PRESS RELEASE – The Great West League made a bold statement today by welcoming the established Medford Rogues to the fold. The Rogues, one of the top teams in the West Coast League, join the new summer collegiate wood-bat league immediately.
The Rogues began play in 2013 and have consistently recruited top players and have been a success at the gate. “The Medford Rogues are one of the finest franchises in all of summer collegiate wood-bat baseball and we could not be happier that the Rogues will be part of the Great West League,” said GWL President Ken Wilson. “CSH International is a quality owner that cares about the community, and they are a wonderful partner for our league.”
“We are excited about the move to the GWL, we feel this is best for our business model, less travel for the players, and markets closer to Medford so we can establish closer rivals for our fans. This is a league that has superb ownership groups and baseball people running franchises which makes the Great West League very attractive for Medford”, stated Gary Gelinas, president of the Rogues.
The GWL now has six teams and will begin play in June of next year. The Medford Rogues join the Chico Heat, Lodi Crushers, Marysville GoldSox, Portland Pickles and Sacramento. The addition of the Rogues gives the league four teams in California and two in Oregon.
“We have fabulous owners, terrific markets with exceptional facilities, easy travel and top coaching,” noted Wilson. “We feel our league provides the best opportunity for top college players to improve their game and move on to a career in professional baseball.”
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Shouldn’t be that big a surprise to anyone following the GWL. The same ownership that owns Medford also owns a part at least of Marysville, they are listed with some others as managing partners. Pat Gillick owns Chico and a part of Marysville along with the Medford owners.
Medford is on the very south end of the league and I’m sure those bus rides into Canada and eastern Washington have to be very expensive. So if you’re Medford’s owners, why not cut your travel costs considerably and join what looks to be a solid league? All of these towns are either directly on or very near Interstate 5, travel looks to be very easy. Take out Portland (are there more teams coming between Medford and Portland?) and the longest bus trip for anyone, Lodi to Medford, is about 5 1/2 hours. Lodi/Sacramento/Marysville/Chico are all within two hours of each other (according to Mapquest, yes it’s a slow night at my house).
The GWL looks to be operated by proven vets including some pretty high profile people (Gillick and the Sacramento people) and seems to have some legs. Ken Wilson built the WCL into what it is – high profile summer teams with solid financial value and team worth. Before he took over the WCL you could by a franchise for the cost of a decent car. Try buying a WCL franchise now. Guy appears to know what he’s doing and has lined up a good combination of baseball and business people for the new league.
This probably helps the WCL as well as their travel to the south end of the league will be cut. I wonder if the Klamath Falls team will follow? They are far south of everyone else in the WCL too.