Yolo High Wheelers 8 at Oakland Ballers 9 (KO, Pioneer League) - June 6, 2024

There are four independent MLB Partner Leagues that were so designated after the reorganization of Minor League Baseball: American Association, Atlantic League, Frontier League and Pioneer League. There are 50 teams in these leagues and it is these ballparks that I am chasing as I had seen 14 of them when they were used in the minor leagues, as well as several others on my travels. This season, the Pioneer League added two teams in the Bay Area: the Oakland Ballers and Yolo High Wheelers (playing out of UC Davis). With the Oakland A's in their last season at the Coliseum, I decided to travel out here to see the Blue Jays, and stopped by Raimondi Park, home of the Ballers to add it to my list. Unfortunately, my phone died the night before the game, so there are no pictures for this post.

Raimondi Park was opened in 1947 and is dedicated to Ernie Raimondi, an Oakland native who played in the minors and was killed in action in World War II. The Ballers began their home slate on Tuesday and 4,100 attended, but for game #3 on Thursday, there was not as much demand, with 1,504 on hand. After watching Seattle shutout the A's, I took BART a few stations to West Oakland, from where I caught a shuttle bus to the stadium. It is about a 15-minute walk but the neighborhood is considered a bit sketchy, though personally I thought it looked fine, at least in daylight. The bus dropped us (ha, there was one other person who was with me) at the main entrance, where gates opened 90 minutes before first pitch. Raimondi Park is really just a community ballyard with some seats added, and spending 90 minutes here would be tough, especially without a phone. Fortunately, the Prescott Night Market was next door and Almanac Brewing is one of the vendors. As I was enjoying a pint of Ballers Love IPA, I was handed a coupon for two free tickets to the game. I had heard that tickets were $20, so I was happy to save that money and used it to buy dinner at one of the many food trucks at the market. I should note that the market is only on the first Thursday of the month, so I was lucky to have chosen that day to attend.

I returned to the stadium a few minutes before first pitch and grabbed another pint on happy hour, which saved $3 off the ridiculous $11 price. Memo to the Ballers: this is independent baseball, not the pros. Happy hour should be $5, and the regular price no more than $8, if that. Anyway, I took a seat on the bleachers and watched the game without distractions as I was phoneless.

I moved around from section to section as the game moved along and enjoyed the atmosphere, though it got quite chilly. Many fans have already given up on supporting the Athletics and have adopted the Ballers as their team. It remains to be seen if they can last here, with improvements necessary over the long term. There are no fixed toilets, just porta-potties and that might prove problematic (aromatic?) as the summer progresses.

The game itself was a typical one for this level, with poor pitching and plenty of errors. The Ballers were down 8-5 in the bottom of the sixth but Noah Martinez homered in that frame and then Dan Covino hit a 2-run shot in the 7th to tie it up. Amazingly, the final two innings were scoreless, and we went to extras. Except we didn't. Because in the Pioneer League, there are no extra innings, instead each team chooses one player to participate in a home run derby, officially called a knockout.

Each batter has two minutes or 5 outs (swings that are not homers) during which he tries to hit as many home runs as possible. Yolo chose Justin Kirby, who managed just a single dinger before getting 5 outs. The Ballers sent out slugger Dondrei Hubbard, who had four homers on the season, including one that evening. He soon sent one ball well beyond the fence and two pitches later, ended the game with another bomb. The remaining fans were quite excited as the Ballers celebrated their first knock-out win. The game took 3:34, exactly one hour longer than the A's game that afternoon.

Notes

There are three other independent leagues: Empire Professional with four teams in Upstate New York; United Shore that plays out of one stadium in a Detroit suburb; and Pecos League with 16 teams stretching from Nebraska to California. These are simply not worth the effort to chase, though of course, if there is a game when I am in the area, I would attend.

I will visit Yolo next season in combination with the Jays in Sacramento, schedule permitting.

Best,

Sean