We give a run down of each of the Pioneer League ballparks. The Pioneer League is an independent baseball league based in the rocky mountains region. Thanks for watching!
Wishing some of the old stadiums from the defunct Pioneer League teams still existed, as they would've been interesting. I miss the Helena (MT) Brewers, Butte (MT) Copper Kings, Casper (WY) Ghosts, Pocatello (ID) Pioneers, Medicine Hat (Alberta) Blue Jays, and Lethbridge (Alberta) Mounties.
Fun fact, Colorado Springs used to have a AAA level team, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. The team is now in San Antonio Texas, leaving after the 2018 season. So in the span of a couple years, Colorado Springs went from the AAA level to rookie ball and now to independent status.
Hate to tell ya - but IT'S TOO COLD TO HAVE A TRIPLE-A TEAM in COLORADO SPRINGS. EVEN WHEN THE THE SEASON NOW STARTS IN MAY/JUNE IT'S LIKE 50 DEGREES ON THE FIELD! I Remember hearing stories of people shoveling that field and stadium for games. Probably why it had the lowest attendance of AAA. MLB wants money so of course they are going to move the team to San Antonio..
@@jakeainsworth6657 That is why Elmore Sports Group relocated the SkySox to San Antonio before MLB reorganized MiLB with new AAA teams in Jacksonville and Sugarland. San Antonio ended up being AA again after reorganization... The relocation also involved a brand new ballpark in Amarillo more suitable for AA than AAA, something San Antinio was more suitable for... While Colorado Springs drew well during the summer months, the early spring months were a annual issue of snow and freezing weather... They usually started the season on a very long road trip...
Excited for the new Pioneer League team coming to Kalispell, MT in my neck of the woods. They just announced the team earlier this year, and just broke ground on the land the ballpark will be at. Supposedly, they will be ready for games in May 2022... I am thinking it might take longer than that to get the entire ballpark finished.
UC Health park was originally built to be the home of the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, which was originally the AAA affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. When the Colorado Rockies started, the Sky Sox became their AAA team, and then the Rockies decided to make the Albuquerque Isotopes their AAA team. From there the group that owns the Sky Sox partnered with the Milwaukee Brewers and the Sky Sox became their AAA team for a couple seasons, until they moved the AAA team to San Antonio. We went from having 30 years of AAA ball there, to having a team of guys where none of them will likely sniff the majors.
Can confirm every Utah stadium has a great mountain view. Source: I live in Utah. I go see the AAA Salt Lake Bees often as I live closest to that ballpark but it's always a great time to drive to Ogden for a Raptors game when we can as well. Plus they serve beer there! That's a big deal in Utah. The only other team that does that is the Bees. Other low level minor league teams that have existed elsewhere in Utah in the past have been on college campuses, so no booze could be served. Lindquist field and Smith's ballpark are the two best around though so I'm glad it's those two where you can drink.
my Grandma contributed enough during construction of Lindquist that there;s a brick with the family name or somesuch.. she kept 3 season tickets running until just before her death in 2007. And to think I spent my HS years only about 4 blocks NE of that site (it was fairly run down before the stadium)
Please add The Oakland Ballers Raimondi Park & Yolo High Wheelers (UC Davis) down the road to this video. Go Ballers!!! Thanks for all your great work.
Your best breakdown of the independent/minor league stadiums so far. How you managed to get Hannah Montana and Linken Park on the sly was a nice touch. Oh, and the you can't put a stadium there- I just did, son! Awesome!!!
Trust me, as an Ogden native, do NOT tell them they cant do something! Its always been the primary Non-mormon area of the state, witha chip on its shoulder to match LOL
@@16yelnats Interesting. When I saw the stadium years before the renovation, it looked a lot like a high school field. No offense, just my opinion. I thought it was cool that pro ball was played there.
