Kern bringing baseball back to Niagara Falls

by Eric Keppeler
Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, May 31, 2007

Organized baseball makes its return to Niagara Falls when the Niagara Power kick off their two-month season next weekend at Sal Maglie Stadium.

An expansion team in the New York Collegiate Baseball League, the Power hope to bring an affordable, yet competitive, brand of amateur baseball to the Niagara Frontier, according to Grand Island resident and team president Cal Kern.

“It’s inexpensive family fun,” Kern said. “We’re very pleased to be bringing baseball back to Niagara Falls. True, it’s not professional, but it’s still high quality ball.”

The team plays in the league’s western division through June and July against many of the old teams from the New York-Penn League, of which the Niagara Falls Rapids were a member before they moved to Jamestown.

Kern says that a number of NY-P teams lost their eligibility because their stadiums were not up to league specifications. That wouldn’t be a problem for Niagara Falls as Maglie Stadium – coming up on seven years old – is one of the most beautiful baseball venues in the state.

Operated by the Niagara Falls School District, the stadium would have sat largely unused following the Section VI championships at the end of this month. Kern made his pitch last year, and he says that the school district has been extremely accommodating.

“The support has been very strong,” he said. “Maglie Stadium is really nice – it really feels like a baseball stadium, and it was just sitting there. But the district and the city have been very supportive.”

The team recruits collegiate players who hope to keep busy over summer. But since the Power got a bit of a late jump because Niagara Falls wasn’t awarded a franchise until last October – the rest of the league started recruiting in August – the team has had to look far and wide across the country for players.

Kern says that many of the players in the league have the potential to be drafted by Major League teams, but their primary goal for now is to remain in college and complete their studies.

And they learn about more than just baseball.

“One of the main goals of the team is to build life skills and character through the Bible,” Kern said. “It’s kind of a different spin. We’re part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, so we’re a faith-based team. We play competitive baseball, but we also try to teach important lessons in life.”

The Power host the Albany Athletics at 7 p.m. on June 3, the Meridian Medicine at 7 p.m. on June 4 and the Canadian Thunderbirds in a doubleheader at 5 p.m. on June 5.

For more information on the team, including ticket info and directions, visit the team’s Web site at www.niagarapower.org.

Kern’s not sure how good his team will be, but he promises that they’ll be competitive and entertaining.

“We might be a little thin in our pitching,” Kern said. “We’ll have strong hitting and good defense, but we might struggle a bit on the mound. We’ll be like the New York Yankees – we’ll score a ton of runs, but we’ll also give up a lot of runs. It should be very interesting.”