The Pecos League is an independent professional baseball league which operates in cities in desert mountain regions throughout California, New Mexico, Southern Arizona, Kansas, West Texas and Southern Colorado.
Pecos Teams play in cities that do not have Major or Minor League Baseball teams and is not affiliated with either.
The league's high power offenses are fueled by high altitudes and smaller ballparks.
The Pecos League is home to high altitude baseball where our average elevation is 4870.
Our players come from all over the US and all over the world
and are a combination of rising stars, falling stars, shooting stars and athletes with stars in their eyes.
Our communities take tremendous pride in their teams.
The Pecos League has promoted 312 players to higher independent and affiliated teams from 2010-2016.
Players are signed from Pecos Spring League, Hudson River League, Pecos League Tryout Camps,
and Major League Baseball Scout Referrals.
Pecos League players are 25 years old and younger. All players are payed a weekly salary and provided a host family in the Pecos League.
There are no pay to play players in Pecos League.
The Pecos League has 22 man roster with no DH used in games.
The Pecos League Regular Season is nestled in the middle of the summer from May 26-July 27. This timing leads for increased fan participation and support.
In the 2013 season 44 Blue Productions followed and filmed the Trinidad Colorado Triggers.
In May 2014, Fox Sports 1 Network launched and one of its first ever shows was a six-part documentary about life in the Pecos League, mostly based on Trinidad Triggers. Teams/Cities
The Pecos League will have the following teams for 2017 season:
(Alpine Cowboys,
Bakersfield Train Robbers,
California City Whiptails,
Garden City Wind,
Hollywood Stars,
High Desert Yardbirds,
Monterey Amberjacks,
Roswell Invaders,
Salina Stockade,
Santa Fe Fuego,
Trinidad Triggers,
Tucson Saguaros,
and White Sands Pupfish).
In 2017 The Pecos League operated 12 teams with the High Desert Yardbirds winning the Pacific Division and the first Pecos League World Series Championship. The Yardbirds defeated the Mountain Division Champion Roswell Invaders in the finals. The Pecos League also ran and operated the travel team in the American Association named the Salina Stockade.
In 2016 The Pecos League operated 10 teams with the Tucson Saguaros winning both the regular season and post season title.
In 2015 The Pecos League operated 8 teams with the Roswell Invaders winning the post season title and the Trinidad Triggers winning the regular season title.
In 2014 The Pecos League operated 10 teams with the Santa Fe Fuego winning the post season title and the Alpine Cowboys winning the regular season title.
In 2013 The Pecos League operated 8 teams with the Roswell Invaders winning both the regular season and post season title.
In 2012 The Pecos League operated 6 teams with the Alpine Cowboys winning both the regular season and post season title.
In 2011 The Pecos League operated 6 teams with the Roswell Invaders winning both the regular season and post season title.
History of The Pecos League2017
Pecos League heads West.
The off season of 2017 changed the history of the Pecos League forever.
Once a desert league with mainly New Mexico Teams, the Pecos League now had teams in six states and three time zones.
There were teams on the Coast Line of California to the Plains of Kansas to the Mexican Border in Texas and all points in between.
Despite running in roadblocks in former American Association Cities, the Pecos struck gold in California.
On July 22, 2016
MiLB announces Class A realignment with Two teams will shift from California League to Carolina League in 2017. The two teams were Bakersfield, California and High Desert, California.
This realignment left these two cities without any form of professional baseball.
When the news was announced representatives from Bakersfield connected with the Pecos League about possibility of hosting a team in Bakersfield in 2017.
In early December of 2016 the Pecos agreed to be the primary tenant of historic Sam Lynn Ballpark. The Pecos League moved the Train Robbers Name from Topeka to Bakersfield. This keeps the history of the Train Robbers alive.
High Desert agreed to allow baseball in Mavericks Stadium despite litigation from their previous Cal League Team as long as the stadium were open to other outside events.
