PRESS RELEASE – Embark Holdings, Inc. subsidiary American West Baseball League today announced that they have agreed to bring a Professional Baseball team to Las Cruces, New Mexico.
The team will make its home at Apodaca Park, which seats 1,200+ fans and has a beautiful field with all the amenities needed to make any Professional Baseball Team proud.
Sean Smock, the Commissioner for American West Baseball League, visited Las Cruces, New Mexico prior to the leagues decision to have a team located there. When he returned from his trip he stated that the “Community and the City Officials welcomed him with open arms, and that they were there to help the team, in any way that was needed to ensure our success.
Sean said we need to get a team in Las Cruces and I do believe it will be one of our biggest success stories.”
We are running a name the team contest at the new Facebook location at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Las-Cruces-Professional-Baseball/394717040624663?ref=stream whomever enters the Official Team Name with the most votes will win season tickets for the 2013 Season.
Michael Cummings, Chief Executive Officer commented on the new location saying, “We are very excited to be a part of Professional Baseball in Las Cruces, New Mexico and look forward to building a strong relationship with the community. The new team shows the strength and stability of AWBL and gives players the opportunity that they may not otherwise have”
ballparkbiz.wordpress.com 
San Diego- No ball park and no Owner money left
Nogales- no stadium, no approval
Fullerton- Columbian team. No fans will come watch. No stadium lease
Las Crusas- YEAH RIGHT!!
It would be interesting to see how it all works out, and I am rooting for them to pull it off…The Fullerton Flyers facebook page stats a lease had been agreed to, thats promising, hopefully that means San Diego can get a lease signed in San Marcos and the Nogales News Paper is reporting that Commissioner Sean Smock had been down there fighting their case for pro base so another promising move, Las Cruces I think is the same owner as a Nogales News Paper revealed a story about the Renteria Group and their three new ball clubs in the AWBL. It is unfortunate what has happened to this league thus far, but with projected opening day around June 16 ish (noted on Facebook) things need to come together quickly and it looks like they are making good strides. Good Luck To Them!
the awbl will find out real quick the real reasons why the pecos league pulled out of las cruces, enough said, an awbl team will not succeed here, the league will eventually fail if it even happens, those are the facts, organizations like the awbl is what gives independent baseball a bad name
Well, it’s not the market or the Triple-A club on its way. The only “real reasons” are an inadequate facility and a failure to offer a product that people want to buy.
Alan
Who is going to watch an unknown independent league team when you can now see the El Paso Padres in the beautiful new stadium…
They didn’t watch Pecos LEague and won’t watch this league either…
Are these guys trying to sell the team???? That would make sense a pump it and dump it strategy…
Below are my comments from a few weeks ago about the Las Cruces and El Paso markets:
“You have to think there is more to the story (Pecos League leaving the market) than competition from El Paso. First, Las Cruces has nearly 100,000 people, which is sufficient to support a well-run team of its own. Second, El Paso is 46 miles away. Yes, some folks will make the trek to Texas to watch a few games a season, but very few Las Cruces residents will be season-ticket holders. It’s just too far away, unless you are the hardest core baseball fan.”
Regarding the AWBL, I would assume they are looking for an investor to own and operate the proposed team.
Alan
The Pecos League pulled out because a AAA team is headed for El Paso in another year. Do they really think they can make this work? Sounds more like desperation to fill a spot in a league that is desperately trying to get off the ground.
they must be trying to sell the team to local investors or an out of town owner…
When do they do their yearly announcement of the team in Tijuana?
are they trying to put teams in the worst markets?
As a minor league ball fan and fan of Alpine ’06’ Cowboys when they were in the Continental and now, Pecos League, bless those willing and able to invest in minor league sports and particularly Indy ball. There’s no sugar daddy major league affiliate and even then, there’s plenty of movement in the affiliated minors.
The Indy owners aren’t getting rich when they feel they can make a go of it with a 250-350 minimum attendance. Travel costs have been back-breaking and community and/or fan support isn’t always there — for all sorts of reasons — but to say, thank you for trying.
Thank you to each team’s management and players and their community supporters. You’ve provided affordable pro sports entertainment in places many of us never thought would have a ball team. Here in Alpine, we’ve a wonderful gem of a minor league ball park in historic Kokernot; but not everyone has that sort of facility, struggling to get a high school or college field up to pro standards. And we’ve had the blessings of a winning team, management going the extra mile and community supporters doing some heavy lifting.
I’m looking forward to the start of our new Pecos League season. Here in Alpine, coming out on a very comfortable, high desert night, enjoying the game, the company of friends in the stand and those beautiful mountains past the outfield walls.
About one rule change in the Pecos League for the upcoming season: “What’s going on with National League rules, all about?” You’ll kill pitching staffs already dog-tired from traveling and more so with the upcoming season’s compacted schedule (and I believe more games). It won’t reduce the offense, not with so many of the Parks at a higher elevation. The ball is going to carry anyhow and the pitching suffers most. Given the high offensive totals and already frequent pitching changes, the game is going to be more delayed to account for the NL strategy, thus taking as much or more time to complete a game. Let’s give some thought for the players, coaches, umps and fans in the stands, please … reconsider the NL rule. Oh, and then, there’s the (almost) automatic out in the #9 spot in the order. If the object is to hasten the game … well, let’s try something else.
But back to Indy ball at any level. I hope fans get an opportunity to see Indy pro ball in the cities with a club. There’s nothing wrong with Indy ball at all — but the expenses which often keeping ownership scrambling and stomach acid churning.
Yes, I like affiliated minor league ball too. The common denominator is the game — its called “baseball”. Play ball!
i agree with mickey. the league is trying to put teams in markets where independent teams have already failed. if the league even happens, it will not make enough money to sustain itself, to make things worse, now they add cruces which means your adding in ridiculous amount of travel expenses and trying to put a team in a town that doesnt even support its division 1 college football program. just because the awbl has a nice website and their owners at least pretend to have enough money doesnt mean they know what there doing! this is a huge disaster in the making
Las cruces is only 4 hours away from Nogales
Nogales will have a team. Announcement will be in a couple of days
NOGALES AZ WILL HAVE A TEAM, IT WILL BE ANNOUCED THIS WEEK
nogales is a way better place to have a team than Cruces,
Diamondbacks used to play a game there every year….
Also you might check with New Mexico State to see how big of a Sports Town Las Cruces is…They are about to shut down their football team
haha “strength and stability of the AWBL” all of the public fights in Yuma show that strength and the fact that 3 of the first 4 teams have left the league and Winter Ball was cancelled a couple of days before it was set to play.
The Pecos League just left Las Cruces? How can the American West League go where the Pecos League couldn’t make it??
and swing the travel ?
why wouldn’t they just put a in new owner in Yuma, Las Cruces is far
The league has a great foundation, put a team in every city that has failed… where is St George?
That can’t happen, majority of the league operators were the ones who left St. George with plenty of debt in their dust.
wrong it has been noted publicly that Yuma and Long Beach are out Fullerton has a failed owner in Renteria (remember Yuma stint), so North County, Fullerton and Las Cruces, I suppose when all else fails go to a market nearly 900 miles from the league offices in OC…This league is beginning to show its true colors and the way Gene63 or Michael Cummings has come out publicly demeaning owners I think this will get uglier before it will get better…
OK, so the league looks like this!
NORTH COUNTY
LONG BEACH
YUMA
FULLERTON
LAS CRUCES
Looks like a great start!
You didn’t see the post last week that said that Yuma was out.
Update:
FULLERTON
LAS CRUCES
NORTH COUNTY
Not only is Yuma out but it looks like sanity left with it.