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Golden Glove Professional Baseball Loses Affiliation with Yuma Scorpions

July 23, 2010...6:35 am

http://ballparkbiz.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/golden-glove-professional-baseball-loses-affiliation-with-yuma-scorpions/

PRESS RELEASE – Diamond Sports & Entertainment announced today that the U.S. subsidiary of Golden Glove Professional Baseball (GGPB) of Venezuela has had it’s affiliation agreement with the Yuma Scorpions terminated due to lack of ability to meet their financial obligations with the team, business partners, vendors, and service companies in the Yuma area.
Diamond Sports, the owner of the Yuma franchise in the Golden Baseball League, is stepping in, effective today, to provide the ongoing financial and management support to the team to enable it to continue the successful season it has been enjoying.

Despite repeated assurances from GGPB President Ricky Smith, and his co-owner wife Romy Acevedo Smith, that financial resources were just temporarily unavailable due to difficulty in transferring money from Venezuela, unpaid payroll to players and staff along with unpaid bills to hotels and for baseball equipment had gone unaddressed since early June. Smith had brought in over 40 Venezuelan players promising them a chance to play professionally in the U.S. and the team was having success on the field, but mounting debts resulted in him departing Yuma with no communication to the team, league, or his players on Sunday.

“We are incredibly disappointed with the actions of GGPB led by Ricky and Romy Smith,” said Diamond Sports Chief Executive Officer David Kaval. “We are taking control of the baseball operations immediately to provide ongoing resources and support for the team. We will be working through legal processes to pursue GGPB and Mr. Smith to hold them accountable for their actions and obligations to our company, the Golden Baseball League, players, vendors, and all other entities that they have damaged