Based on mileage and travel the Pecos League would have to create an entire division of four teams in California.
Finding cities in California that have ballparks without Professional/College summer teams is very tough.
The Pecos League was looking for a city directly in between Adelanto and Bakersfield with a ballpark suitable for professional play.
That city didn't exist. California City had recently installed state of the art Musco Lighting in their City Ballpark but had no stadium, no surface, just lights.
It was exactly in the middle of Bakersfield and High Desert. On January 10, 2017 the City along with private donations agreed to host the California City Whiptails.
The infield and seating would be completely rebuilt by the time that season would be in gear. California City proved to be a good city despite its small dimensions of its park.
Monterey California was a location that leagues had attempted to play in for decades. Its Dennis the Menace Stadium is clearly one of the most beautiful places for a baseball park in the entire country.
It sits at the mouth of Monterey Bay and has a new fieldturf surface. Monterey has never accepted any high level teams because of scheduling issues.
Like other Pecos League cities, Monterey's scheduling would be a huge issue.
On January 17, 2017, The City of Monterey allowed the Pecos League to play 16 games all on Saturday and Sunday Nights in June and July for the 2017 season.
The Pecos League would enter an expansion team called the Monterey Amberjacks and play three game series with Monday Night games being held in Hollister.
The Amberjacks had a very successful season in 2017.
The Pecos League now has two divisions of six teams. The teams would not play out of division and travel was great.
At the end of the 2016 season the Pecos League announced the Salina Stockade Great Bend Boom and Topeka Train Robbers would not return.
The Salina Stockade were reformed as a American Association Travel Team.
The Train Robbers name was kept and moved the Bakersfield from Topeka.
Great Bend was too small of city with limited and facilities and moved to the Jayhawk League.
2016
In the offsason of 2016 the Pecos League really turned the corner adding Tucson to the Pecos League.
In 2016 the Pecos League returned to 10 teams adding Tucson, Arizona and playing in Kino Stadium. Kino was by far the best stadium the league had and set the leagues attendence record and drew 8720 fans for 4th of July.
The Saguaros won the league championship and the Regular season title. Kino Sportsplex instantly became the GEM of the Pecos League.
Tucson wasn't the only Arizona city that benefitted from the Pecos League. The Tucson Saguaros played all of their Sunday Games in Bisbee and had great crowds and a great atmosphere.
The Roswell Invaders, Trinidad Triggers, White Sands Pupfish and Alpine Cowboys all had good attendence and support years.
Las Cruces had a structural issue to their stadium in January that did not allow the team to play in 2016. The Pecos League added Great Bend in their place.
The Pecos League also added three more cities in Kansas to compliment the Garden City Wind.
The Great Bend Boom, Salina Stockade and Topeka Train Robbers.
Salina played in a great stadium in Dean Evans and immediately had attendence and community support, despite only being offered a limited amount of home games.
Topeka set the all time record for lowest attendence in league history and finished dead last in every attendence category and could not host a home game in July.
The league supported the team until the end and the Train Robbers made the playoffs before losing to Trinidad in the first round.
Garden City had their best year ever, the Wind won the Northern Division Regular season title before losing to Trinidad in the first round.
The Great Bend Boom where the other expansion team. Tucson set the league record for wins with 51.
2015
In 2015 the Pecos League really began to turn the corner. The league strictly enforced a 22 man paid roster.
The League implemented a 25 and under age limit. The league dropped Raton, Bisbee and Douglas immediately when the season ended.
The City of Raton no longer wanted a losing team in Trinidad's shadown. Having gone 1-24 against the hated Triggers in two years was enough.
Raton had some good support but the was outgrowing the City.
The American Association teams were fully taking the Pecos League serious and thus swept the Pecos League 3 games to 0.
The Wichita Wingnuts replaced the El Paso Diablos on the American Association Exhibition Schedule Slate.
The Wichita Wingnuts beat the Garden City Wind 7-4 in Lawrence Dumont Stadium.
