Category Archives: Independent Ball

Independent Ball

New Pecos Teams But Not in Amarillo

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It appears as though Andrew Dunn jumped the gun.  Last month, we reported that the Pecos League announced that they would be moving a team to Amarillo. The new team, the Amarillo Lone Stars, were planning to play at Potter County Memorial Stadium.

That deal has fallen through. According to the Amarillo Globe-News, the stadium will be leased to a private high school baseball team starting in January.

The commissioners’ decision Monday means the Pecos League — a 12-team independent league baseball organization — is out of contention to lease Memorial Stadium from May to August, as was their original intent, said Potter County Judge Nancy Tanner.

“The Pecos League is out,” Tanner said. “That was part of what Mr Elliston wanted was a sublease (with the Pecos League). But the motion was made by commissioner (Mecry) Murguia to omit the Pecos League, specifically, and let Mr. Ellliston keep the additional year he has the contract and sublease to San Jacinto Christian Academy as well as the Great Southwest Collegiate League.

 

The Amarillo Globe-News also contacted Andrew Dunn about the decision:

Pecos League commissioner Andrew Dunn, who attended a Potter County commissioner meeting back in November, said Monday in a phone conversation he was disappointed in not having the chance to play at Memorial Stadium in 2016 . Dunn said, “the future of baseball in the Pecos League is in Canyon.”

Based in the Houston-area, Dunn said he has four teams in California set to play for 2016, giving him 12 teams for the Pecos League. He said negotiations are underway with West Texas A&M to lease their artificial-turf field, and he hopes to have a team in Canyon “for the 2018 season.”

Although Dunn is quoted as saying that he will have four California teams set to play for 2016, we are assuming that he meant for the 2017 season since there is less than a month left in 2016. However as of right now, only two California teams are listed on the Pecos League official website. 

pecos-teams

It appears as though the Topeka Train Robbers (who were set to move to Amarillo) will now be called the Bakersfield Train Robbers.

Today, the league announced that there will be a team in Adelanto, California. The High Desert Yardbirds are set to play at Adelanto Stadium next year.

The Pecos League will partner with the San Bernandino County Fairgrounds who will manage/oversee gameday operations of the team.

The SBC Fair is excited and proud to partner with the Pecos League to bring the return of quality, professional baseball to the High Desert. “The High Desert has a long tradition of professional baseball, and the expansion into the Pecos League is the next step in continuing that legacy. We look forward to building the Yardbirds into one of the leagues top franchises, and continuing to provide baseball fans in the High Desert an exciting, fun professional sports opportunity, close to home said San Bernardino County Fair C.E.O. Geoff Hinds. The Fairgrounds will oversee gameday stadium operations and partner with the Pecos League to provide in game an on field, non baseball entertainment.

Pecos League Commissioner and Owner Andrew Dunn “We are excited to play the 2017 season in High Desert, I believe it will fit perfectly with the other cities in the league. We look forward to working with SBC Fairgrounds and the City of Adelanto. Adelanto Stadium will continue our mission to upgrade facilities in our league.”

Currently, the league stands at 10 teams (the same as last season), but it appears as though both the Topeka and Great Bend teams have been converted to the two new California teams.

If Dunn’s statement to the Amarillo Globe-News is correct, two more teams in California should be announced soon. We will report on those when official information becomes available. (Unofficial schedules show teams in California City and Monterey, but neither have been announced by the league.)

Note… no mention is made on how teams with such low budgets and pay will be making these long road trips to and from California. Although if the unofficial schedules are correct, it appears as though the California teams will be playing each other the majority of the season with only a few of the other teams making the trip.

Independent Ball

Playing and Singing Replaces Pitching and Training for Stetson Nelson

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The baseball off season can be a little boring for players and fans alike.  Without games to watch or play every evening, the buzz that surrounds the summer slowly dies down.

That’s where social media comes in to save the off season.

As I was scrolling through my Instagram where I follow hundreds of players that I’ve met over the years, I came across one player who has filled in his time without baseball by playing guitar and singing cover songs.

Stetson Nelson, a member of the Florence Freedom team that won me over one weekend (but was traded the very next day to the Lake Erie Crushers), has been uploading cover songs to fill his free time and his Instagram timeline.

After spending the last two summers playing independent baseball with the Grand Prairie Air Hogs in the American Association as well as the Florence Freedom and the Lake Erie Crushers in the Frontier League, Nelson has made the difficult decision to hang up his cleats after getting a job offer in his chosen career field that he just couldn’t refuse.

His baseball career may have been short, but it certainly wasn’t wasted time.

During his senior season at Embry – Riddle (where he majored in homeland security), Nelson had a 11 – 4 record including 4 complete games with a 1.57 ERA in 137.1 IP.

In two professional seasons, he had a combined record of 10 – 6 with a 4.25 ERA.

Since he’s no longer using his spare time to work on his fastball and pitching control, Nelson has decided to use his down time to work on something he’s done since he was a teen, playing guitar and singing.

“I started playing guitar when I was about 13 years old, but I didn’t start really singing until I was a freshman in college,” Nelson said. “I always tried to pick my guitar up every day when I was still playing baseball. It was a great stress reliever for me especially if I had a bad game on the mound.

Well once I finished baseball for good I figured I’d give music more attention. So I started posting covers just to see how it would go, and people seemed to like it so I just kept going with it.”

For Nelson, playing baseball and playing music have a lot of similarities.

“I still have a lot of work to do with both my guitar playing and singing but just like with baseball, it’s something you have to do everyday repetitively in order to make progress so that’s what I’m trying to do.”

He does a lot of country covers but includes a little bit of everything with his Instagram videos.

You can check out Stetson Nelson and his videos on his Instagram – @stetnel

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