The Saga Unfolds   

Summer 1999: Then-Pittsfield Mayor Gerald S. Doyle Jr. asks Andrew H. Mick, publisher of the Berkshire Eagle and president of its parent New England Newspapers, if the Eagle would consider donating a 1-acre parking lot near the newspaper as part of a site for a potential new minor league stadium.

November 1999: Doyle and other Pittsfield leaders meet in Denver with William Dean Singleton, CEO of MediaNews Group, whose subsidiary New England Newspapers owns the Eagle. Singleton agrees to donate the 1-acre parking lot and $2 million for the stadium project. He asks for naming rights, and the mayor agrees.

December 1999: New England Newspapers and Berkshire Bank announce they are forming a limited liability company, Berkshire Sports and Events LLC, and are the principal partners. Each puts up $30,000 to secure a six-month option, later extended, on a 2.5-acre land parcel for the stadium. The Eagle reports this development on December 23, and the story quotes sources as saying the potential MediaNews investment could total $2 million.

May 8, 2000: The owner of the Pittsfield Mets announces the team will leave town and play in a new stadium in Troy, New York. The owner had made clear he no longer wanted to play in Wahconah Park, the city's aged minor league stadium, which does not meet the standards of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues.

May 23, 2000: Pittsfield City Council votes 9-2 to send draft civic-authority legislation to the state Legislature for approval. The civic authority would build, own and operate a stadium and would have eminent domain powers.

December 2000: The state Legislature approves a measure creating the civic authority after Pittsfield officials make eminent domain powers subject to a City Council veto. Then-Gov. Paul Cellucci signs it.

January 10, 2001: Pittsfield City Council votes 8-3 to establish the civic authority. The estimated $18.5 million stadium is to be paid for with a mixture of corporate contributions, state grants and bonds to be repaid with stadium revenues.

January 12, 2001: New England Newspapers purchases the 2.5-acre property for $1.2 million through the Berkshire Sports and Events Nominee Trust.

January 29, 2001: Civic-authority opponents submit their third petition protesting the civic authority with 5,226 certified signatures — nearly 18 percent of the city's registered voters. They force a special election on the authority, and the vote is later set for June 5.

June 5, 2001: Pittsfield voters soundly reject the proposed civic authority by a 54-to-45 percent margin. Half of the city's registered voters cast ballots.

June 2001: After the civic authority is defeated, former Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton and two partners make public their proposal to lease and renovate Wahconah Park and to purchase an independent minor league team for Pittsfield.

October 4, 2001: The Pittsfield Parks Commission unanimously rejects Bouton's proposal in favor of a rival proposal by Jonathan Fleisig, owner of a dormant independent minor league team, to play at Wahconah Park, but leaves open the possibility of a new stadium.

June 2003: Bouton self-publishes "Foul Ball," which chronicles his fight to save Wahconah Park against entrenched powers.

November 24, 2003: After two money-losing seasons at Wahconah Park, Fleisig announces he will move his Berkshire Black Bears away from Pittsfield, citing "unrelenting" criticism of him and his team.

November 28, 2003: Bill Moyers interviews Jim Bouton about "Foul Ball" on his PBS program. "You earned a reputation many years ago for telling the truth with 'Ball Four,' " Moyers says. "Now you've done it again." Moyers later qualifies and softens some of his assertions.