The Amarillo Sox beat Garden City 5-1. The Amarillo Sox beat the Las Vegas Train Robbers 5-4.
At the advise of Norm Cutliff the Pecos League made a major turn. Norm was the founder and biggest supporter of the Taos Blizzard.
Norm advised Andrew Dunn of the Pecos League to leave Taos for Garden City Kansas. Norm believed the economic climate in Taos would never support a team the way that Trinidad or Santa Fe did.
He was a huge Pecos League Supporter and believed the League would do better elsewhere. The Pecos League added Garden City Kansas and for the first time in thirty years players were transported by train to games.
Garden City was the only team in history to play on artifical turf infield. Also they played at the lowest elevation in league history. The Wind established a great fan base and the move to Garden City turned out to be a great one for all involved.
The Pecos League brought back Las Cruces and had a great level of play from top to bottom. The Southern Division had a playoff race that went down to the last day.
The Roswell Invaders made the playoffs beat Alpine in the first round and beat Santa Fe in the finals to win their 3rd championship in five years in the league.
The White Sands Pupfish worn MJM on their jersey the entire season while Matt McNeile was alive.
McNeile had no known illness but suddenly died on August 1, 2015 in his Alamogordo home. His legecy will not be forgotten.
2015 was the best year in Pupfish History. The Fish were in the playoff race until the last day.
Las Cruces returned to the league. Their attendence improved slightly from 2012.
The All Star Game was hosted in Santa Fe. Santa Fe lead the league in attendence.
2014
The move of the Padres to El Paso happened and the Pecos League attempted to move to Tucson but instead had teams on border towns of Bisbee and Douglas.
All teams from 2013 returned with the addition of two Arizona Teams. The league went to two divisions of five teams.
The Pecos League TV Show aired on Fox Sports 1. Jon Edwards made his major league debut with the Rangers. He was the first player in Pecos League history to play in Major League Baseball.
Arizona didn't work well for the Pecos League.
Douglas turned out to be the worst market in the history of the league. Bisbee didn't do much better until the 2nd half of the season.
The El Paso Diablos were gone so the only American Assoication game was between Raton and Amarillo in which Amarillo won.
Santa Fe beat Trinidad in a three game series to advance to the finals. Alpine beat a Roswell team that many believe was the best team in the history of the Pecos League.
Santa Fe beat Alpine in tough three game series. This was the first road team to win the Pecos League Title.
The All Star Game was hosted in Santa Fe. Santa Fe lead the league in attendence.
2013
The 2013 Season will be the season always remembered for filming of the Pecos League TV Show.
The League began to offer full website stories for all of its games.
The Trinidad Triggers were filmed on a reality TV Show. Cameras followed them 24 hours a day and at every game.
The show aired in May of 2014 and very popular on Fox Sports 1.
The League began to make major moves.
The annoucement of the Tucson Padres moving to El Paso forced the Pecos League into changes.
Many Las Cruces fans lost allegience with AAA baseball now 30 miles away. The Vaqueros were removed from the league.
The Trinidad Triggers beat the Amarillo Sox in the American Association 17-10. Roswell Invaders lost to the Diablos 16-9. The Amarillo Sox beat the Raton Osos 5-4
The DH was removed for good from the Pecos League.
The Taos Blizzard were added as a travel team. The Raton Osos and Las Vegas Train Robbers joined the league. All of the teams in the Northern Division were within 3 hours of each other.
The Roswell Invaders had the best season in Pecos League History with 50 regular season wins they did not lose a playoff game to win the Pecos League Title.
The Invaders set new standards and redefined the structure of teams. Chris Ebright brought in a team of entire rookies and dominated the older slower Pecos League Teams.
It was because of the success of the Invaders and the popularity of their players in the Community that an age limited was implemented for the 2014 season.
The Trinidad Triggers were filmed on a reality TV Show. Cameras followed them 24 hours a day and at every game.
