Madison Baseball To Be With Angels

MADISON- BallCorps, LLC, has signed a four-year Player Development Contract to last through the 2022 season with the Los Angeles Angels. The newest deal means when the current team based in Mobile makes its move to Madison for the 2020 season, the minor league franchise will remain a farm team of the Angels’ farm system ranked No. 10 in all of baseball.

“We look forward to continuing our affiliation with the Los Angeles Angels with our final season in Mobile and our future home in North Alabama,” said Ralph Nelson, the Managing Partner & CEO of BallCorps. “We have seen a continued success from the Angels organization, which will bring a high quality of baseball to North Alabama beginning in 2020.”

The Mobile BayBears will play its 2019 season in Hank Aaron Stadium in Mobile before the team will relocate to Madison. Voting for the new name of the team in Madison will continue through Sept. 3 at www.NorthAlabamaBaseball.com. The fan voting for a new team has been narrowed to the final five choices.

In the meantime, there is some speculation the Los Angeles Angels may play an exhibition game in Madison when the new stadium is built and opens for play two years from now.

When the Huntsville Stars opened play in the mid 1980’s at Joe Davis Stadium, their parent club, the Oakland Athletics, played an exhibition game against the Stars in an event unlike any other seen in the area. An overflowed crowd was treated to a Major League atmosphere and the game was a catalyst to making the Stars a very popular professional baseball franchise for years to come.

The Huntsville Stars exited Huntsville after the 2014 season and the area of North Alabama has been without the presence of professional baseball since. The Stars played 4,073 games in their 30-year history in Huntsville.