Today we look at the last "partner league," though I never really have figured out exactly what that means. The Pioneer League has been around since 1939, which is pretty remarkable for a minor league, especially at this level. It spent almost its entire existence as an MLB-affiliate league, starting as a C league, spending a year as an A league, then a Rookie league from 1964 until the big reconfiguration of a couple years ago. This league does feel important, as it seems to serve a really underserved area of the country, at least as far as professional sports are concerned. Out of the ten teams, six of them are located in either Idaho or Montana, with the Helena Brewers just recently moving to Colorado. Which, I realize it's also a pretty unpopulated area of the country. I think the combined population of those two states doesn't even come up to three million. By comparison, Indiana has about six and a half million, and we're not even a particularly big state. Still, the people that live there still deserve some entertainment, and here is the Pioneer League to provide it. The teams are split into Northern and Southern divisions, and here they are alphabetically by division. Billings MustangsFrom: Billings, MT Founded: 1948 Stadium: Dehler Park Opened: 2008 Capacity: 3,071 Championships: 15 (1950, 1957, 1959, 1962, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2014) Glacier Range RidersFrom: Kalispell, MT Founded: 2022 Stadium: Flathead Field Opened: 2022 Capacity: Under Construction, Wikipedia says 2,500 Championships: 0 Great Falls VoyagersFrom: Great Falls, MT Founded: 1969 Stadium: Centene Stadium Opened: 1940 Capacity: 3,001 Championships: 13 (1951, 1953, 1961, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2008, 2011, 2018) Idaho Falls ChukarsFrom: Idaho Falls, ID Founded: 1940 Stadium: Melaleuca Field Opened: 2007 Capacity: 3,400 Championships: 8 (1952, 1963, 1970, 1974, 1998, 2000, 2013, 2019) Missoula PaddleHeadsFrom: Missoula, MT Founded: 1999 Stadium: Ogren Park at Allegiance Field Opened: 2004 Capacity: 3,500 Championships: 5 (1999, 2006, 2012, 2015, 2021) Boise HawksFrom: Boise, ID Founded: 1987 Stadium: Memorial Stadium Opened: 1989 Capacity: 3,452 Championships: 0 (6 Northwest League Championships: 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2002, 2004) Grand Junction RockiesFrom: Grand Junction, CO Founded: 1979 Stadium: Suplizio Field Opened: 1949 Capacity: 7,000 Championships: 1 (1981) Northern Colorado OwlzFrom: Windsor, CO Founded: 2001 Stadium: Future Legends Complex Opened: 2022 Capacity: Wikipedia says 2,800 Championships: 5 (2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2016) Ogden RaptorsFrom: Ogden, UT Founded: 1994 Stadium: Lindquist Field Opened: 1997 Capacity: 8,262 Championships: 1 (2017) Rocky Mountain VibesFrom: Colorado Springs, CO
Founded: 1978 Stadium: UCHealth Park Opened: 1988 Capacity: 8,500 Championships: 4 (1984, 1995, 1996, 2010) Comments are closed.
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March 2022
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