The show aired in May of 2014 and very popular on Fox Sports 1.
Roswell set the league record for wins with 50 and didn't lose a playoff game.
The All Star Game was hosted in Santa Fe. Santa Fe lead the league in attendence.
2012
The Pecos League took a major step forward in many areas. Andrew Dunn decided to own all teams but Alpine bringing in the Santa Fe Fuego and the Trinidad Triggers.
Pueblo Colorado and Del Rio did not allow the Pecos League to play in their stadiums due to youth conflicts.
Private ownership just would not work at this level. Alpine was granted a permanant membership with their 501 c.3 board and Kristin Cavness took the team over.
She was grand daughter of Kokernot, who built Kokernot Field.
The DH was added for this season. The Pecos League hired league umpires. The Pecos Spring League was formed as a source for players.
The White Sands Pupfish shut out the El Paso Diablos in Cohen Stadium 6-0 behind a gem from Curtis Camili.
The Vaqueros lost 16-9 to the Vaqueros in Apodoca Park. The game marked the only time in league history an American Association team played in a Pecos League Stadium.
Apodoca Park's surface was 10 times better than multi purpose Cohen Stadium.
The Pecos League signed a contract with Rawlings to have its own baseball created. The Trinidad Triggers had a great season bringing Pro Baseball to Southern Colorado for the first time.
Charley Short signed with the New York Yankees from the Roswell Invaders. Numerous players were traded to Frontier League or American Association Teams.
Gone were the Ruidoso Osos and Carlsbad Bats. Several players were signed with affliated teams in the 2012 season. The league footprint expanded massively with the addition of Santa Fe and Trinidad.
The Alpine Cowboys beat the Las Cruces Vaqueros in the Championship Series.
The All Star Game was hosted in Alamogordo. Santa Fe lead the league in attendence.
2011
The new league was formed and the league was called the Pecos League.
Named after the Pecos River which Ran from Clovis to Del Rio.
Andrew Dunn was the sole owner of the Las Cruces Vaqueros and was the commisioner of the Pecos League.
Roswell New Mexico finally got professional baseball.
Bob Ward of Alpine was the league advisor.
The Big Bend Cowboys were disbanded and resurfaced as the Alpine Cowboys and had a completely new ownership under Ward.
Matt McNeile agreed to allow the Coastal Kingfish to be a full time team in Alamogordo and named the team the White Sands Pupfish.
The League was originally set to have six teams and originally slated in:
Alpine, Las Cruces, Roswell, Alamogordo, Clovis and Bisbee.
Andrew Dunn agreed to own all New Mexico Teams and the Non-New Mexico Teams would have private ownership.
Tom Mosher from Bisbee refused to play road games and Clovis New Mexico wanted $50,000 for their ballpark.
Carlsbad would not allow a team to play in any of the city fields. Their team the Carlsbad Bats would strictly be a travel team.
Despite their ideal location in between Alpine and the rest of the league, they did not want outsiders in their town.
Dunn then moved Clovis to Ruidoso and Bisbee to Carlsbad.
Ruidoso and Carlsbad replaced the two cities and the Pecos League played the 2011 season.
The first ever Pecos League Game occured in Cohen Stadium when the Roswell Invaders defeated the El Paso Diablos from the American Association 10-7.
This game was an exhibition game but showed fans and players that the Pecos League wasn't the Continental League.
The Invaders would play an exhibition game against the San Angelo Colts of the United League two weeks later in which they lost.
Two days later the Invaders played the first regular season game in Ruidoso and lost 18-13
The teams took the field and realized this was going to be altitude league. The league had big success in Alpine, Alamogordo and Roswell.
Las Cruces failed miserably. The 2011 season had some good times. The level of play was a vast improvement from the Continental League.
The league footprint was from Roswell to Las Cruces with Carlsbad being a travel team. Alpine was the lone team that required travel.
