Memo to the Park Commissioners

September 12, 2001

Mr. Clifford J. Nilan, Chairman
Sue P. Colker, James S. Conant, Anthony G. Massimiano, Robert J. Smith
Board of Park Commissioners

Lady and Gentlemen:

With respect to baseball in Pittsfield, you could perform a great service
with two simple actions:

1. Take the ball away from Jonathan Fleisig, whose continued presence in the
game blocks our ability to get a Northern League team and thereby improve our
already superior offer for the benefit of Pittsfield.

2. Recommend that a decision between the two remaining groups, Bossidy and
Bouton, be left to the voters as a ballot choice in November.
The benefits of this would be enormous, as follows:

A. It would give Mr. Bossidy an additional month to refine his proposal.

B. Our strengthened offer would raise the bar for Mr. Bossidy, maybe moving
him to bring some serious jobs to Pittsfield, and/or fund a major upgrade to
Wahconah Park. The Bossidy/new stadium group could take polls, heading into
the November election, to determine just how sweet an offer they would need to
make to beat us out.

C. Unfair pressure would be removed from your shoulders, and no one could
complain with the result because the people would have spoken.

D. The matter would be concluded in November. Otherwise, it will drag on
into the new year, taking focus away from more important issues facing the new
administration.

E. The losing group could happily support the winning group, knowing it was
their competition that generated the best deal for Pittsfield. That's how
Chip and I got into this in the first place.

F. Cliff Nilan and I could shake hands at home plate.

Sincerely,
Jim Bouton

"Tale-of-the-Tape" Comparison of Bouton and Fleisig proposals (PDF)