There was little doubt that the Charleston RiverDogs would pull off something special as host of the South Atlantic League all-star game in June. After all, this is the same minor league franchise that brought you such famed promotions as Nobody Night (with an official attendance of 0), Silent Night (no talking) and the quadrennial Presidential Bobblelection (Obama vs. Romney on Aug. 28).

Those may pale in comparison to what the RiverDogs have in store for this year's all-star home run derby. The team will stage the event on the flight deck of the USS Yorktown—a World War II aircraft carrier that was retired in the 1970s and is now part of the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in the Charleston Harbor. (If you'd like to learn more about the Yorktown and other Essex Class carriers, tweet our own @jjcoop36 with your questions.)

Though the details are still in the works, the premise is simple: "We're going to let (participants) crush balls out into the harbor," Charleston executive vice president and general manager Dave Echols said.

The first two rounds of the event will take place aboard the Yorktown on Monday, June 18, with the championship round taking place at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Ballpark before the all-star game the following day.

"We thought we wanted to try something a little different," Echols said. "I don't know too many other teams that have a ship of that magnitude sitting in their backyard that they can take swings off of."

Much attention has been paid to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s new “Empire State” nickname and its upcoming 142-game road trip this season, but the more pressing issue may very well be where the team is going to play next season.

Time is running out for the Yankees to begin tearing down PNC Field and beginning construction on their planned $40 million new facility. But in order for it to be ready by Opening Day 2013, shovels need to be in the ground by April 1, International League president Randy Mobley said. Otherwise, Scranton will need to figure out an alternative plan for next season—and it can’t be the same arrangement as this upcoming season, when the team will play its 71-game home schedule at six different ballparks.

“This is a one-year arrangement, not to be repeated,” Mobley said.

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Nearly three months after veteran general manager Bruce Baldwin stepped down from his post with Triple-A Gwinnett, the second-year franchise tapped another experienced front-office executive to fill his shoes.

North Johnson, who has spent the past three seasons running the high Class A Myrtle Beach Pelicans, was named general manager of the Gwinnett Braves this morning. Johnson has spent 32 years as a minor league general manager, including stints with the high Class A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (2004-06) and the high Class A Kinston Indians (1987-2003).

Johnson has been named Carolina League executive of the year four times, the most recent coming in 2008 when he oversaw the Pelicans' $2.5 million renovation project and guided the team to a club-record attendance total. That experience should come in handy with Gwinnett, which is entering its second season since relocating from Richmond to a new ballpark in the Atlanta suburb. The G-Brave's 2009 debut was mixed, as the club drew an average of 5,966 fans–a 34 percent increase from its final season in Richmond, but a showing that ranked 12th in the 14-team International League. [...] Continue Reading »

John Henry Moss, the founder and president of the South Atlantic League until he retired in 2007 after 50 years, passed away at a hospital in his hometown of Kings Mountain, N.C. Moss had suffered a stroke on June 7. He was 90 years old.

Moss’ impact on the Sally League, and minor league baseball as a whole, cannot be overstated. He grew the league to 16 teams spanning eight states. During his tenure, the league (originally named the Western Carolinas League before being changed to its current title in 1980) took hold in 43 cities and saw 115 ownership groups. Attendance has grown from 179,998 in 1960 to over 4 million.

He was elected president for life of the Sally League at the Winter Meetings in 1989 and a year later was named the King of Baseball—a title usually bestowed upon an executive nearing the end of his tenure, but Moss stayed at the helm of the league another 17 years.

"He’s the last of the last of the breed," former Asheville Tourists general manager and co-owner Ron McKee told Baseball America for a 2007 article honoring Moss upon his retirement.

"I do not think there is another league that owed as much to one person as the South Atlantic League owes to John Henry Moss," second-year SAL president Eric Krupa said.