The League used local umpires which was an outright disaster in Ruidoso, Alpine, Roswell and White Sands.
Lolly Zamora was removed from the field in Roswell. One of the Ruidoso Umpires was a policeman who threatened to arrest a coach for cursing at him.
Ruidoso had a private owner that leased the team from the league. He absconded with all sponsorship money and did not pay his league debts on May 29th.
The Team had no housing and struggled to meet payroll. The team rallied and community supported them.
The Osos made it all the way to the Championship Series before losing to Roswell.
The Roswell Invaders were the inaugural Pecos League Champions, defeating Ruidoso in a tight three game series.
The All Star Game was hosted in Alamogordo. Roswell lead the league in attendence
In the Summer of 2010 Ryan Stevens, Donnie Randal, JR Smith, Andrew Dunn and Chris Schmidt met in Van Horn, Texas to discuss options on how to start an Independent League that would continue the Big Bend Cowboys and the Las Cruces Vaqueros of the Continental League.
The Continental Baseball League announced it would cease operations after the 2010 season. The Continental Baseball League played from 2007-2010 in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, Houston and East Texas.
White Sands Pupfish
Ballpark: Griggs Park
Ballpark Address: 3000 North Florida Ave
City: Alamogordo, NM 88310 http://www.whitesandspupfish.com
Record: 12-50 (.193)
Year Founded: 2011 White Sands Pupfish Facebook Page
Manager: Chris Stout
Elevation: 4222
Time Zone: MST
Colors: Vegas Gold, Black
Phone: 575-680-2212
Tucson Saguaros
Ballpark: Kino Electric
Ballpark Address: 2500 E Ajo Way
City: Tucson, AZ 85713 http://www.saguarosbaseball.com
Record: 46-14 (.766)
Year Founded: 2016 Tucson Saguaros Facebook Page
Manager: Kirby Campbell
Elevation: 2389
Time Zone: PST
Colors: Forest Green, Vegas Gold, Black
Phone: 520-909-5600
Santa Fe Fuego
Ballpark: Fort Marcy Park
Ballpark Address: Murales and Washington Ave.
City: Santa Fe, NM 87504 http://www.santafefuego.com
Record: 32-26 (.551)
Year Founded: 2012 Santa Fe Fuego Facebook Page
Manager: TJ Zarewicz
Elevation: 7000
Time Zone: MST
Colors: Sedona Red, Turqoise, Black
Phone: 575-680-2212
Salina Stockade
Ballpark: Dean Evans
Ballpark Address: 851 Markley Rd
City: Salina, KS 67401 http://www.salinastockade.com
Record: 29-36 (.446)
Year Founded: 2016 Salina Stockade Facebook Page
Manager:
Elevation: 1250
Time Zone: CST
Colors: Navy, Royal
Phone: 575-680-2212
(2017) 18-72
(2016)
Garden City Wind
Ballpark: Clint Lightner
Ballpark Address: 706 E Maple
City: Garden City, KS 67846 http://www.gardencitywind.com
Record: 18-43 (.295)
Year Founded: 2015 Garden City Wind Facebook Page
Manager: David Peterson
Elevation: 2838
Time Zone: CST
Colors: Powder Blue, Royal
Phone: 575-680-2212
(2018)
(2017) 18-43
(2016) 38-26
(2015) 21-43
California City Whiptails
Ballpark:
Ballpark Address: 7140 Landis Drive
City: California City, Ca 93505 http://www.californiacitywhiptails.com
Record: 28-35 (.444)
Year Founded: 2017 California City Whiptails Facebook Page
Manager:
Elevation: 2405
Time Zone: PST
Colors: Navy, Grey, White
Phone: 760-373-8676
The off season of 2017 changed the history of the Pecos League forever.
Once a desert league with mainly New Mexico Teams, the Pecos League now had teams in six states and three time zones.
There were teams on the Coast Line of California to the Plains of Kansas to the Mexican Border in Texas and all points in between.
