Cal Ripken League welcomes new franchise for 2010

Southern Maryland Cardinals will play at Joe Cannon, Regency Furniture

The Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League announces the addition of a new franchise for the 2010 season: the Southern Maryland Cardinals. The Cardinals ownership group is headed by Chuck Winegardner and Donnie Herbert.

Chuck Winegardner is President/owner (with brother Tom) of Winegardner Automotive Group (organized in 1980) which has four General Motors dealerships located in southern Maryland. His background includes involvement with Doyle Baseball since the late 1990s, Team Connecticut from 2006 to the present, and, for the last two years, North Hurricanes Baseball Organization in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Doyle Baseball is a Florida-based company that trains young ballplayers. Team Connecticut and North Hurricanes Baseball operate traveling teams for 11-18 year olds.

Donnie Herbert is Regional Manager of Atlantic Coast Cotton, a clothing company with a major sportswear division, and president/owner of Limousines of Calvert, which specializes in limousine sales and services. He teamed with Chuck Winegardner from 2000-2006 to operate Team Chevy Baseball (a travel organization for 10-16 year olds) and the Huntingtown Hornets Football organization, which has operated since 1997. Donnie is also a member of the Transportation Committee for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC.

The Cardinals were organized in 2008, playing their first season in the Maryland Collegiate Baseball League. In 2009 they moved to the Clark Griffith Baseball League and won the Griffith League Tournament championship.

For the 2010 season in the Ripken League, the Cardinals will play most of their home games at Joe Cannon Stadium in Hanover Maryland, two miles southwest of BWI/Thurgood Marshall Airport. The ownership group has expressed an interest in changing the team’s name to better reflect the new area they will be playing in.

''We are extremely pleased to have the Cardinals join us,'' says Commissioner Bob Douglas. ''They have a first-rate operation and will be a very competitive addition to the Ripken League.''




The Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League has a license agreement with the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation for the use of the name
Cal Ripken, Sr. and is not affiliated with nor sponsored by the Foundation or Ripken Baseball.

P.O. Box 22471 Baltimore, MD 21203-4471 410/588-9900 info@ripkensrcollegebaseball.org