Communities across the country are home to professional baseball teams of all levels. From Major League Baseball to the minor leagues, to the Pecos League of the Southwest, professional baseball teams represent communities and bring them together.

Here are five cities in the United States that have no form of professional baseball, but are more than able and deserving to host one:

1. New Orleans, LA

The Shrine on Airline is a beautiful 10,000 seat stadium in the suburb of Metairie that is currently only being used for professional rugby. Formerly home to the triple-A New Orleans Baby Cakes which relocated to Wichita, KS in 2019, New Orleans hopes to bring back a double-A team with the same Baby Cakes name.

New Orleans, with a metropolitan area of nearly 1.3 million people, successfully has hosted an NFL and NBA franchise for years. The Shrine on Airline is a perfectly sized minor league stadium for a large city that does not have a Major League baseball team.

2. Honolulu, HI

Honolulu has not had a major professional baseball team since 1987, when the triple-A Hawaii Islanders moved to Colorado Springs. Since then, the University of Hawaii has used Les Murakami Stadium as its home baseball field. Holding 4,312 people, Les Murakami Stadium would have the ability to take on a single-A or double-A franchise.

While travel expenses would be expensive for the team, a schedule can be made to reduce travel costs, such as the team being on the road for two weeks at a time, then being home for two weeks at time. Back in the day, the Islanders would host teams for seven-game series. Honolulu hosts a population of almost one million people. Combine that with the tourists that Hawaii consistently brings and it makes Honolulu a perfect fit so host a low-level minor league baseball team.

3. Edinburg, TX

Texas currently hosts four teams of the Texas League in double-A baseball. Edinburg, McAllen, Mission and the surroundings areas make up a population of more than 850,000 people. Currently, the closest minor league baseball option is in Corpus Christi, more than two hours away from Edinburg. This area has not had professional baseball since the Edinburg Roadrunners of the failed North American League in 2013.

UTRGV Stadium is a 4,000-seat stadium that is expandable to thousands more with the grass hill behind the outfield wall. This stadium also features ten executive sweets. In 2015, the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley became the official owner of the stadium and made many updates to the stadium including new fencing and dugout upgrades. This stadium and city would fit well in the double-A Texas League.

4. New Haven, CT

Yale Field, home of the NCAA Yale Bulldogs, has hosted two professional baseball teams in its lifetime, but none since the New Haven County Cutters of the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball ceased operations in 2007. The northeast is home to the Eastern League of double-A baseball, a fitting level for a team that could play at the 6,200-seat stadium.

The Greater New Haven area has a population of more than 850,000 people and the southwest portion of Connecticut currently hosts no minor-league baseball teams. Just a train ride away from New York City, New Haven has the ability to successfully support a minor league baseball team.

5. Baton Rouge, LA

Baton Rouge is a city that has showed the ability to support a baseball team, home of Louisiana State University, one of the best collegiate college baseball. During a run of national championships from 2008-2010, 10,326-seat Alex Box stadium was built, and LSU has continued in dominance. However, this stadium is only used until June every year.

This stadium easily has the capability to host a triple-a team and a fan base to support it. The Baton Rouge metropolitan area has more than 800,000 people, and if a triple-A team is not an option, Baton Rouge has a smaller venue, Pete Goldsby Field, for a lower level professional baseball team.

By: Danny Tabaska March 11, 2020

Ever since I reached the age where I started thinking realistically about what I wanted to do with my life, the main standard that I set for myself was not working a job where I hated waking up to it every day. I want to enjoy doing what I do every day, and not work a job where I am waiting on retirement. This man perfectly emulates the standards I have set for myself.

Dan Katz, also known as Big Cat and host of Barstool Sports’ podcast Pardon My Take, lives the life and produces the type of content that is enjoyable and makes people smile. His content is relatable to the average American guy.

Katz is an open supporter of the University of Wisconsin, so his thoughts and opinions show up on my Twitter timeline often. Katz is constantly communicating with celebrities on social media and is having fun with his responses.

