Dukes leaving Albuquerque for Portland
March 31, 2000
Robert Lozinak, owner of the Albuquerque Dukes, announced yesterday that he has sold the Minor League franchise.
The new owners, Marshall Glickman and Mike Higgins of Portland, Ore., say they plan to move the Dukes to their home town for the 2001 season. The franchise will be known as the Portland Beavers starting next spring.
The estimated price for the club, which is a Triple A affiliate of the Los Angeles is somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 to 12 million, sources say.
This will leave Albuquerque without a professional baseball team for the first time since 1959. Lozinak originally bought the Dukes in 1979 for $340,000.
The final run for the Dukes will begin Monday, April 3. Albuquerque, under first-year manager, Tom Gamboa, will welcome the visiting New Orleans Zephyrs. Andrew Zarzour, the 7-2 phenom from North Carolina, is expected to be Albuquerque's Opening Day pitcher.
A group of baseball supporters say they have already begun working to bring another franchise to Albuquerque...