PRESS RELEASE – The 2011 season is in the books and teams are learning what they did right and what they did wrong. Financial the Pecos League had its ups and downs. Below are the rankings of how the Pecos League Teams did off the field.
#1 The White Sands Pupfish were by far the biggest surprise, they had great support in the community, the best in game entertainment in the Pecos League, and made the most money at the concession stand with their municipal beer license and promos. Friday Nights in Alamogordo were the Pecos League’s feature night. Almost no one gave the Pupfish a chance with its makeshift ballpark. However the fans loved it. The team did not lose money in 2011. The support is great and fans are ready for Spring Training in 2012. Fans can expect a great year in 2012. Teams Sponsors are jumping on board left and right and the Pupfish will be a stable in the Pecos League playoffs for many years to come.
#2 The Roswell Invaders had a mixed bag of ups and downs. All in all they were the 2nd most successful team in the Pecos League. The 2012 season was a huge success with the Pecos League Championship Trophy now residing in Roswell NM. The Invaders sold nine times more merchandise than any team in the league with their alien green/navy theme would give any MLB team a run for their money.. Despite having the most sponsorships in the league, and actually leading the league in attendance, the Invaders made less of a profit than Alamogordo. The Invaders have the highest lease in the league by almost triple and despite winning the Pecos League Championship the City of Roswell does not have a municipal beer license. The future still looks bright in Roswell. Baseball Fever really didn’t hit in Roswell until mid June and the run to the Championship has got fans and community leaders excited for 2012. Now that fans know they have a serious product, expect the Invaders to be just fine for the 2012 season and beyond.
#3 The Alpine Cowboys had their best year in the three years baseball has been in Alpine. Their 501 C3 formation, better opponents and the playoff race helped their support and they are looking forward to 2012 with possibility of Del Rio and Pecos getting local fans excited with regional rivals. The team lost minimal money in 2011. In 2012 a more balanced schedule will help the Cowboys even more as they were on the road nearly all of June.
#4 The Las Cruces Vaqueros were by far the biggest disappointment in the Pecos League. The biggest city in the Pecos League forgot they had a team. The Vaqueros were handcuffed from day one when the City of Las Cruces declared their grandstand unsafe and replaced it with seating for around 100. The fans of Las Cruces showed their support clearly when owner Andrew Dunn brought in the El Paso Diablos for an exhibition game and 89 fans showed up. The Vaqueros also hired local coach Miguel Gomez but support got even worse. The strong pack of loyal fans was very disappointed at a lack of effort on and off the field. The Vaqueros could not get the same assistant coaches at the game every day and players became very frustrated with the situation. The Vaqueros front office was left no choice but to reduce payroll. Miguel Salcedo single handedly kept the team together. His golf tournament might have been a highlight for the summer. Despite being the biggest city in the league it is by far the worst financially. Three of the teams sponsors pulled out in May stating they didn’t have money in the budget. One of the main sponsors checks were NSF. The Vaqueros assembled an awesome game day staff that had great promotions. The Vaqueros packed the place for the last game of the season and fans have bombed the Vaqueros office with discontent over how the team was run this year. The future is brightest in Las Cruces, if they pass their municipal beer license Las Cruces will run away the attendance race year after year. There is no city in Colorado/Texas or New Mexico that can compete with Dollar Beer on Thursday Nights in Las Cruces. Their 2010 season proved that. The City of Las Cruces is in process of renovating the grandstands and the Vaqueros are going to offer many concession promotions in the 2011 season. So the Vaqueros have nowhere to go but up.
#5 The Ruidoso Osos were a complete disaster from day 1. It was obvious after the first three games it would be hard to keep fans for 4 hour games with no beer and no lights in the swirling winds of May. Games would start in the 70’s and end in the upper 40’s. Teams averaged 11 runs per game over the season. It rained every day in August. The Pecos League took a big hit keeping this team alive. Billy Page was the main reason the team stayed alive. But his baseball experiment ended with two weeks left in the season. The small fan base of around 75 fans that the Osos built is probably the most dedicated and loyal in the league. After Osos fever swept through Ruidoso and the team lost the championship game there is a big push to keep baseball in Ruidoso for the 2012 season. There is a currently a push for lights and although the Osos are not currently on the projected teams list there is a shot the Pecos League will bring them back. If financial conditions are met and the team is run tightly Ruidoso could have a team in the league. Beer likely won’t happen near the school and with no lights it will be almost impossible.
#6 Carlsbad Bats-The Pecos League was warned not to goto Carlsbad in the beginning of the season because Carlsbad doesn’t support events at all. But Alpine had a series that they couldn’t host the Pecos League setup games in the so called “Baseball Capital of New Mexico”. Carlsbad hosted a DH on the 29th and a single game on the 30th for a total of 3 home games. It is safe to say there won’t be a 4th. Those three home games set records for fewest fans, hottest temperature (112) and highest winds. The Pecos League staff that worked the game wanted to cancel the 2nd days games. The Sports Editor in Carlsbad did a great job promoting the game and the Pecos League did their best to promote the game. Attendance numbers of 13/34 and a high of 89 ended any shot of professional baseball in Carlsbad. Pecos League Commissioner Andrew Dunn has still tried to meet with Carlsbad Mayor about using Lea Street Park, but they can’t allow beer there.
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Hey you all…we have a stadium and beer for the Trinidad Triggers and we plan to rock and roll…..come play here and we will show you a great time!!!!
Well, it’s never the end of a great season to see the home town team fail to win a championship. Having said that, we saw plenty of great baseball in the inaugural season of the Pecos League including those games where teams like White Sands and Ruiduso (and Las Cruces and Carlsbad, too) challenged and never quit when coming to Alpine as the visitors. The intensity of the players and managers made for great evenings in Kokernot and its a long off-season waiting for opening day 2012 — with more teams coming to town. Kudos to all involved in the league!
Congrats to the Pecos League on their Inaugural season. It was great to see the Pupfish spank Alpines ass like it was their job!
A great big BOOYAA! goes out to everyone that was talking smack about the league, and said it couldn’t be done.
Kudos to those involved in the Pecos League. There were more long-shots and guess what? Most came in and did pretty well — all things considered. The quality of play was certainly superior to the Continental League; witness players starting the year before under that banner didn’t in the new Pecos League. Year one had to be a shake-down cruise and I have to say that things can only improve with each of the new teams management and staff learned by flying by the seat of their pants in many instances. Volunteers and love of the game kept things afloat. They didn’t have the big full-time staffs that even some of the Indy teams have and some of them struggle getting fans in the stands.
I miss the fact the season is over. However, I’ve been on the road away from my home town of Alpine — having season tickets and enjoying the games like nobody’s business — and the other night, saw the Jamestown Jammers vs. the Auburn Doubledays in the affiliated short-season ‘A’ ball in a very nice 70 year old stadium with the green, forested hills of the Souther Tier of NYS in the background. The stadium seats about 3,500-4000 and fans find themselves right on top of the action. Well, they may have had 500 fans and spread-out over the number of seats, didn’t make much noise. Smaller Kokernot; state of the art in the Pecos League, seats about 1,000+; yet the smaller numbers attending the Cowboys were involved in every play and made Jamestown seem like a wake.
Yes, I enjoyed the game; but I couldn’t help but notice the difference in attitude among the players and fans — giving the tip of the hat to those in the Pecos League.
Sorry to hear that Ruidoso is a long-shot to be back; because I had the chance to speak to the folks driving the team to Alpine and they’re quality folks like so many coming to support their particular team while playing in Alpine.