Golden Baseball League (2007-2010)
Tombstone
Born: 2006 – Golden Baseball League expansion franchise
Folded: 2011
First Game: June 7, 2007 (L 7-3 vs. Long Beach Armada)
Last Game:
Golden League Championships: None
Stadium
Bruce Hurst Field (2,500)12007 St. George Roadrunners Program
Opened: 1994
Dimensions (2007): Left: 340′, Center: 390′, Right: 335′
Ownership & Affiliation
Owners:
- 2007-2009: Triple Play Baseball LLC (Todd Vowell, et al.)
- 2010: Hot Corner Baseball, LLC (Will Joyce, Ed Wong, Michael Leyva)
Major League Affiliation: Independent
Attendance
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Background
The St. George Roadrunners were a Utah-based independent minor league baseball team that scrapped and clawed its way through four seasons in the Golden Baseball League between 2007 and 2010. The Roadrunners played against teams from a broad swath of the Western U.S. and Canada, including clubs from Arizona, California, Hawaii, British Columbia and Alberta.
The Roadrunners were the second independent league club to try to make a go of it at Bruce Hurst Field on the campus of Dixie State College. The Zion Pioneerzz/St. George Pioneerzz of the Western Baseball League played to small crowds at the 2,500-seat ballpark from 1999 to 2001.
On The Field
Former Major League sluggers Cory Snyder (2007-2009) and Darrell Evans (2010) managed the Roadrunners. A handful of players with previous Major League experience suited up for the Roadrunners during the club’s short existence, but no Roadrunners players advanced to The Show after playing in St. George.
The team’s best season came in 2009. After losing campaigns in 2007 and 2008, the Roadrunners won the Golden League’s South Division with a 48-34 record. St. George lost to the Tucson Toros in the opening round of the 2009 GBL playoffs in a best-of-five series.
Demise
Off the field, the Roadrunners suffered from poor attendance at Bruce Hurst Field and weak corporate sponsorship support. The franchise died several times, only to be revived on the operating table to continue on in weakened form. In December 2009, owner Todd Vowell announced the Roadrunners were out of business after three seasons.
But the Roadrunners were unexpectedly rescued a month later by a new group led by Southern California businessman Will Joyce, whose son had pitched briefly for the team in 2007. Unlike Vowell, a St. George resident and businessman with a local network, Joyce was an out of towner. His group proved unable to reverse the Roadrunners financial headwinds. In August 2010, with a month remaining in the Roadrunners fourth season, Joyce’s group announced it could not continue, forcing the Golden Baseball League to foreclose on the franchise. The league took over operations for the remaining weeks of the season, forcing the Roadrunners to finish out a last place campaign entirely on the road.
The Golden Baseball League itself died following the 2010 season. The league merged with the Texas-based United League Baseball and what remained of the once proud Northern League to form a shambolic union known as the North American League in 2011. Noises were made about moving the Roadrunners (or at least a club using the Roadrunners name and logo) to Henderson, Nevada but the Henderson Roadrunners never took the field.
Downloads
7-20-2007 Roadrunners vs. Yuma Scorpions Game Notes & Roster
7-20-2007 St. George Roadrunners vs. Yuma Scorpions Game Notes
Links
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