Category: T-Bones

UG serves eviction notice on T-Bones

The UG has sent a letter terminating the management agreement with the T-Bones and a notice of eviction in September for nonpayment of fees to lease the stadium, and nonpayment of utility bills.

by Mary Rupert and William Crum

The Unified Government served an eviction notice on the T-Bones baseball team on Friday, Aug. 16. The T-Bones are behind more than three-quarters of a million dollars on the utility payments and the lease.

The notice stated that the T-Bones would be evicted on Sept. 13 from T-Bones Stadium in Kansas City, Kansas, if the UG does not receive fees and utility payments owed by the T-Bones, according to the UG. The notice says the T-Bones must be out by 5 p.m. Sept. 13.

The T-Bones, according to the UG, are delinquent on $358,439.53 in current utility payments, $328,749.77 in past due BPU costs and $75,545.10 from the lease agreement for the stadium. The UG stated the T-Bones were in default for 45 monthly payments, having made only three monthly payments of $1,678.

Currently on a 12-game winning streak, the T-Bones’ regular season ends Sept. 2, and if the T-Bones make the playoffs, Sept. 13 should be enough days to get in playoff games, a UG spokesman said. The T-Bones won the American Association championship last year.

According to Mike Taylor, spokesman for the UG, the eviction was served on the T-Bones for nonpayment of bills to lease the stadium from the UG, and they also are behind on their utility payments to the Board of Public Utilities.

The T-Bones will have until Sept. 13 to come up with the money that is owed, but the UG does not expect them to be able to do that, Taylor said.

The UG bailed out the T-Bones previously, in 2017, when they restructured their agreement from a lease to a management form. The agreement in 2017 called for the UG to pay 55 percent of the T-Bones’ utility bills, but the UG was not responsible for the property taxes. The T-Bones were supposed to pay a fee to the UG for using the stadium. At that time, the T-Bones were viewed as an essential part of tourism at Village West.

The BPU in 2017 decided not to waive $172,700 of the T-Bones’ overdue utility bill, and the BPU voted in 2017 not to give the T-Bones a reduced rate for electricity and water. Some BPU members expressed the opinion at that time that the T-Bones need to stand on their own, like other businesses.

Taylor said at the time, the UG was looking for a way to keep them in the stadium by all means possible, and changing the agreement to make the T-Bones managers of the stadium would help with taxes.

Taylor said the UG warned the T-Bones a year ago that they were in default. In a statement today, the UG said that the T-Bones will still owe the debt to the UG even if they are evicted, and they intend to collect on it.

The T-Bones put the club up for sale, Taylor said, but so far, no buyer has been announced.

Taylor said the UG has several options available – it could market the stadium to a new owner of a new team; and promote the stadium for more uses such as concerts and more community events. No decisions have been made yet on the options, Taylor said.

Mayor David Alvey said last week that he didn’t think it was fair to everyone else if one business didn’t have to pay its utility bill.

T-Bones’ President Adam Ehlert sent out this response:

“We are shocked by what appears to be this capricious action.

“We have been in close communication with the UG, keeping them apprised of our status as we work toward a sale of the club. Today’s timing is the real surprise, as we’ve shared publicly—and with the UG—that a sale will not be completed or announced during the season.

“Baseball continues this week, as we’re in the midst of a franchise-record winning streak (12 games!), and hopefully into the playoffs as we defend our league championship. We remain optimistic that a solution will be reached in the short-term, to retain baseball in a great market, for the long-term.

“The millions of fans who have enjoyed our product over nearly two decades should share our optimism for the future as we work to close the sale to the next operator of this franchise.”

See earlier stories at https://wyandotteonline.com/ug-makes-deal-with-t-bones/ and https://wyandotteonline.com/bpu-says-it-wont-waive-t-bones-utility-payments/

T-Bones win 12th game in a row

by Luke Schrock

Sioux City, Iowa – Jon Perrin (6-1) tossed another quality start, giving the Kansas City T-Bones (47-37) their 12th straight win, 6-3, in their pursuit to keep gaining ground on the Sioux City Explorers (46-39).

Perrin earned the win by throwing his third straight quality start since his last two quality starts against the Cleburne Railroaders.

Sunday, he ended seven innings with three earned runs, five hits and six strikeouts to allow Henry Owens to come in the eighth and close the door in two innings. Owens earned his second save on the season since Aug. 11 in the 2-1 victory over the Texas AirHogs.