The Pecos League also added three more cities in Kansas to compliment the Garden City Wind.
The Great Bend Boom, Salina Stockade and Topeka Train Robbers.
Salina played in a great stadium in Dean Evans and immediately had attendence and community support, despite only being offered a limited amount of home games.
Topeka set the all time record for lowest attendence in league history and finished dead last in every attendence category and could not host a home game in July.
The league supported the team until the end and the Train Robbers made the playoffs before losing to Trinidad in the first round.
Garden City had their best year ever, the Wind won the Northern Division Regular season title before losing to Trinidad in the first round.
The Great Bend Boom where the other expansion team. Tucson set the league record for wins with 51.
At the advise of Norm Cutliff the Pecos League made a major turn. Norm was the founder and biggest supporter of the Taos Blizzard.
Norm advised Andrew Dunn of the Pecos League to leave Taos for Garden City Kansas. Norm believed the economic climate in Taos would never support a team the way that Trinidad or Santa Fe did.
He was a huge Pecos League Supporter and believed the League would do better elsewhere. The Pecos League added Garden City Kansas and for the first time in thirty years players were transported by train to games.
Garden City was the only team in history to play on artifical turf infield. Also they played at the lowest elevation in league history. The Wind established a great fan base and the move to Garden City turned out to be a great one for all involved.
The Pecos League brought back Las Cruces and had a great level of play from top to bottom. The Southern Division had a playoff race that went down to the last day.
The Roswell Invaders made the playoffs beat Alpine in the first round and beat Santa Fe in the finals to win their 3rd championship in five years in the league.
The White Sands Pupfish worn MJM on their jersey the entire season while Matt McNeile was alive.
McNeile had no known illness but suddenly died on August 1, 2015 in his Alamogordo home. His legecy will not be forgotten.
2015 was the best year in Pupfish History. The Fish were in the playoff race until the last day.
Las Cruces returned to the league. Their attendence improved slightly from 2012.
The All Star Game was hosted in Santa Fe. Santa Fe lead the league in attendence.
The move of the Padres to El Paso happened and the Pecos League attempted to move to Tucson but instead had teams on border towns of Bisbee and Douglas.
All teams from 2013 returned with the addition of two Arizona Teams. The league went to two divisions of five teams.
The Taos Blizzard were added as a travel team. The Raton Osos and Las Vegas Train Robbers joined the league. All of the teams in the Northern Division were within 3 hours of each other.
The Roswell Invaders had the best season in Pecos League History with 50 regular season wins they did not lose a playoff game to win the Pecos League Title.
The Invaders set new standards and redefined the structure of teams. Chris Ebright brought in a team of entire rookies and dominated the older slower Pecos League Teams.
It was because of the success of the Invaders and the popularity of their players in the Community that an age limited was implemented for the 2014 season.
The DH was added for this season. The Pecos League hired league umpires. The Pecos Spring League was formed as a source for players.
The White Sands Pupfish shut out the El Paso Diablos in Cohen Stadium 6-0 behind a gem from Curtis Camili.
The Vaqueros lost 16-9 to the Vaqueros in Apodoca Park. The game marked the only time in league history an American Association team played in a Pecos League Stadium.
Apodoca Park's surface was 10 times better than multi purpose Cohen Stadium.
Andrew Dunn agreed to own all New Mexico Teams and the Non-New Mexico Teams would have private ownership.
Tom Mosher from Bisbee refused to play road games and Clovis New Mexico wanted $50,000 for their ballpark.
Carlsbad would not allow a team to play in any of the city fields. Their team the Carlsbad Bats would strictly be a travel team.
Despite their ideal location in between Alpine and the rest of the league, they did not want outsiders in their town.
Dunn then moved Clovis to Ruidoso and Bisbee to Carlsbad.
Ruidoso and Carlsbad replaced the two cities and the Pecos League played the 2011 season.
