The Nashua Pride of the Can-Am League are no more, replaced by The American Defenders led by Dan Duquette and three executives from Nocona Athletics Goods. Ex-Pride GM, Chris Hall, will run baseball operations and his goal is to compete right away for a championship. One unusual twist will be that roster spots will be held for "talented players from the military." Hall said, "The best military players, maybe guys on leave from duty, will have a shot at making the team. I think down the road, we'd love this team to be made up of guys who've fought for their country and are very-good baseball players." There is a tie-in with Duquette here. "The American Defenders front office will also oversee the Pittsfield Dukes, a Duquette-run team in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, and a pair of military All-Star Teams playing in the Red, White and Blue Tour."

Both Rick Miller (2008 Pride manager) and Brian Daubach (Pride hitting coach for part of 2008) have been mentioned as potential manager.

Changes afoot on the diamond in Nashua, by Kevin Gray for the Manchester Union Leader.

Led by manager Brian Daubach, introduced at a press conference yesterday, the American Defenders will play in the Can-Am League and assemble a team by tapping into the U.S. Armed Forces.

Core players from the 2008 Pride are expected to return but gradually the Defenders will transition into an all-military-flavored roster.

Kevin Gray's On Baseball: Stars and stripes -- and baseball--Manchester Union Leader, Friday, November 7, 2008

Very interesting concept with the transition to all-military. I'll definitely try to catch a game when I come back to Concord over the summer. I've never been to a Pride (Defenders) game, only the Fishercats. Are these games typically good, meaning talent and entertainment wise?

Having been to a number of Can-Am games, I can certainly say that these games are geared towards kids. There are a lot of between-inning events/contests for children.

In terms of the quality of play, it is minor league, but these guys do know how to play. I go because it is an inexpensive way to get to see a sport that I love. Something about seeing a ball field, even if it is Can-Am, that exciting. Not to mention, you get to support pro sports teams in small cities and towns, which I also think is important. I see mostly Tornadoes games (though I have been to the Rox and Pride as well) and admit that I would be pretty bummed if/when the Tornadoes leave Worcester.

I can't say that this is compelling enough for me to head down from Manchester, especially with the Fisher Cats so close. We did make a special Pride trip a while back to get our El Guapo bobblebellies (great guy), but I've gotta have a pretty good reason to deal with parking near Holman. With affiliated minor league teams in Manchester and Lowell, Nashua is in a pretty tough spot.

Whats wrong with the parking near holman? Its free and theres plenty close to the park

I've had to park on the street quite a ways from the stadium every time I'm gone. That parking by the playground has been full every time I've been to a game.
For the Cats, I just park by the mill buildings. Suppose I could get towed, but I've never heard of anybody having an issue. May have actually used a meter on the last trip, actually...

Have you tried the parking behind the stadium around the small baseball field and the football field thats back outside the OF walls? Sometimes it would tend go around a decent ways but the walk was never far. Maybe 3-5 minutes to the front gate, and theres always been space there even when they used to have close to 4,000 some games

Holman Stadium is worth visiting just to see a park with a lot of history behind it. It was built in 1937 and was the home of the Nashua Dodgers (Class-B New England League) . Both Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe played there in 1946 and were the first African-Americans to play major-league-affiliated baseball in the US in 60 years. Later, the Angels and the Pirates had teams there in the Eastern League.

Unfortunately thats about it. They've had some poor FO's over the years and the current GM is an asshole.

Butch Hobson did a great job while he was there but ever since the early days of the Pride the fans don't show up anymore.

Its tied directly to the product on the field and the fact that you have affiliated ball 15 minutes to the north and 20 minutes to the south. When the Pride was affiliated with the Atlantic League there was the sense that you were seeing former Major Leaguers or guys that had a chance to hook on with an organization and potentially make it to the majors. Since they have joined the Can-Am League the baseball has essentially become a sideshow of Bode Miller appearances, signings like El Guapo and Oil Can Boyd and local college guys. This latest gimmick is nice in theory, but it sure wont enhance the product on the field or improve the attendance which was ultimately the downfall of the Pride.

The reality is that if you can head up to Manchester and watch the AA Eastern League and the future major league stars it has produced for the same price you can watch guys with relatively no future in the game, the choice is an easy one. The Fisher Cats appear to be gaining steam in this market with steady increases in attendance and I think the sole reason is the product on the field as both do a great job of catering to families as part of the overall experience. In the 5 years the Fisher Cats have been in Manchester we have seen at least 100 guys play for or against the Fisher Cats that have made it to the Majors including an MVP , potentially another in Pedroia and several All Stars.

To echo what OttoC said, at this point the only thing worth seeing in Nashua is the stadium and the history that goes along with it.

The attendance decline started when they FO sat on there ass playing around on the computer instead of doing any work. I'm sure after Manchester came around that only hurt there chances to get fans back but it started with the poor FO. Thats gotten better over the past few seasons but it has not helped attendance because of Manchester/Lowell and I think the people who got fed up with that crap.

If it wasn't for Butch Hobson they would not have been around as long as they were. He was the reason they had good teams. Players wanted to play for him. Now that hes gone theres no reason for good players to come here. The clubhouses s-u-c-k and theres little intrigue to play in Nashua for the players good enough to have options.

So why again does New Hampshire need to be defended? Against whom? There's this little tiny border with Canada, and about twenty miles of coastline. I'd think it would be more important to defend other parts of the cou...oh, never mind.

But it does seem strange, because Duquette never seemed to value defense that highly when he was with the Sox. (Ba-dum-bum.)

People who move there from Massachusetts; people who want to pass a state income tax; people who want to fill every pasture it with McMansions; Democrats.

Obviously there is a lot of overlap of those four groups.

Holman IS a great park. One bathroom, one concession stand.

I love Can-Am baseball. It's not always important to me to see future stars, upstarts, and has-beens. Sometimes I just like watching baseball.

That's exactly why I have attended many Pride games over the years. I live about 15 minutes from Holman and it's a quick and inexpensive way to watch a decent baseball game. I love Holman but it's a catch 22 situation there. Most nights there are only hundreds of fans in the stands and the resulting excitement level rivals that of a local Babe Ruth games. On the rare occasion they attract upwards of 3,000 fans, they don't have the staff nor facilities to handle it adequately.

It's sad to remember that, back in the 80's, the city had reached a tentative agreement to bring the Red Sox AA franchise to Holman from New Britain. As part of the deal, the city had to agree to renovate Holman and, at the last minute, they failed to provide the funding for the renovation. This was just prior to the explosion in interest of Minor League Baseball but, in hindsight, it was a colossal mistake in judgment.

Ad in the Spectrum Monthly (Manchester Edition--marketing) I got out of the mailbox moments ago:

Adopt a Defender!

Host families
Take in a baseball player from May to September
(formerly the Nashua Pride)

*Needs Bedroom, access to Bathroom, Kitchen and Washer/Dryer
*Receive Season Tickets & Benefits
*Receive Access to New Defender Diamond Club

Please feel free to contact blah-blah-blah. All of us associated with the American Defenders of New Hampshire thank you for opening your home to the defender players.