Joe Buzas
From SoSH
Joseph John "Joe" Buzas (born October 2, 1919 in Alpha, New Jersey; died March 19, 2003 in Salt Lake City, Utah) was a former major leaguer who went on to own and operate 82 different minor league baseball clubs, including the Elmira Pioneers, Pittsfield Red Sox, Pawtucket Red Sox, Bristol Red Sox and New Britain Red Sox. He headed teams affiliated with Boston's player development system for 25 years.
At just 26, he began managing minor league teams in the Puerto Rican Winter League. He continued managing there for nine seasons. During the summers he pursued other field jobs, and managed the Sunbury (PA) Reds in 1948 and 1949. In 1957 he bought his first team, the struggling class AA team in Allentown, Pennsylvania. After turning a modest profit, he invested his earnings in another team, the Syracuse Chiefs.
In 1970, Buzas bought the Pittsfield Red Sox, the Class AA farm club for the Boston Red Sox, and moved the team to Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Prior to the 1973 season, Buzas' application for AAA status was accepted, as Pawtucket became a member of the International League. With the Red Sox still needing a AA team, Buzas and the big league club worked out a deal with Bristol, Connecticut, to place an Eastern League team, the Bristol Red Sox, at Muzzy Field. In 1975, he bought the Elmira Pioneers, the Red Sox' short-season Class A affiliate.
Buzas didn't turn any sizable profits with his clubs until 1976, when he sold the Reading Phillies for $1 million after having bought the debt-ridden club for $1 a decade earlier. With this transaction, Buzas built a reputation for making money in minor league ball despite financially challenging conditions.
In 1977, Buzas sold the Pawtucket Red Sox along with aging McCoy Stadium to Ben Mondor. Following the 1982 season, Buzas announced that the BritSox would be moving to a brand new stadium, Beehive Field, in nearby New Britain, Connecticut, where they would be known as the New Britain Red Sox.
Buzas brought his final team, a Pacific Coast League franchise in Portland, Oregon, and moved it to Salt Lake City in 1994. The team was known as the Buzz and was the AAA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. Buzas unsuccessfully fought a court challenge from Georgia Tech University, which claimed infringement on the trademarked alternate nickname for its athletic teams, the Yellow Jackets. In 2000, the Buzz changed its name to the Stingers and became the PCL farm club for the Anaheim Angels. The franchise led the PCL in attendance its first six years, and in 2002 season drew its five millionth fan faster than any team in league history.
A year after buying the Buzz, his purchase played an indirect but key role in a dispute between Buzas and the Boston front office, which would lead to the end of his minor league relationship with the Sox after a quarter-century. As new minor league facilities began to pop up in other cities around the Eastern League, Buzas was faced with the choice of keeping the club in New Britain and building a new stadium, or relocating the team yet again. The Boston brass, led by Dan Duquette, pushed Buzas to move the team to Springfield, Massachusetts, ostensibly because it would be closer to their fan base.
But the bigger prize Duquette and the Red Sox hoped for was the backing of Western Massachusetts politicians for a plan to replace Fenway Park. When Buzas announced in August 1994 that he was keeping the club in New Britain and not renewing his player development contract with Boston, Duquette promptly pulled the plug on their affiliation. The Red Sox ended up moving their AA team not to Springfield, but to a city 200 miles and three states away -- Trenton, New Jersey -- because it was the only venue readily available on such short notice.
Buzas, meanwhile, regrouped immediately, cutting a deal with the Twins to field their AA team in New Britain. The club was renamed the Hardware City Rock Cats (a nod to the city's nickname and one of the team's major sponsors, Stanley Works) and remained at Beehive Field in 1995. A new stadium was built that year, and the team moved there in 1996 with yet another new name, the New Britain Rock Cats. In 2000, he sold the Rock Cats for between $6 million and $7 million.
In 1996, the Salt Lake City Buzz was awarded the John. J. Johnson President's Trophy, given annually to the top franchise in Minor League Baseball.
After battling prostate cancer for several years, Buzas died March 19, 2003 in Salt Lake City at age 84. He was survived by his wife of 58 years, Helen "Penny" Buzas, and his children Jason Buzas and Hilary Drammis.
Quotes
"We didn't grow up affluent or privileged. Back then it was a business where you eked out a living. But Dad just loved baseball. He loved running a minor league team." -- Hilary Drammis, daughter of Joe Buzas, who took over for her ailing father as president of the Salt Lake City Stingers after serving as vice president for two years.
Trivia
- On September 8, 1971, Red Sox first base prospect Cecil Cooper was called up from the minors to the Red Sox, who were playing in New York that day. Buzas personally drove Cooper to Yankee Stadium, where the teams were playing a doubleheader. They arrived toward the end of the opener. Two minutes after walking into the dugout, Cooper was sent in to pinch-hit for pitcher Roger Moret, but flailed at an 0-2 pitch for a dribbler in front of the plate.
References
- Career playing statistics, www.baseball-reference.com
- Stingers owner grew up with baseball, The (Salt Lake City) Enterprise, 5/24/2004
- Kuras, Joe. Chronicle: The road back to Maine, The Buffalo Head Society's PawSox page, 9/1/2002
- Team history, bristolredsox.com
