United League Baseball (2006-2010)
Tombstone
Born: 2006 – United League Baseball founding franchise
Folded: 2011
First Game: May 16, 2006 (L 6-4 @ San Angelo Colts)
Last Game:
United League Championships: None
Stadium
Veteran’s Field (5,000)12008 Laredo Broncos Program
Opened: 1950
Dimensions (2008): Left 320′, Center 400′, Right 340′22008 Laredo Broncos Program
Ownership & Affiliation
Owners:
- 2006-2008: United Sports Equities (Brad Wendt, Gary Wendt, John Bryant, et al.)
- 2009-2010: Reunion Sports LLC (John Bryant, Byron Pierce)
Major League Affiliation: Independent
Background
The Laredo Broncos were an independent professional baseball team that played in the central Texas border city between 2006 and 2010. Laredo was a charter member of United League Baseball, a perpetually troubled independent circuit confined to Texas and Louisiana.
The Broncs posted a losing record in four of their five seasons, emerging over .500 only in their final season of 2010.
No Broncos player ever advanced to the Major Leagues. But several players with previous Major League action spent time in Laredo as their careers wound down. The best of this bunch was former Colorado Rockies and Anaheim Angels outfielder Edgard Clemente, the nephew of Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, who had strong seasons with Laredo in 2007 and 2008. The most notorious was steroid-era icon Jose Canseco, who appeared in 11 games for Laredo at the age of 46 late in the 2010 season. Canseco homered in his first at-bat for the Broncos, shown in the video section below.
Busted
United League Baseball declared bankruptcy in December 2008 amidst management turmoil and lawsuits. The league eventually emerged from Chapter 11 in time to salvage its fourth season in May 2009. At the conclusion of the 2010 season, ULB merged with two other faltering independent leagues, the Golden and Northern Leagues, to form a league of last resort known as the North American League. During this process, Laredo dropped from the circuit and folded in 2011.
In 2012 the American Association, a far superior independent league, came to town in the form of the Laredo Lemurs. The Lemurs set up shop at Uni-Trade Stadium, a new $18 million ballpark. Like the Broncos before them, the Lemurs would play five seasons and then go out of business in 2017.
Laredo Broncos Shop
Laredo Broncos Video
46-year old Jose Canseco blasts a pinch hit homer in his first at bat with the Broncos on August 16th, 2010.
Links
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