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ACBL aggressively expands with four new teams

Adding four teams in the midst of a recession may seem folly, but the organizers of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League — backed with bucks from the likes of comedian Jerry Seinfeld — established four new teams in the Hamptons this season.

Adding four teams in the midst of a recession may seem folly, but the organizers of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League — backed with bucks from the likes of comedian Jerry Seinfeld — established four new teams in the Hamptons this season .

Now, the Hamptons is a noted summer vacation spot; lots of rich folks (like the aforementioned Seinfeld) spend their summers there. But adding four teams to the region, bringing the total number of teams in the summer-collegiate league to 12, was certainly a risky move.

But one designed to elevate the playing level of the league. The ACBL used to be a pretty decent league in terms of player development — Jamie Moyer and Mark DiFelice played there back in the day — but league officials admit the talent level dropped off as other collegiate leagues, such as the Northwoods League and the Coastal Plain League, rose in prominence.

The expansion puts the league into some potentially lucrative markets, but that's not the goal of the expansion, apparently: it's a move to keep talented players close to home, as the emphasis is on player development, not gate revenues. This approach will surely appeal to the baseball purist — but we're not sure there are a whole lot of baseball purists summering in the Hamptons.

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