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Why Isn’t There a Minor League Baseball Team in Atlantic City Anymore? Let’s Bring This Back
By Matt Schultz
Published:
I was scrolling on Instagram and stumbled upon a post I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since.
Look at this great post:
My initial reaction was: “This looks awesome. A minor league baseball team in Atlantic City. Hell yeah. Look at that ticket. That’s a cool ticket. Nostalgic. 90s-looking. Sandcastle Stadium. That rules. Very good. Lemme look at the next slide…”
Another great slide here. Led to a few more nice thoughts: “Look at that shirt. That’s a great shirt. I’d like a shirt like that. I bet the Atlantic City Surf had tons of awesome merch. Would be nice to get my hands on some. Let’s keep this going with the next slide, here…”
“Wow. What a cool logo,” I thought. “Sick colors. Purple and like an aqua. 90s as hell. What a shame this team isn’t around anymore…”
And that’s where I got stuck. I’m still on that thought. I can’t move past it: Why doesn’t Atlantic City have a minor league baseball team? Doesn’t it seem like the perfect place to have one? Atlantic City is vacation town with an abundance of stuff to do for adults, but one that’s always looking for more family-friendly activities – just look at the new $100 million water park at Showboat as an example. Wouldn’t it be cool for families on vacation to hit a ballgame during breaks from the beach and boardwalk? How about vacationers in neighboring shore towns? You gotta imagine folks in Ocean City, Margate, Ventnor, and more would make the twenty-ish minute drive to take in a summer night game, right? This seems like it’d be a blast. How could this not work? What’s stopping up?
These questions demanded answers… so I decided to roll up my sleeves and do some homework (i.e. Googled “Atlantic City minor league baseball teams why aren’t there any”). Here’s what Google Gemini told me:
- Minor League baseball in Atlantic City features a long but sporadic history, primarily defined by the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The city’s most prominent team, the Atlantic City Surf, played from 1998 to 2008 at Bernie Robbins Stadium (formerly known as Sandcastle Stadium)
- Professional baseball first appeared in Atlantic City through brief, relocations of early minor league squads, including the Wilmington Blue Hens (1885) and Lancaster Lanks (1912–1913)
- The Bacharach Giants: Atlantic City’s most historic baseball era belonged to this independent—and later Eastern Colored League—team. Named after the city’s mayor, the Giants were a powerhouse from 1916 to 1932, winning league championships in 1926 and 1927. They featured Hall of Fame talent like “Pop” Lloyd and Smokey Joe Williams.
- Minor league baseball returned in a major way in 1998 when the Atlantic City Surf became one of the original franchises in the independent Atlantic League.
- Immediate Success: Managed by Ken Shepard, the Surf won the league’s inaugural championship in 1998. Notable Names: The team frequently drew major league veterans and former major leaguers to the Jersey Shore, including Ruben Sierra. Departure: Following the 2006 season, the Surf briefly switched to the Can-Am League before disbanding after the 2008 season due to ownership and stadium issues.
Then I checked out their Wikipedia page — the main takeaway there was that their team logo and cap insignia were truly excellent:
All interesting information, but it left me wanting more nuance and context beyond just the hard facts. Bruce Klauber’s fascinating 2024 article in Shore Local News covered me there. The entire article is great, but here were some tidbits I found particularly interesting:
There were issues from the start as the Surf wasn’t affiliated with a major league club. The Surf was part of an independent organization called the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The Atlantic League operates in cities not served by major or minor league franchises. Its teams play in suburban locations that are too close to teams in major league baseball to have affiliated minor league teams of their own. In Atlantic City’s case, the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, and New York Mets would be deemed “too close.”
The 5,500-seat park was completed in 1998. Left field, right field and center field distances were a bit on the short side, but still at the pro level. Left and right field distances were 309 feet, and home run distance to center field was 400 feet. It was, during its operation, a good little park, and the Atlantic City Surf was an above-average team which actually made it to the post-season four times.
During the years that the Surf played in The Sandcastle Stadium, attendance varied from being packed one night to nearly empty the next. When there were fireworks displays or other local promotions, and there were many, the park was crowded. Most nights, it was not.
Ultimately, it seems like the reason there isn’t minor league baseball in Atlantic City anymore is that it simply didn’t take. The team was too close to the Phillies, Mets, and Yankees without being a farm team, leaving them independent and more susceptible to failure, and there wasn’t enough interest to consistently fill seats.
But still, previous failures notwithstanding, I think an Atlantic City minor league baseball team would work this time if any rich people out there wanted to take another crack at it. Atlantic City — and the country as a whole — is in a very different place than it was when the Surf folded in 2009. Everyone was reeling from the 2008 financial crisis then. Those were rough times. People didn’t have money to spend on much of anything, let alone minor league baseball tickets.
Now it’s different. People spend money on all kinds of dumb stuff, myself included. If the Surf started up again, I’d be at games all summer. I’d buy a ticket package. I’d buy the merch. I’d wear this hat everywhere:
And this jersey on the beach, no undershirt, unbuttoned, getting a nice long vertical line of sunburn right down my middle:
It’s time to bring back the Surf, Atlantic City. You’ve tried and failed to have a minor league baseball team several times over the last century, I get that… but it’ll work this time. I’ve got a good feeling. You can trust me. It’s a good investment. I know about finance. I work for a blog.
Bonus Ending to the Blog
I found this YouTube video on the history of all professional sports in Atlantic City — not just baseball — and it’s a great watch. It’s ten minutes long – only for the real sickos who find this stuff interesting/aren’t trying to do any more work today before the long weekend:
The best part of the video is this photo of the Atlantic City Seagulls celebrating their 1997 United States Basketball League championship with a parade on the boardwalk — incredible:
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com