Major League Baseball will soon learn how much support there is for minor league baseball in eastern Iowa. The Clinton Herald has started a petition drive to show support for the Lumber Kings, and opposition to a plan by the major leagues to eliminate some minor league teams.
Ron Gutierrez, publisher of the Clinton Herald, says his goal is to show how much local residents value their team.
"As a community newspaper we hear from our readers, we hear from the audience in Clinton, that we don't want to lose, we don't want to have our connection to major league baseball endangered by their plan."
The Lumber Kings are preparing for the 65th season, and currently are the Class-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins in the Midwest League. The league also includes teams in Burlington, the Quad Cities, and Cedar Rapids.
The online petition drive began last week, and initially Gutierrez says their site was averaging 1,000 signatures per day.
The drive will continue through mid-May, and then he plans to deliver the signatures to officials of the major leagues.