Being known as the guy that makes people smile is a special value that I believe is tremendously underrated. Katz does this as a presence on Twitter every day.

Lately, Katz has been into talking about sports betting, posting his daily picks and updates throughout the day. As odd as it sounds, it’s entertaining and funny to watch people win and lose money. Katz is in the position where he can mess around and have some fun with it.

Some people believe that this type of work is all fun and no real work. It is both. While Katz does get to comment and joke about the latest happenings and trends in sports and entertainment, there is no doubt that he works to do what he does.

Almost every day, Katz is preparing for what he is going to talk about on his podcast for one-to-two hours. He must find a way to entertain his audience and keep them coming back to his podcast.

Today Katz tweeted, “I’m eating ice cream for dinner.” Some may question why anyone would care what this 33-year-old man is eating, but for some reason, people do. Ice cream brand Haagen-Dazs responded to Katz saying, “which flavor, Dan?”

As a communicator, Katz speaks with very little formality and has his own guidelines for what he posts and talks about. Ultimately, it is a goal of myself to be my own boss. Katz’s ability to entertain people with his own personal agenda and opinions is something that I dream of having the ability to do.

This is something that inspires me when I display my personal brand. I strive to stay clean, but never be too serious. Topics that provide entertainment to people are the things I want to work with. I want to make people happy.

Every day I tell myself, “I would rather work for 60 years and enjoy it than work for 40 years and hate it.” Dan Katz daily routine involves many laughs and fun experiences that make going to work an enjoyable experience.

One of the most fun aspects of being a manager? Manager games. Here is a quick look into the Kohl Center when Wisconsin’s managers took on Nebraska’s managers.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/13463272/how-former-san-francisco-49ers-chris-borland-retirement-change-nfl-forever

Out of all of the major professional sports leagues in the United States right now, the future of the NFL seems the most uncertain. When reading this article, I thought about what it says about football that a rookie and former all-American, Chris Borland, is willing to give up millions of dollars because of his concern for his personal health.

What got my attention was a quote from Borland that said, “dehumanizing sounds so extreme, but when you’re fighting for a football at the bottom of the pile, it is kind of dehumanizing.”

I can’t imagine this was an easy decision for Borland, but what might even be tougher is the way he may be perceived by his former teammates and friends. I’m sure he doesn’t want to be disrespectful to these people, but at the same time, he made a decision that is the opposite of what those people believe. They think continuing to play football is worth it, Borland does not.

Borland acknowledged that some probably label him as someone who contributed to the “pussification” of football, “But I’m fine with being the soft, happy guy,” Borland said.

This story is intriguing because it really did open some eyes and the NFL may have heard Borland’s message when considering some changes.

The NFL has taken steps at the making the game safer in efforts to reduce concussions. An example of this is new kickoff rules that will reduce the force of collisions and add a bigger incentive to take a touchback, so less returns will be made.

Besides the rule changes on the field, the NFL has enforced new equipment standards for all of the players that require them to wear a certain helmet. This then sparked a controversy with pro-bowl wide-receiver Antonio Brown.

This story makes me wonder; how much longer will the NFL survive? Will players continue to see more value in playing the game and the benefits that come with it, or is this problem regarding head injuries and the events that could take place in life something that could eventually be too much to overcome?

Unfortunately, we have seen some tragic events that have taken place regarding former NFL players and their mental health.

One of the best linebackers in NFL history, Junior Seau, committed suicide and then was later found to CTE. Aaron Hernandez, convicted murderer and former NFL tight-end, was found to have CTE after he committed suicide in prison.

Chris Borland will rarely share his concerns with other players regarding his beliefs, not wanting to be the guy who comes off as judging his peers. He knows it’s an issue many people will tip-toe around.

Borland said, “there is this issue at hand. I’m the human representation of the conflict in their mind. And that might never change.”

Since then, quarterback Andrew Luck has retired in what was regarded as the prime of his career. The NFL has a problem that is just at the root of its development, and it will be interesting to see how they continue to develop new ways to minimize this issue.