GUILDERLAND — The Albany Dutchmen will not be playing on Dutchmen Field at Roger Keenholts Park in Guilderland this season.

Since 2021, college players from across the country had converged in Guilderland, staying with host families, for a summer season “with hopes and dreams of being drafted by Major League Baseball,” Jason Brinkman, the team’s general manager and vice president, told The Enterprise in a podcast three years ago when the team started using Dutchmen Field.

It is one of 16 teams throughout New York State in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League. The games, which Brinkman described as providing “family-friendly fun entertainment,” featured music, give-aways, and Baseball Buddies, in which local Little League and softball teams got out on the field to play catch with the Dutchmen players and get introduced with them as well.

Brinkman and supporters of the team spoke to the Guilderland Town Board at the start of its April 16 meeting, lobbying for use of the field.

“We’ve had over 50 players drafted by Major League Baseball,” Brinkman told the board. “This season, we will have three Guilderland residents on the team: Nick Plue, Devin Campbell, and current high school senior Cole Miller.”

He went on, “Unfortunately, we’ve come to an impasse in our attempts to renew a lease.”

He said the town-owned field is operated by Guilderland Babe Ruth.

“The Babe Ruth board has refused to have any dialog on the matter …,” Brinkman told the board. “I was given the following three reasons that have been provided to the town.”

Brinkman went on to dispute each of those reasons. First, on scheduling difficulties, he asserted fewer teams than in previous years are in need of field time.

The second reason, he said, was “no respect for maintenance of the facility,” which Brikman said was “blatantly untrue.” He said 40 players and coaches arrive to the field ahead of each game to prep the field and after the games they “make sure it’s left in better shape than we found it.”

The third reason, he said, is: “We’re not giving back to the community as promised.” Brinkman cited the Baseball Buddies players, which has local kids interacting with the college players, and the $8,000 paid to Guilderland Babe Ruth for using the field on 20 game dates.

Fifteen Guilderland families host the players, Brinkman said, and the games “drive tourism and economic impact” as the players’ families and fans travel to see the games, supporting local hotels, restaurants, shops, and gas stations. He mentioned news coverage of the games too.

Supporters speak

Jonathan Phillips, a Guilderland resident and business owner, said the team has worked with “special-needs groups.” He said he brought the Wounded Warriors to a Dutchmen game last year.

Phillips also said he spoke for the Guilderland High School Baseball Board when he said, “They are 100 percent in favor of Albany Dutchmen being at that Dutchmen Field.”

He went on, “It makes sense for tourism in our town, makes sense for the kids, makes sense for the host families … makes sense for our community. The fear is our volunteerism is down. Who’s going to mow the field? Who’s going to open the concession?

Lindsey Giagni said that “typically over 200 folks” come out to watch and cheer at the Dutchmen games and said that her son Tyler had changed his jersey number to the number worn by the player her family had hosted.

“These college kids are great role models for Guilderland kids and help promote the love of baseball,” she said.

Giagni went on to tell the story of a shy 6-year-old neighbor who “had the courage to go out on the field and play with the players with the Baseball Buddy program. His parents could not believe how the reserved little boy who typically would hug on Mom’s leg in public was now running out on the field without ever looking back.”

This season, she said, that boy is excited to play Guilderland Rec baseball.

“I had been asked by others not to speak tonight,” said Giagni, calling it “frankly, kind of scary.” 

“I’m here tonight,” she concluded, “to simply ask the town of Guilderland, who owns the community park, to try to encourage Guilderland Prep to have a conversation with Albany Dutchmen to see if there is a way the community can have both Guilderland Prep as well as Albany Dutchmen coexist for their short summer season.”

Guilderland Prep is a division of Babe Ruth Baseball for younger players.

Later, Giagni read comments from Liz Egan, the mother of three boys in the Guilderland baseball program, who said that little boys watch their heroes on the Dutchmen team and dream of being like them someday.

Egan said she’d heard it said, “Guilderland is a baseball town; everybody knows that.”

She also noted that last year the team hosted the Mid-Atlantic Regional All-Star Tournament at Keenholts Park. “The tournament, with the Dutchmen’s help, put Guilderland on the baseball map,” she said.

She urged the board to consider “the preferences of the very people that pay for the field” with their taxes.

Jason Brinkman grew up in Guilderland and both of his parents were at the April 16 meeting.

Judy Brinkman, his mother, said she had attended almost every home game for the last few years and volunteered to assist.

“I’ve seen firsthand how passionately the interns work before, during, and after each game,” she said.

Many of the players get college credit for being in the program, she said, and are evaluated on their performance and attitude.

She said many of the players volunteer throughout the summer, working with local athletes in clinics. She called the games low-cost entertainment that “brings revenue and interest to our community.”

Supervisor Peter Barber responded, “I understand the importance of this.” He said he would try to arrange a meeting this week.

He added, “Parks director C.J. Gallup I think does a phenomenal job balancing the interest and needs of literally thousands of children who use our parks.”

Gallup oversees nine parks, he said, with “great demand” for “softball, baseball, lacrosse, soccer, and now pickleball.”

Resolution

Barber told The Enterprise that representatives of Babe Ruth and the Albany Dutchmen met along with town staff on Friday afternoon, April 19, for about two hours and had a “very frank conversation.”

“We allowed the two parties to air some possibilities,” said Barber.

The bottom line, said Barber, is that Dutchmen Field “is very desirable.” It’s the only ballfield in town that has a professional feeling, he said, with lights for night games, stadium seating, and a large scoreboard.

Keenholts Park, founded in 1993, has eight minor baseball fields and five softball fields as well as Dutchmen Field. Each area also has enclosed batting cages, concession stands, and covered pavilions.

Barber noted that, despite climate change, the baseball season here is “very short.”

The demands on the field and on volunteers to maintain it are heavy, said Barber.

Albany Dutchmen, Barber said, is a semi-pro, for-profit entity and its use of the field takes away from youth programs.

He noted all the different teams from kids’ rec programs to an adult league — all Guilderland residents — that use the field.

“I do credit Babe Ruth for trying to accommodate them for a couple of years,” he said.

Barber said that the Albany Dutchmen were informed in January they could not use the field at Keenholts Park. Their season begins at the start of June.

Barber concluded, “We fully understand the residents’ involvement and the recreational value and the youth seeing top-notch baseball. In the end, it’s still a town park and needs to meet the needs of our residents and youth.”

Asked about the possibility of the town developing another ballfield similar to Dutchmen Field, Barber said that Tawasentha Park used to have the town’s premier field but it would need many improvements to equal Dutchmen Field.

At Friday’s meeting, he said, suggestions were shared on other fields in the Capital Region that might be available to the Albany Dutchmen.

Jason Brinkman could not be reached following the April 19 meeting to comment on where the Albany Dutchmen may be playing.