St. Joseph to receive minor league team

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- The American Association of Independent Professional Baseball has confirmed that the final member in the newly formed minor league will be located in this northwest Missouri community.

League president Dan Moushon said Monday that St. Joseph will play in the North Division of the 10-team league, along with former Northern League members from St. Paul, Minn.; Lincoln, Neb.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Sioux City, Iowa.

The other members, which were announced last month, are located in Shreveport, La.; Pensacola, Fla.; and the Texas cities of Fort Worth, El Paso and Robstown. Those teams will make up the Southern Division.

Moushon said the league will play a 96-game schedule beginning in May.

Though the 66-year-old Phil Welch Stadium in St. Joseph lacks adequate locker facilities, Moushon didn't see that as a stumbling block.

"There have been other situations where teams didn't have locker rooms," Moushon said. "We can bring in some nice modulars to serve as locker rooms. I would envision that being the case here."

Miles Wolff, commissioner of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, said the league was talking with two different ownership groups and hoped to have an owner named soon.

Meanwhile, the city's amateur team, the St. Joseph Saints, announced at a news conference Tuesday that they have played their last season. The team belongs to the MINK League, a collegiate-level, wood bat league that includes teams in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas.

The nonprofit Saints governing board will continue to operate until the transition has been made to professional baseball.

The team isn't the first to leave the city. Over the years, St. Joseph has been home to affiliates of the Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns.