By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
David DelBello’s e-zpass is getting quite the workout. The President and CEO of baseball’s Florence Y’alls has been making the trek to Chicago just about every other week.
“It’s not that bad,” he told the Northern Kentucky Tribune, “only about four-and-half hours.”
The Y’all’s ownership group – headed by DelBello – recently purchased the Windy City Thunderbolts. The Thunderbolts play in Ozinga Field, located in Crestwood, Ill. – in Chicago’s south suburbs. The sale was completed, October 4th.
“What we’ve done in Florence,” DelBello said, “has proven to be successful, and we’d like to do it again – in another market.”
DelBello did not mention the cost of the ballclub, but did say, “The opportunity came along and it was too good to pass up.”
But – owning two teams in the same league – the Frontier League – is somewhat unusual, right?
“Not really,” he said, “and not in our league. We have three owners – including myself – that own two teams. It is not prohibited in the Frontier League.”
Windy City and the Y’all’s will operate with two separate staffs, according to DelBello, and both staffs, he says, have been retained.
“We’ll try to work together, and leverage that,” he said. “For sure this will be a bit of a learning period.”
Baseball is not just high on DelBello’s love list – it’s on top.
“Purchasing both Florence and now Windy City was not all about the love of baseball,” he said. “I realized that owning a baseball club is not only a play thing – it is real business. And it is a major part of the community.”
DelBello and a group of partners purchased the Florence club in the summer of 2019. Before that, the team was owned by another local businessman, Clint Brown, who bought the team in 2004 after it fell into bankruptcy. DelBello is president of residential real estate investment firm DelBello Holdings and came to Cincinnati in the mid-1990s as a Procter & Gamble Co., employee.
The ballclub’s original name while based in Erie, Penn. — the Sailors – only lasted one season – and the team moved to Johnstown, Penn., about a three-hour drive south.
Their base was there until 2002 – first named the Steal until 1998, then the Johnnies until they left. Once they arrived in Florence, they were named the Freedom, from 2003-2019.
DelBello and his new group changed the nickname to the Y’all’s – in reference to the Florence Y’all Water Tower that looms over Interstates 71 and 75.
“We try to use Thomas More Stadium – the Y’all’s home field – every day if we can,” DelBello, the businessman said. “We’re geared around, how can we bring the community together.”
He has done that with a Christmas Festival – Deck the Y’alls — at the ballpark, along with professional wrestling, T-Ball events, amateur baseball tournaments as well as the home for Thomas More University’s baseball team.
Last season, the Y’all’s ranked sixth among the Frontier League’s 18 teams in attendance, averaging 2,187 fans per-home-game, according to data from the league. Windy City ranked behind the Y’all’s, averaging 2,071 – 10th in the league.
Y’all’s finished in fifth-place in their division last season with a 44-51 record – Windy City ended up in seventh place at 40-56.
The Frontier League is an independent minor league consisting of teams that do not have any affiliation with Major League Baseball teams. It is designated as one of four MLB Partner Leagues and serves as a developmental league for young players who have not been signed with MLB teams.
As for the Y’all’s, they won league titles in 1994, 1995 and 2000 – but are looking for their first league championship of their Florence era (since 2003). They have won two division championships while based in Kentucky – once as the Freedom, in 2017 another time in 2021 as the Y’all’s.
Now Dave DelBello has twice the opportunity for a title. Will he continue to purchase ballclubs?
“I don’t see us stopping with just one acquisition,” he said, “but nothing is imminent.”