Red Pocket Mobiles 7 at Long Beach Coast 8 (Pioneer League) - June 6, 2026

The Long Beach Coast are a new team in the Pioneer League and as I am stupidly chasing the ballparks in this circuit, I had to add Blair Field to my list. It's a far piece from New York for this level of baseball, but I was able to add it to the A's in Vegas trip, which started with a visit to Petco Park for the Padres. Long Beach is just a couple of hours from San Diego and I took FlixBus, my first intercity bus ride in at least five years. Fellow sports traveler Kevin had the same weekend itinerary as I did and he kindly agreed to pick me up at the bus stop. We then drove back to Recreation Park, where Blair Field can be found. There is plenty of free street parking in the area, so no need to drive around looking.

The ballpark has been the home of the NCAA's Long Beach Dirtbags since 1993, though it originally opened in 1956. It holds 3,238 fans, more than enough for the Pioneer League. The Coast give the ballpark an additional 48 dates, good for the city as they own it. This was the club's first homestand and, as you can see above, they already have plenty of signage.

Before entering, check out the memorial (the M is missing and needs to be fixed ASAP) to Bob Lemon, a Long Beach native who pitched 13 years with the Indians, winning the World Series with them in 1948. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1976 and the very next year, he was the manager of the Chicago White Sox when they were the visiting team for the Toronto Blue Jays first game. There's a bit of trivia for you.

The box office is next to the main entrance and tickets are $13 for general admission, which includes all bench seats down the lines. This is all you need as they don't attract that many here, with attendance announced at 974, not great for the first Saturday home game in franchise history.

There is one large concession stand just as you enter, and in front of it is the Long Beach Baseball Hall of Fame. Among the members are Bob Bailey, who played first base for Montreal in their franchise opening game at Shea Stadium in 1969, and Ron Fairly, who was with Toronto in 1977, though he did not appear until their second game, when he was the DH. I love finding these Canadian connections whenever I travel. Concessions are a bit overpriced by the way, with a hot dog going for $7. If you want to attract fans to a new team, make food and drink more affordable.

Inside the seating bowl, nearly every seat or bench is covered, so you don't have to worry much about the sun. The game was a 4:35 start, which seems to be the case for most Saturdays, but Sundays are usually at 1:35 so you will want to avoid the rays for those ones. 

The team is part-owned by "West Coast hip-hop icon" Warren G and they have a secondary identity as the Regulators after Regulate, a "hip-hop anthem" he released in 1994. I think they should just use Regulators as the normal identity because it is much cooler than Coast and also, a new team with two identities is just confusing.

There's not much to write about here, but I did appreciate seeing local neighbourhoods highlighted with banners along the exterior of the ballpark. Long Beach has a population of 450,000, so it can certainly support a team; whether or not it will do so remains to be seen.

I also liked the old-style script used to help fans find their seats. It doesn't matter much when so few fans are here, but still, it's a nice touch.

There is also a playground down the left field line, so families can enjoy their time here.

Of course, as this was just their fifth home game, there's not a lot of Coast history to find, but there is some for the college team. As I doubt I will be back here for them, I will include that here. The Dirtbags have actually had a lot of success, including four College World Series trips. On two occasions, they lost in the semifinals: to eventual champion LSU in 1993 and Arizona State in 1998. At one point, they had the most active MLB players of any college (Troy Tulowitzki, Evan Longoria, and Jered Weaver are among alumni) though that is no longer the case.

Overall, Blair Field is a decent park for independent ball, with a few local touches and affordable tickets. However, the games can be tough to watch at times, as was the case on this Saturday afternoon.

The Game

The RedPocket Mobiles were visiting and they are a travel team, which has to suck. Imagine spending six months in a series of mid-range hotels. With a 1-15 record, it was pretty clear that the players were not enjoying themselves. To make matters worse, RedPocket Mobile is an actual cellular company. Kudos to them for the innovative marketing, but if their cell service is as bad as the team, they won't get many customers. Both teams are managed by ex-major leaguers, with Dmitri Young in charge of the Mobiles, while Troy Percival commands the Coast. These two met twice in the majors, with Young working a walk and getting hit by a pitch way back in 2003. Anyway, the Pioneer League is the worst of the four MLB partner leagues and it didn't take long to realize that as the first batter grounded to third, but the throw was off and we had the first error of the afternoon. A fielder's choice scored that unearned run and then Kishon Frett (who played two seasons with FIU and was briefly with the Ottawa Titans last season) hit a massive homer to make it 3-0 early. Long Beach (13-3) tied it in the second, the Mobiles went up 4-3 in the third, Long Beach tied it in the fourth, the Mobiles went up 5-4 in the fifth and led 7-5 in the 7th, only for the Coast to again tie it up on a Little League home run (a single with a three-base error by Frett). We went to the bottom of the ninth still knotted at 7 and thankfully Wyatt Adams came on. I don't mean to be critical, but Adams is not a very good pitcher. He walked Cuba Bess, who stole second and then was sacrificed to third. Two intentional walks later and Matthew Bardowell (who played at rival Cal State Fullerton and was 4-4 so far) grounded back to Adams, who couldn't hold on and then his throw home was wild. Game over! Coast Win! The final was 8-7 and as the game took 3:29, I was just glad to get out of there.

There were two unusual plays during this game. First, Cooper Vest (I saw him at BYU last season) pinch hit in the sixth, but when he came up to bat a couple of innings later, Young came out to protest. Vest was removed from the game and Tyler Young pinch hit. We never found out what happened (Kevin even tweeted the team and the league looking for an answer) but in the end, it didn't matter. I guess Vest did not field his position at some point, but we'll never know for sure.

Then, in the top of the 9th, Frett was hit by a pitch. He attempted to steal second and Long Beach catcher Thomas McCaffrey, who was the league's hitter of the week, jumped up ready to throw to second, only for the batter to foul the ball off his throwing hand. It was instant pain and I'm sure McCaffrey ended up with broken fingers, as he left the game and has yet to return as of this writing two weeks later. If you are a catcher, keep that throwing hand hidden until you need it!

Notes

RedPocket also sponsors the ABS reviews, which is very confusing. The Mobiles lost two reviews, and then Long Beach asked for a review. The announcer said "RedPocket Review" which was odd as a Long Beach batter had requested the second look. Took me a while to realize that sponsorship has its limits.

I still have one Pioneer League ballpark to see, that being Glacier Bank Park in Kalispell, Montana. I had hoped to go the week prior to this trip, but weather concerns forced me to reconsider, so I will be going to Montana in August instead.

Best,

Sean