St. Petersburg, Fla. - Minor League Baseball, together with the Midwest and South Atlantic Leagues, announced today that the Bowling Green and Lake County clubs will transfer their memberships from the South Atlantic League to the Midwest League, beginning with the 2010 season. The transfer of clubs addresses concerns over travel and provides better geographical alignments for the two Class A leagues.

"I would like to thank George Spelius and Eric Krupa for their leadership in ushering this transfer initiative through the process in their respective leagues, and the owners of the clubs in the South Atlantic and Midwest Leagues for their vision and willingness to address an industry problem by approving this transfer,” stated Minor League Baseball President Pat O’Conner. “This is a perfect example of leagues and clubs setting aside personal interests, coming together and working towards a common goal."

“The Midwest League welcomes the Lake County Captains and the Bowling Green, Kentucky, club for the 2010 season,” said Midwest League President George Spelius. “We look forward to having 16 teams in our league, as this realignment solves an industry concern.”

“The amount of travel involved with the South Atlantic League is no secret, and realignment is intended to address that issue,” commented South Atlantic League President Eric Krupa. “The South Atlantic League owners recognize the overall, industry-wide aspects of realignment, even though the league itself will lose two solid clubs. Their willingness to cooperate with the desires of our partners at Major League Baseball in the realignment process is commendable. As we move forward, it is likely that scheduling challenges will require additional cooperation to maximize the intended impact of realignment.”

The Bowling Green club, formerly known as the Columbus Catfish, is relocating from Georgia to Kentucky for the 2009 season. Club officials are holding a name the team contest in Bowling Green and the team will play in a state-of-the-art 4,000 seat stadium, currently under construction.

The Lake County Captains are in their sixth year as a South Atlantic League club in the Cleveland, Ohio, suburb of Eastlake. The Captains relocated to their current home in 2003, after operating as the Columbus (GA) RedStixx from 1992-2002.

The Midwest League’s 14 clubs are located in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.

The 16-team South Atlantic League currently has clubs in Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and West Virginia.

Contact: Steve Densa, Minor League Baseball, (727) 456-1703