It’s now official: Dave Heller and Main Street Baseball have purchased the Lowell Spinners (Short Season A; NY-Penn League) from Drew Weber, effective immediately.
Terms of the purchase were not released. The deal closed quickly, as approval came swiftly from league and Minor League Baseball officials.
Heller and Main Street Baseball own four other MiLB teams: the Quad Cities River Bandits (Low A; Midwest League), the Wilmington Blue Rocks (High A; Carolina League), the Billings Mustangs (rookie; Pioneer League) and High Desert Mavericks (High A; California League).
Drew Weber and his late wife Joann took over the Spinners in 1997 and turned it into one of the most successful franchises in Minor League Baseball, with years of consecutive sellouts at LeLacheur Park. Weber will remain in baseball for now as the owner of the Nashua Silver Knights (summer collegiate; Futures League).
The timing is auspicious: The Spinners open their home season Friday night, hosting the Vermont Lake Monsters.
Spinners fans can expect more of the same with the purchase: the team has always been a success, and we’re guessing improvements to LeLacheur Park will be on the agenda, but nothing too radical. It’s no secret that Main Street Baseball owners Dave Heller and Bob Herrfeldt are ballpark enthusiasts: in three of the four cities the pair do business there have been serious ballpark upgrades performed or in the works, whether it be the amusement-park rides in Davenport, the proposed expansion of Dehler Park in Billings or the new seating and potential concourse upgrades in Wilmington. These ballpark upgrades differ by market and are in response to local feedback; the proposed upgrades to Dehler Park include a second-level group space that could be utilized the Billings community year-round, for example.
RELATED STORIES: Lowell Spinners Sold to Main Street Baseball; Changes Afoot in Lowell, Nashua