The St. George Pioneerzz were a minor league baseball team located in St. George, Utah . The team played in the independent Western Baseball League , and was not affiliated with any Major League Baseball team. Their home stadium was Bruce Hurst Field .
13-619: The Pioneerzz were founded in 1999 as the Zion Pioneerzz and won the 2000 Western Baseball League championship. They were renamed the St. George Pioneerzz for the 2001 season, after which they ceased operations. The team had lost $ 2 million during its three years of operation. This article about a baseball team in Utah is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Western Baseball League The Western Baseball League
26-402: A new team off the ground. On June 1, 2015, the league issued a press release announcing that it would contract from six to four teams. Players from the remaining teams would be granted release from their contracts upon request and players on eliminated teams would be reassigned to the remaining teams, which would potentially require expanding the roster sizes. However, in the same press release,
39-649: The Long Beach Breakers to bring the loop back to six teams. The Zion Pioneerzz were renamed the St. George Pioneerzz . The expansion Breakers won the league championship, defeating Chico 3 games to 2. In its final year of 2002, the Western Baseball League again operated with six teams. St. George folded, while Marysville, Calif., re-entered the league to take the Pioneerzz' place, playing
52-583: The Pacific Suns . Grays Harbor suspended operations halfway through the season, and the league took over management of the team, which continued as the Western Warriors and went on an extended 68-game road trip with no home stadium. Despite the lack of a home stadium, the Warriors made it to the league championship series before being swept by Sonoma County, 3–0. In 1999, the league disbanded
65-628: The Reno Chukars were added. Long Beach won its second consecutive title, again 3 games to 1 over Tri-City. In 1997, the league added the Chico Heat , while Palm Springs took the year off and Long Beach became the Mission Viejo Vigilantes . Chico won the league championship in its first season in the league, defeating Reno, 3–2. In 1998, Salinas disbanded, while dormant Palm Springs moved to Oxnard, California and became
78-630: The MRPBL folded halfway through the inaugural season in 2015 due to financial problems. Mount Rainier Professional Baseball League The Mount Rainier Professional Baseball League was an independent, professional baseball league located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Operating in cities not served by Major League Baseball or their minor-league affiliates, the MRPBL had six franchise teams spread throughout
91-597: The Western Warriors, while Mission Viejo, Bend, and Pacific also folded. The Sacramento Steelheads and Zion Pioneerzz were added, making the WBL a six-team league. Tri-City won the league championship for the year, 3 games to 1 over Chico. For the 2000 season, Reno called it quits after four years in the league, while Sacramento moved to Vacaville, California and became the Solano Steelheads . The WBL
104-481: The challenges of running the league. According to a press release, the league required an average of 300 fans per game in order to remain solvent. The league had trouble finding host families for players. Some teams' uniforms were not ready by the start of the season and they resorted to wearing other team's uniforms. Greene offered to grant free franchise rights to any potential owners and estimated that it would require an investment of approximately $ 70,000 in order to get
117-512: The season as the Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox . The Chico Heat won the league championship in the league's final season, defeating Long Beach 3 games to 1. After the league folded, the western United States were without independent baseball until 2005, when former WBL cities Chico, Long Beach, and Yuma were awarded franchises in the upstart Golden Baseball League . Three of the 8 current GBL cities are former Western League markets, as Reno
130-416: The states of Washington , Oregon , and Montana . Founded in 2014, the league was divided into an Eastern and Western Division, with each team playing a 68-game regular-season schedule lasting from May through August. Play ceased early on in the inaugural, 2015 season because the league was experiencing substantial financial difficulty. Owner and commissioner Mike Greene admitted that he was unprepared for
143-498: Was added to the circuit in 2006, while St. George became a member of the league in 2007. On September 9, 2014, it was reported that former WBL team, the Grays Harbor Gulls , would be reborn as a member of the new Mount Rainier Professional Baseball League in 2015 and would play their home games at Olympic Stadium once again. It is also mentioned that the "new" Gulls will have no ties to the original team. The Gulls and
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#1732779516031156-567: Was an independent baseball league based in the Western United States and Western Canada . Its member teams were not associated with any Major League Baseball teams. It operated from 1995 to 2002. The league was founded in 1994 by Portland, Oregon , businessman Bruce L. Engel. It began play in 1995, with the following teams: Northern Division: Southern Division: Long Beach won the inaugural league championship, defeating Tri-City, 3 games to 1. In 1996, Surrey folded, then
169-531: Was back at eight teams, however, as the Yuma (AZ) Bullfrogs , Feather River (Marysville, CA) Mudcats and Valley (Scottsdale, AZ) Vipers were added. The Zion Pioneerzz won the league championship, defeating Chico 3 games to 1. For the 2001 season, Valley and Feather River folded, while league stalwart Tri-City defected to the Northwest League . The league returned to a market it previously served, adding
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