New York-Penn League owners unanimously approved the sale of the Oneonta Tigers to a group headed by E. Miles Prentice III on Tuesday, team president Sam Nader said.
The league voted on the transaction at its annual meeting, which was held at the Desmond Hotel in Albany in conjunction with the NY-Penn All-Star Game.
"They had discussed it in the executive board and it came through from there," said Nader, who along with vice president and treasurer Sid Levine are the only living members of the Oneonta Athletic Corporation. "There weren't quite tears, but it was close. Our longevity exceeds everyone else. We've seen owners and general managers come and go."
The OAC has owned the Oneonta franchise since 1966, when the team was affiliated with the Boston Red Sox.
For the sale to be finalized, it needs to be approved by Minor League Baseball and Major League Baseball. Nader said Tuesday night that Prentice had been given unofficial approval by Minor League Baseball, pending the NY-Penn approval, so all that is left to finish the deal is for MLB to give its OK.
"We haven't had the sale yet," Prentice said Tuesday at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in Troy, the site of the league's All-Star Game. "What we had was that the NY-Penn League approved our application. Last week, Minor League Baseball approved our application subject to NY-Penn League approval."
Nader and Prentice said the process could take anywhere from 30 to 60 days to complete.
New York City lawyer Prentice and Andy Weber, who will take over as the team's general manager after the sale is completed, attended the league meeting, Nader said.
"We got a good reaction," Nader said. "We've had a very good relationship with other ownerships for a long time. It's a great mutual respect."
Nader, 89, and Levine, 95, announced the sale at a media conference on July 1 at Damaschke Field.
Prentice owns two Double-A minor league teams as well as a minor league hockey team. The other members of the ownership group are Steve Long, John Gleason, Ed Mattes, Laura Mattes-Cox and Jim Weber, who is Andy Weber's father.
Terms of the sale require Prentice to keep the team in Oneonta through at least the 2010 season.
"A lot (of the owners) already knew (Prentice) because he has been a member of the board (of Minor League Baseball)," Nader said. "They asked him if he intended to keep the club in Oneonta and he affirmed to them again that he was."
_ Daily Star contributing writer Courtney A. Erickson contributed to this report.
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