Western Baseball League (1995-2000)
Tombstone
Born: 1994 – WBL founding franchise
Folded: Postseason 2000
First Game: May 19, 1995 (L 14-8 @ Bend Bandits)
Last Game:
Western League Champions: 1999
Stadium
Tri-Cities Stadium (4,000)11999 Western Baseball League Media Guide & Record Book
Opened: 1995
Dimensions (1998): 335′ – 400′ – 335′
Branding
Team Colors: Black, Gray & Red
Ownership & Affiliation
Attendance
Tap (mobile) or mouse over chart for figures. Tilting your mobile device may offer better viewing.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 2007
Background
The Tri-City Posse were an independent minor league baseball team that represented the cities of Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Washington during the late 1990’s. Tri-City was a fixture in the Class A Northwest League from the mid-1950’s until mid mid-80’s. But when the Posse rode into town in 1995 to set up shop at the just-completed Tri-Cities Stadium, the region had been without pro baseball for nearly a decade.
The Posse were one of eight founding members of the Western Baseball League. The WBL was comprised of teams from British Columbia, California, Oregon and Washington during its first season of play in 1995. Later years saw expansion to Arizona, Nevada and Utah.
Tri-City posted a losing record in five of their six seasons and finished 10 games or more under .500 three times. Curiously though, the team also appeared in the WBL playoff championship series in three of those six seasons. The Long Beach Riptide defeated the Posse in back-to-back championship series in 1995 and 1996. In 1999, with former New York Met Wally Backman as manager, the Posse swept the Chico Heat in 3 games to claim their first and only crown.
The End
When the WBL formed in 1995, the league included teams in Bend (OR), Grays Harbor (WA) and Surrey (British Columbia). But franchises came and went quickly and over the next few years the league’s operations shifted towards the Southwest. By the summer of 1999, Tri-City was the only Pacific Northwest club left in the league. The Posse’s two closest rivals, the Chico (CA) Heat and the Reno (NV) Chukars, were both a 10-hour bus ride away.
In May of 2000 the Portland Rockies of the Northwest League, a farm team of the National League’s Colorado Rockies, agreed to a 10-year deal with the Pasco City Council to lease Tri-Cities Stadium beginning in 2001. The return of affiliated Minor League Baseball displaced the Posse and the club folded at the end of the 2000 season.
Links
“The Last Chance League“, Richard Seven, The Seattle Times, August 20, 2000
Western Baseball League Media Guides
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