Tony Riviera

Tony Riviera was the co-founder of the short-lived Canadian Baseball League, which failed to complete its only season in 2003.

Born in Brooklyn, NY, he was a scout for the Cleveland Indians and various other teams, but also an entrepreneur who owned some restaurants. His big idea was that minor league baseball in Canada was never going to succeed in the long run because of the difference in value between the U.S. and Canadian dollars (the Canadian loonie was worth 35% less than the buck in those days, although that figured has varied significantly), Canadian-based teams were at a structural disadvantage. His solution was to look at the Canadian Football League as a model and create a league consisting solely of Canadian franchises, spread across the country, that would pay player salaries in Canadian dollars and field a minimum number of local players. He had a lot of connections around baseball and managed to convince a number of established names to come along, most prominently Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins, who agreed to serve as the league's commissioner although this was a largely ceremonial position.

After an aborted start in 2002, the league did get off the ground in 2003, but faced general indifference from the public and folded in mid-season. All teams were owned by the league itself (i.e. Riviera and a few partners) and were spread around the huge country. Due to the lack of local ownership, they had almost no ties to their local communities, the most egregious case being the so-called "Montreal Royales" who did not even play in their home city, for lack of a ballpark (the fact that a team could have been christened with an enormous spelling mistake in its name, obvious to anyone speaking French, also speaks to a lack of basic homework on the executives' part). Travel costs were huge, and could not be offset by meager attendance revenue, or the equally tiny broadcast rights, even with salaries kept to a minimum. The fact that neither Riviera nor his main financial backer, co-founder Charlton Lui, a former executive for Microsoft, had substantial ties to Canada did not help either.

Riviera tried to drum up publicity for his fledgling circuit by backing the nomination of Pete Rose, then banned from baseball for gambling, for induction by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. There was a small justification: Rose had played half a season for the Montréal Expos and collected his 4,000th career hit while wearing their uniform, but the Hall of Fame being a serious institution, there was no way this was ever going to succeed. The stunt still remains the most famous line on Riviera's resumé, however.

Further Reading

• Jeff Blair: "Rose's Canadian hall bid still safe", The Globe and Mail, February 5, 2003. [1]
• Bruce Schoenfeld: "A good spot for baseball? Oh, Canada", Sports Business Journal, January 27, 2003. [2]