There will be a Pioneer League team playing this summer - in Pocatello, not Ogden or Montana - that will have some ties to the league's most famous team ever, the Baseball-Hall-of-Fame Salt Lake Trappers.
Its general manager will be John Stein, former assistant general manager of Salt Lake's Trappers. It will be made up of hungry mavericks signed after tryouts because big-league clubs gave up on them or passed them by, just like those Salt Lake Trappers who set a professional baseball record winning 29 straight games in 1987.The Pocatello team may even carry the name Trappers and wear the old Trapper uniforms. It will according to Pioneer League president Ralph Nelles.
But it won't be THE Trappers. Not the ones owned by Jack Donovan and Van Schley and Bill Murray and their many partners, whose club entertained more than 1 1/4-million fans and won four league championships and six division titles in eight seasons at Derks Field.
The 1993 version of the Pioneer's southernmost team will be run by the league to balance its schedule with an even number of teams, eight.
On Friday, league directors - representatives of the other seven clubs - chose Pocatello's 11th-hour bid over offers from Ogden and two Montana cities, Bozeman and Missoula.
Nelles, who had been annoyed at Pocatello for entering the race for a team on Thursday, said that town was selected because the others wanted "large sums of up-front money," said Nelles.
Pocatello also was the most viable option because it has a ballpark with stands, clubhouses and concession areas all in place - rent-free. The city also gives the league $21,000 in the agreement. Pocatello had a Pioneer League team as late as 1991; this will mean a ninth season in the league for the town.
Nelles told the Associated Press the league might prefer to stay in Pocatello past this season. "What we're trying to do is avoid moving to a city for 1993 and not be there for '94. We don't want to move around," he said.
Nelles told the Deseret News the league chose Stein as general manager because of his experience with a league team. Stein is still negotiating his contract with the league but said he will move to Pocatello Tuesday.
"We tried to get (Trapper GM Dave) Baggott, but he wasn't interested," Nelles said.
"My attachment is to Utah," said Baggott, who is now unemployed. He still holds hopes of the real Trappers returning to the league in 1994.
The Trapper staff and league learned last week that Donovan's ownership group chose not to move the franchise. At a league meeting in Spokane Saturday, Donovan did not bid to keep the franchise operating.
At that point, said Stein, "The league took the franchise back. The Trappers didn't give the team back; the league took it back."
"We had to take the membership back, according to our by-laws," said Nelles. "The league has been forced to run the team when Salt Lake said they would not field a team," Nelles said."
The Trappers were forced out of Salt Lake City when the city decided to build a new ballpark to replace 46-year-old Derks Field, which was crumbling, and courted the Triple-A Portland Beavers to play in Salt Lake starting in 1994. The Trappers planned a final season in Derks in 1993, but construction of the new stadium had to begin this month to be completed by the '94 season.
The Trappers had their best record in their last season, 53-23 in 1992. In eight seasons, they were 358-205 and 11-9 in playoff games.
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(Additional information)
S.L. Trappers era
Year W L Playoffs Titles won
1985 46 24 3-2 League, division
1986 45 25 3-1 League, division
1987 49 21 3-1 League, division
1988 41 29 -- None
1989 33 36 -- None
1990 42 26 0-3 Division
1991 49 21 2-1 League, division
1992 53 23 0-2 Division