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The Story of the Ruidoso Osos
8/18/2011
In January 2011, the inaugural Pecos League of Professional Baseball Clubs schedule was released.
The Clovis Pioneers, Roswell Invaders, Carlsbad Bats, Las Cruces Vaqueros, Alpine Cowboys and White Sands Pupfish were the original six teams.
Suddenly Clovis Manager John Harris left for Amarillo of the American Association and Clovis was in trouble.
Clovis city officials announced the Pioneers could not play home games at Mike Harris Park due to a 13-14 year old league that would not give up dates.
This left the Pecos League in serious trouble, forced to used Bell Park, owned by the Clovis ISD.
In a January 13th meeting, Clovis ISD officials informed Andrew Dunn the lease for a 40-game season would be $35,000 and alcohol would not be allowed.
This left the Pecos League is a hole needing a 6th team to balance the schedule. Dunn quickly began to scramble and researched into Bisbee Arizona and Ruidoso New Mexico.
Ruidoso made the most sense nestled directly in between Roswell and Alamogordo. The Village of Ruidoso quickly reacted and responded to the Pecos League Request. The Osos inherited the Clovis
Pioneers schedule which included the inaugural Pecos League Game on May 10th a day earlier than all other games. The Osos were leased to Clyde Woods who attempted to operate the Osos.
Woods lasted less than three weeks as he did not get the supported he felt he needed to continue efforts. Billy Page assumed the team and kept the Osos the alive. Page had to make a manager move
bringing in Tim Ferguson to replace Kevin Griffin as manager. With two weeks left in the season Billy Page left the team due to problems he had with respect from the players. Tim Ferguson managed
the two the last two weeks and in the playoffs. The Osos roster remained stable throughout the season, they had the fewest transactions in the Pecos League and kept a stable roster.
The Osos battled through the rest of the regular season and finished in the three spot in the Pecos League.
The Osos made quick work of the White Sands Pupfish in the first round sweeping the Pupfish two games. The Osos ulitmately lost in the final game of best of three series to the Roswell Invaders.
The support for the Osos was shown by the number of Osos fans who traveled on the road to Roswell to support their quest for the title.
Support for the Osos locally was huge despite no lights, no alcohol and limited crowds.
The Ruidoso host families quickly become attached to their players and their teams and Oso Nation quickly was born. The osos had natural rivals across the mountains with White Sands and Roswell.
The Osos players held on through tough circumstances and although the future of baseball in Ruidoso may be in question. 2011 was the year of the Oso!
For more information visit Pecos League of Professional Baseball Clubs LLC. http://www.PecosLeague.com 575-680-2212
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