I'm totally thrilled to see a pro minor-league team come to Dobbins bringing temporary lighting this summer followed by permanent lighting for 2025. Good for baseball.
This is great news for baseball. I didn't know about the Pioneer Baseball League or the Yolo High Wheelers. Here are links to the the High Wheelers website and the Pioneer League website:
Pioneer League used to be a rookie level league affiliated with MLB on the east coast. Since MLB cut many of their minor league teams, the Pioneer League is now an independent baseball league.
Question: the press release mentions Phil Swiny (?) field at Dobbins Stadium. When was the field named?
The Pioneer League is an independent league so the players will consist primarily of college players who didn't get drafted like Jack Zalasky (former Sac State closer) and Single-A players who were released. Once in awhile a former major leaguer will join an independent team when staging a comeback, but most of those players go to the Atlantic League because it's more prestigious.
I wasn't clear on Biagini's role with the new team. Maybe just a special guest for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Sounds like they got some good coaches though. Billy Horton has spent a lot of time coaching and managing in the affiliated minor leagues. Jerome Williams was a good pitcher for the Giants (memorable for his puka shell necklace)) early in his career before the Giants stupidly traded him as well as David Aardsma to the Cubs for that awful LaTroy Hawkins.
This is actually a nice alternative to the River Cats. Not only will the tickets likely be cheaper but the High Wheelers will actually try to win. The River Cats since the Giants came in don't give a hoot about winning-it's completely about getting their minor leaguers their reps and serving as a test kitchen for marginal pro players they hope they can fix.. The stats are what matter to the analytics nerds like Farhan Zaidi. I saw Kyle Harrison completely dominate the Oklahoma Dodgers but they pulled him after 3 innings because they saw what they needed to see from him for their nerd report. I hate to say it but the River Cats are a farce these days . If you go don't go with expectations of seeing a good baseball game, more like a spring training exhibition where the result doesn't matter.
I'll paste in a quote from "The Davis Enterprise" article by Bruce Gallaudet:
In this first season, lighting at Dobbins Stadium will be temporary. The game plan is to have permanent lights installed by the start of the 2025 Aggie baseball season.
Down the not-too-distance road, UC Davis has committed to other stadium improvements, including locker rooms, concession stands and a new video scoreboard. Some of the capital improvements should come with assistance from the Pioneer League club.
Well, this is pretty cool. Finally we get lights! Portable or not they will be a great enticement to go to a game. And these guys apparently are very serious. Portable sports lights are not cheap. 6 lights go for around $3300 a month. 8 for around $4400. Go to SportsLightsSupply.com to check out the latest. Maybe UCD will be able to help?
As it happens we DO have an en suite guest room on the first floor with a convenient exit to the outside and we'd LOVE to host a player. We do, however, have cats and dogs so there's that.
Random questions- With the A's coming to Sacramento for a bit, do the River Cats need to play games in other stadiums? Or are they still planning to play all their games at their park? Maybe the MLB could spend some money to help the River Cats play some games at Dobbins?