. “Whether it's going to continue that way, I can't answer. I'd like to see it stay that way, though.”
The sale needs the approval of the league, the Tigers, and Major League Baseball. Nader expected word sometime in August.
Oneonta's first season in the New York-Penn League was as an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. Oneonta finished 65-59 that season, placing fourth in the league. The 65 victories are a franchise record.
Following that season, when the league switched to a short-season, Class A league, Oneonta joined the New York Yankees family, a relationship that spanned 32 years.
The O-Yanks won 15 division titles and 12 league championships with future major league stars such as Don Mattingly, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mike Lowell. Future National Football League Hall of Famer John Elway also spent his only professional baseball season in Oneonta, hitting .318 in 1982.
After sharing the league title in 1998 with the Auburn Doubledays, the Yankees left town for Staten Island and Detroit took over.
Oneonta has won four division titles since and reached the league championship series in 2002.
“It's a sad day. It's like I lost a member of my family,” Nader said. “But I'm hanging in there. I've had many sleepless nights. Maybe now, the weight is lifted. I'm going to move on.”
Nader is selling the team to a group headed by attorney E. Miles Prentice, who also owns minor-league clubs in Texas and Alabama. Nader said the sale would keep the Tigers in the city through at least 2010.
“He's indicated a desire to stay in the city, and that's one of the criteria we discussed,” said Nader, who declined to reveal terms of the agreement.
That Nader turns 89 in a week had a lot to do with his decision.
“I've had several offers for several years,” he said. “But about the end of last year I pretty much decided. It's pretty difficult for me to spend that time and devotion to it because I just don't have the energy.”
Neither does 95-year-old Sid Levine, the only other living member of the Oneonta Athletic Corp., which purchased the franchise for $10,000 in 1966.
The team was affiliated with the Boston Red Sox that season and the New York Yankees from 1967 to 1998. The Detroit Tigers have been the parent club the past decade.
The team has always played its home games at Oneonta's Damaschke Field, and Nader voluntarily banned the sale of beer and all other alcoholic beverages.
“We've never sold beer in Oneonta. They (fellow league owners) think I'm nuts,” Nader told The Associated Press in a 1990 interview. “I don't need that and we don't want that. We're trying to sell this as a family affair.”
Nader was proud of his alcohol policy, even though many fans over the years wished he would relent. He said he was hopeful the policy would continue under the new ownership. “I'm not going to try to tell them how to operate,” Nader said. “Whether it's going to continue that way, I can't answer. I'd like to see it stay that way, though.”
The sale needs the approval of the league, the Tigers, and Major League Baseball. Nader expected word sometime in August.
Oneonta's first season in the New York-Penn League was as an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. Oneonta finished 65-59 that season, placing fourth in the league. The 65 victories are a franchise record.
Following that season, when the league switched to a short-season, Class A league, Oneonta joined the New York Yankees family, a relationship that spanned 32 years.
The O-Yanks won 15 division titles and 12 league championships with future major league stars such as Don Mattingly, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mike Lowell. Future National Football League Hall of Famer John Elway also spent his only professional baseball season in Oneonta, hitting .318 in 1982.
After sharing the league title in 1998 with the Auburn Doubledays, the Yankees left town for Staten Island and Detroit took over.
Oneonta has won four division titles since and reached the league championship series in 2002.
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