Ex-Met Wally Backman to coach Atlantic League team

The Atlantic League will look a little bit different when play begins later this month. One Mets fan favorite has a new home with a relatively new team, one old team is gone, and one new team doesn’t have a home at all.

Wally Backman, who played for the Mets from 1980-1988, will manage the New Britain Bees. New Britain joined the independent league that includes the Long Island Ducks in 2016 and will make their first visit to Long Island June 1-3.

Backman, a member of the 1986 World Series champion Mets, coached in the Mets minor league system from 2009-16, managing at all three levels. His time with the organization ended in 2016, resulting in a public dispute over the nature of his departure

Backman will not have to manage against one of the 20-year-old league’s founding franchises. The Bridgeport Bluefish have folded and, in their place, will be the Road Warriors, a ‘new’ team that will play all their games as the visiting team.

This is the fourth iteration and seventh season for the Road Warriors, who played as the ‘Pennsylvania Road Warriors’ from 2002-2004 and the ‘Road Warriors’ in 2006-2007, and again in 2011.

The presence of the Road Warriors will give the seven other Atlantic League teams two extra home games, league commissioner Rick White said. While White acknowledged that the league would rather all teams have home ballparks and fans, he does see a short-term economic benefit to the short-term situation.

“(Other teams) save 14 games on the road. So they have a reduction of spending,” White said. “It’s not necessarily great for the league brand. But for the clubs themselves, it actually works in their favor economically.”

The Bluefish disbanded after the city of Bridgeport decided to turn their ballpark into an outdoor amphitheater.

Last month, the Atlantic League approved a yet-to-be-named team that will play in High Point, North Carolina beginning in 2019, effectively replacing the Road Warriors.

White said that the league asked the city of Bridgeport to allow the Bluefish to extend their ballpark lease one more season, setting up a seamless transition to the High Point franchise, but were rebuffed.

“It was only after exhausting that option that we began to seriously contemplate the Road Warrior team,” White said.

The Road Warriors will be managed by former major league All-Star Ellie Rodriguez. Rodriguez, 71, played for the Yankees, Royals, Brewers, Angels and Dodgers from 1968-1976. Rodriguez’s pitching coach, Rafael Montalvo, appeared in one game with the Astros in 1986.

“Most people think that this is going to be a group of marginal players, at least by Atlantic League standards, and (other teams) are going to have their way with them,” White said. “(In the past), they’ve always surprised. I daresay, we’ve had great success, not only in compiling a roster, but also in attracting talent.

“ We have a number of high-prospect draft choices on the team and have a fair amount of players who we believe, because of their experience in various Caribbean and Latin leagues, will be very competitive. I think this team is going to surprise people.”

The Road Warriors are in the same division as the Ducks and will play 19 games on Long Island. They’ll open the season April 27 in Bridgewater, New Jersey against the Somerset Patriots and play their first series on Long Island May 15-17.

Teams will play 126 regular season games this year, down from 140. This change was made, in part, to give players more Mondays off. Teams typically don’t draw well on Mondays, White said.

The Ducks open the season April 27 at Southern Maryland. Their home opener is scheduled for May 4, also against Southern Maryland. They are coming off two straight losses in the Atlantic League Championship Series.