FYI, in case it hasn't been brought to your attention previously, the Great Falls Voyagers are name in honor of UFOnauts because on the most famous films of UFOs was taken by the team's general manager in 1950. The film has been minutely examined with birds, balloons and reflections off of jet aircraft being definitively ruled out. The film was taken from the earlier stadium's parking lot. Here's a link: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ogQUnT_ROBQ.html
I remember the fun hype in 2008 when Great Falls changed their name! :) I still miss the Great Falls Dodgers, since that's the name and affiliation I grew up watching.
Do the Atlantic League of Profession Baseball and also the American Association of Professional Baseball,also the Korean (KBO) baseball league stadiums, theres 11 teams.
Over a year later and the Northern Colorado Owlz (formerly Orem Owlz) stadium is still not complete. So they didn't play in 2021, and they are playing in the NCU stadium in Greeley this year. Oh, and their GM quit and they've already fired their manager, and its just half way through their first season in Colorado...
You're gonna have to update this video soon. The Pioneer League is expanding. I'm hearing that 2 new teams are coming in, and one of them is already revealed to be the Oakland Ballers.
You talk about the backdrop of every stadium but, all you say is there is an RV park behind Boise's Stadium. You can't even see the RV park and the foothills in the background are gorgeous. Definitely need to do a better evaluation of that stadium.
I've been fortunate to visit all these ballparks. The best is Ogden because of the spectacular mountain view (from the 3rd base side). The worst is Grand Junction. The next best would be Idaho Falls and the 3 Montana ballparks. The next worst would be Boise which really needs a new park.
Back when Butte, MT had the Copper Kings in the league, that was by far the worst park. It was so bad, I was afraid of getting tetanus simply by looking at the stadium from a distance.
Which town are you meaning? THis vid is how I learned that the Colorado SPgs Triple A team was no more! I was trapped ina nursing home for 3.5 years so I missed a LOT of details. Gotta get to the park for a BEES game one of htese day. Somewhere in my closets of crap I have an Opening Day mylar streamer from when the new stadium opened in 1994 (as the Salt Lake Buzz much better name than this idiotic Bees thing) Of course the team they played ALSO relocated (Edmonton Trappers). So long ago...
My mind immediately went to Doterra, an "essential" oils brand based in Utah, though I'm sure it's popular in Idaho Falls too based on a common culture with Utah (melaleuca oil is one of the oils the company promotes). Turns out I wasn't too far off. Melaleuca is a multi-level marketing "company" in Idaho Falls who contributed $600,000 to help complete construction of the stadium. Unsurprisingly, their products appear to contain melaleuca.
I miss that old stadium in Helena when the Brewers had their affiliate there. They used to do fun horse races, with people on the other side of the outfield wall running with giant horse heads visible above the wall. When they remodeled/updated the stadium in Helena in the late 1990s, they acquired a bunch of the old seats from the Oakland Coliseum that were being discarded after that MLB stadium had its remodel back then. Oakland A's logos were still visible on the seats.
Let's go the Hawks when from having the worst stadium in short season Low A to the worst in this independent league, no wonder minor league baseball dropped us...
@@joshuabrown5123 It definitely can. There have been various proposals to move the stadium downtown and use it as a joint stadium between the Hawks and Boise State. But they have been talked about for the past 5 or so years and since that time BSU both started a baseball program and canceled it as well is the Hawks being no longer affiliated with the minor league due to the quality of the stadium. I personally enjoy the location of the stadium where it is at the fairgrounds in Garden City (but that's mostly because it's in walking/biking distance from my family’s house).
@@Marty_McDye I remember reading about the Boise State Baseball situation. Crazy. A downtown park might work, but I think many times the idea is better than the result. I've never been to Boise, but from looking on Google Maps, I can see the benefits of keeping the park at the fairgrounds. There's plenty of room for parking, getting the fans in and out of the area, etc.
So Minor League Baseball did not drop the Hawks - In 2020 Rob Manfred in the MLB wanted to make sure all teams had the same number of affiliates and to Control the Minors better so MLB insisted that all short season teams be cut from the MLB affiliation. A deal was later worked out so that the league has a loose affiliation with the MLB as an "associate league"..
