Lookouts and Minnesota Twins Sign 4-Year Agreement

  • Wednesday, September 17, 2014
  • B.B. Branton
Brad Steil - Minnesota Twins director, Minor League Development
Brad Steil - Minnesota Twins director, Minor League Development
photo by Dennis Norwood

In a fast-paced, high stakes game of musical chairs with the three players from Major League Baseball - Minnesota, Arizona and Colorado - vying for one chair (Chattanooga Lookouts), the Twins from Minneapolis came up the winner Wednesday.

Officials from the Minnesota ball club flew to Chattanooga Tuesday and signed contract papers for a four year player development agreement with the Lookouts owner Frank Burke and general manager Rich Mozingo Wednesday prior to a 2:30 p.m. news conference.

The Lookouts were affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers the past six years.

"Today is an historic day for the Chattanooga Lookouts as we are excited to be back affiliated with such a strong organization, one with a great farm system," said Mozingo.

"The Twins have been ranked as the No.1 farm system in all of baseball with the top prospect (OF Byron Buxton) and we look forward to a fantastic partnership for the next four years (1915-1918)."

Lookouts History: The Lookouts were affiliated with the old Washington Senators from 1932-1959 winning pennants in 1932-39-54. The Senators moved to Minnesota for the 1961 season.

Former Lookouts: Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison, Jimmy Hall and Jim Kaat all played for the Lookouts in the late 1950s and were key members of the American League champion Twins in 1965. Former Lookouts manager Cal Ermer managed the Twins in 1967-68.

Early Morning E-Mail: Frank Burke received an e-mail from Minnesota Twins Bill Smith (assistant to the president and general manager) at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday which put the process in motion.

"I have known Bill for 20 years and I called him early yesterday morning and strongly suggested that we move quickly since Arizona and Colorado had also expressed an interest in putting a team in Chattanooga," said Burke.

Smith and Brad Steil (Twins director of Minor League Operations) flew to Chattanooga Wednesday and finalized negotiations earlier today.

"Our priorities in looking for a new location for our AA franchise are a great facility, good working relationship with the minor league team's front office staff, a solid league and good weather in the spring and Chattanooga has all those things," said Steil who is in his 14th year with the Twins after graduating magna cum laude from Concordia College in 1999.

The Twins had a AA team in New Britain, Conn. the past 20 years in the Eastern League.

"We had a great relationship with New Britain, but with plans for a new stadium not finalized and looking for a warmer weather city and a better travel schedule, Chattanooga and the Southern League are a good fit for us," Steil stated.

Solid Team for the Lookouts in 2015: Steil said that most likely many of the players with the club's A level team in Fort Myers (Fort Myers Miracle) will be playing in Chattanooga next spring, including Buxton, the top farm prospect.

Fort Myers won the Florida State League this season and the core of that team also won the Appalachian League in 2012.

"We would like to name a manager and have a roster in place for 2015 in the next four to six weeks," stated Steil.

With the great names of the Twins past - Killebrew, Kaat and company - strongly connected with the Lookouts and a handful of top future Twins players most likely wearing a Chattanooga uniform next April, today's partnership is a win-win for both sides.

"Chattanooga has a wonderful baseball history and we offer a great stadium in which our fans to can watch minor league baseball at reasonable prices for an entertaining evening at the ball park." said Mozingo.

   

contact B.B. Branton at william.Branton@comcast.net  

 

Rich Mozingo - Chattanooga Lookouts General Manager
Rich Mozingo - Chattanooga Lookouts General Manager
photo by Dennis
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