MANCHESTER, N.H. – Plans to return minor league baseball to Manchester after more than 30 years made a major leap forward Wednesday.

Mayor Robert Baines announced that the Eastern League owners have approved moving the New Haven (Conn.) Ravens to Manchester next year.

Major League Baseball and the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues still must approve moving the Double-A team, and “housekeeping matters” within the league remain, but Baines said he does not expect any problems.

Ravens owner Drew Weber also owns the Single-A Lowell (Mass.) Spinners. He has spent about 19 months and about $10 million to bring Double-A baseball to Manchester.

If the move is approved, the team will start playing in Manchester next season after a $4 million renovation of Gill Stadium.

The city signed a deal earlier this year with the Boston Red Sox to bring the team to the city. The city needed Red Sox approval because Hillsborough County, which includes Manchester, is in Sox territory.

The last minor league club to play in Manchester was a farm team of the Sox’ longtime rival, the New York Yankees, from 1969-71. The state has one other minor league baseball team, the Nashua Pride of the independent Atlantic League, about 20 miles away.

New Haven won the Eastern League’s northern division this year and was to open the playoffs at home against New Britain, Conn., Wednesday night.

General Manager Adam Schierholz said the vote was expected.

“Drew Weber and the new ownership group worked awfully hard on it, and I had no doubt the approval was going to come,” he said. “They’ve made a lot of investment and apparently they have a bright future up in Manchester. So, I hope all works out well.”

Schierholz said the team and some local sponsors are saying “thank you” to Connecticut fans by giving away all the tickets to the Ravens’ playoff games.

“It’s been 10 good years and we’ve had some really loyal and strong fans who came to a lot of games. It’s too bad that the core wasn’t greater and we couldn’t have added more to that.

“But for the fans that have been loyal to us, we wanted to thank them back,” he said.

AP-ES-09-03-03 1629EDT