MINK League officials said goodbye to two members on Sunday, then welcomed two new franchises into the fold during the annual meeting in St. Joseph.

The Topeka Golden Giants announced last week they were pulling out of the league to pursue baseball life as an independent, and the Beatrice Bruins folded last summer as Bob Steinkamp was retiring after four decades leading the charge there.

However, league representatives approved the memberships of the Excelsior Springs Cougars and the Omaha Diamond Spirit, keeping the league’s membership at 10 teams for 2010.

Omaha, formerly with the All-American Strike Zone Upper-Deck League, is familiar to the Mustangs and others in the league’s North Division. The Diamond Spirit finished 25-14 overall and 15-0 in league play last season.

The South Division remains unchanged, with Joplin, Mac-N-Seitz, Nevada, Ozarks and Sedalia. The new North Division alignment includes St. Joseph, Clarinda, Chillicothe, Omaha and Excelsior Springs.

Although retired as a team manager and general manager, Steinkamp is not stepping away from baseball. Instead, he assumed a new role Sunday as the league’s new commissioner, replacing former St. Joseph resident Linden Black, who now resides in Tyler, Texas.

“With Bob’s contacts and knowledge of college summer baseball, it’s going to be a great thing for the league,” St. Joseph Mustangs owner Dan Gerson said.

Added Mustangs general manager Rick Muntean, “(Steinkamp) is not afraid to be the bad guy, either, if he has to, in situations of a fine or suspension.”

Other changes in league leadership include the selection of Liz Fechtig of Chillicothe as the new league president and Jeff Post of Nevada as

vice-president and Edwina Rains as secretary to replace the retiring Jim Hamlin of St. Joseph.

“I want to thank Jim Hamlin and Linden Black for giving so much of their time and dedication over the years for baseball in St. Joseph,” Gerson said. “It was their enthusiastic support early on that showed me how great of a baseball town St. Joe was and could be.”

The league also set up its 2010 schedule, which runs through Wednesday, July 21, 2010, with a playoff between the two division champions July 23-25.

Muntean said the schedule makers were great to St. Joseph.

“From the last Saturday in May until the last Saturday in league play, we’re home every Saturday,” Muntean said. “It’s a beautiful thing.”

The Mustangs also will have home games on all but two of the Fridays during that stretch, according to Muntean.

Sports reporter Rick Dunaway can be reached at rickd@npgco.com