Mason Davis had his second multi-hit game in a row with three hits in Sunday night’s win against the Explorers. Dylan Tice had a two-hit game, and Danny Mars had three hits to contribute to KCK’s six runs.

Kansas City started the game with a heavy punch of three runs started by Roy Morales’ walk with bases loaded to score Dylan Tice.

Shawn O’Malley scored Mason Davis on a fielder’s choice before Danny Mars hit an RBI single to right to drive in Morales. Sioux City answered with a run of its own from Nate Samson, who drove in Kyle Wren to start the ballgame with a 3-1 score after the first.

KC tacked on another with Will Baker’s first professional hit and first professional RBI off a single to right field. It was a quiet game until Nate Samson broke the silence in the sixth with his second and last RBI of the game.

Sioux City threatened to slowly gain ground on the T-Bones with a Sebastian Zawada sacrifice fly to score Jose Sermo. The T-Bones tacked on two more runs in the 8th to separate from the Explorers, scoring the last runs of the game.

The T-Bones are now one and a half games ahead of the Explorers for a spot in the American Association playoffs.

The first-place holder in the South, Cleburne Railroaders, keep a three and a half game distance from the T-Bones after a 16-6 victory over the Sioux Falls Canaries.

KC will take on Sioux City in game two of the three-game series Monday night at Mercy Field at Lewis and Clark Park in Iowa with a first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. The game will be on the T-Bones Broadcast Network, http://mixlr.com/t-bones-baseball/.

Tickets to all T-Bones home games are on sale online or by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting the Saint Luke’s Box Office between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Group ticket sales are also on sale.

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T-Bones sweep doubleheader in intense heat, continue 10-game winning streak

It was a scorcher at AirHogs Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas, on Friday as the (45-37) Kansas City T-Bones took both games of a doubleheader 3-2 and 4-1 against the (22-62) Texas AirHogs.

In game one the T-Bones had a lone run for a while after Shawn O’Malley hit his third homerun in two games. The score would remain dormant until the sixth inning when Casey Gillaspie broke the silence by scoring Danny Mars on a RBI single.

Christina Correa kept the good times rolling with an unearned sacrifice fly to left. Texas wouldn’t stay silent as Chen Junpeng hit in Stewart Ijames on a sacrifice fly to left to score the AirHogs’ first run of the first game in the bottom of the sixth inning. The T-Bones went on to take game one, 3-2.

Akeem Bostick (1-0) had a great debut outing in a T-Bones uniform in game one. He got the win, threw five innings, let go four hits, and struck three out. Bostick had control of the game during his entire outing and was overall impressive in his first game with the T-Bones.

Losing pitcher in game one was Cui Enting (0-1), who is yet to throw a winning game for the AirHogs. He let up two hits, one earned run, two walks, and one punchout in five total innings. It was the longest outing for Enting. Previously three innings were his longest outing on Aug. 4 against Sioux City where the AirHogs lost 6-1.

Game two was very similar, but the game was knotted up at one apiece for most of the night cap. Jose Mesa Jr. (2-2) pitched the whole seven-inning game, never getting into trouble and allowing the T-Bones to rack up four runs to finish the sweep.

Zech Lemond allowed five hits on two strikeouts and one run, but it was his relief pitcher Pete Perez (2-2) that let things slip through his hands. Perez gave up the three-run home run by Casey Gillaspie to put the T-Bones on top, but he only gave up two more hits and no more runs after the home run.

Texas drew first blood in the first inning in what looked like Texas redeeming itself from the first game. Chen Junpeng scored the first run again for the AirHogs on an RBI single to score Javion Randle. The AirHogs did not score the rest of the game.

Kansas City’s Roy Morales hit a solo blast to tie the game in the second inning to answer Junpeng’s RBI in the first. The long ball wasn’t done yet. Casey Gillaspie hit a three-run blast to give the T-Bones a cushion and seal the sweep of the double-header, 4-1, in the Texas heat as the T-Bones continue their now 10-game win streak.

The teams will wrap up the three-game series Saturday night in Texas. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. with right-handed pitcher Tommy Collier set to make the start for Kansas City while former T-Bone Erik Manhoah Jr. will go for Texas. The game will be on the T-Bones Broadcast Network, http://mixlr.com/t-bones-baseball/.

Tickets to all T-Bones home games are on sale online or by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting the Saint Luke’s Box Office between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Group ticket sales are also on sale.

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