Lewiston Broncos

The Lewiston Broncos were an American Single-A minor league baseball team based in Lewiston, Idaho. The parent organization was Lewiston Baseball Club, Inc. formed in 1952 by Lewiston businessmen Sam Canner Sr., Jack Lee, Billy Gray, George Thiessen and others. Gray later sold his shares to Thiessen. The Broncs were a member of the Western International League 1953-54, and the WIL's successor, the Northwest League, from 1955-74. The Broncs won the NWL championships in 1961, led by catcher-manager John McNamara, the future MLB skipper and in 1970, 1972 and 1973.

The Broncos had two distinctions:

  1. They played in the smallest town in America to have a professional baseball team; and
  2. They were the only professional baseball team to be operated without a business manager. During their entire existence, they were run by a board of directors centered around the stockholders.

The team colors were blue and white.

Contents

Affiliations

The Broncos were affiliated with the following major league teams:

Year Affiliation
1953 St. Louis Browns
1954; 1972 Baltimore Orioles
1957 Philadelphia Phillies
1960-66 Kansas City Athletics
1967-70 St. Louis Cardinals
1973-74 Oakland Athletics

Players

A roster check in 1967 showed that 40% of the players and coaches of the Kansas City Athletics had been in Lewiston at one time or another. Reggie Jackson was perhaps the most famous Lewiston Bronc of all-time; Mr. October played 12 games at age 20 for Lewiston in 1966.[1] The Broncs' rosters included Rick Monday,[2] manager John McNamara, Vearl ("Snag") Moore, Thorton ("Kip") Kipper, Antonio Perez, Ron Koepper, Delmer Owen, Dick Green, Bud Swan, Bert Campaneris, John Israel, Dave Duncan, Al Heist and as a player, later coach-manager Robert ("Gabby") Williams.

Termination

The Broncos and their parent company were dissolved in January 1975,[3][4] after years of financial losses due to poor win-loss records. Micromanagement interference from then A's owner, Charlie O. Finley, at all levels of the A's organization was the cause. The result for the Broncos was lost games due to the best players being quickly moved to other minor league franchises especially in Single-A Modesto, CA, or Double-A Brimingham, AL.

The A's maintained a presence in the Northwest League in 1975 with a new franchise in southwestern Idaho as the Boise A's, managed by former Bronc, Tom Trebelhorn.[5] After two seasons in Boise, the team moved to Medicine Hat in eastern Alberta in 1977 and joined the Pioneer League.[6] The Medicine Hat A's switched affiliations after one season to become the Medicine Hat Blue Jays in 1978. There was no A's affiliate in the NWL in 1977; in 1978 it was the Bend Timber Hawks, in 1979 the Medford A's.

References

  1. ^ baseball-reference.com - Reggie Jackson - minor league statistics - accessed 2011-10-16
  2. ^ Lewiston Morning Tribune – Rick Monday, Jackson end holdouts, sign contracts - 1969-03-07 - p.23
  3. ^ Lewiston Morning Tribune - Directors’ vote kills Bronc baseball – 1975-01-10 - p.B1
  4. ^ Lewiston Morning Tribune - Broncs’ demise no sudden thing – 1975-01-11 - p.B1
  5. ^ Lewiston Morning Tribune - Pro ball returns to Boise after absence of 11 years – 1975-06-18 - p.B1
  6. ^ Spokane Daily Chronicle – Teams added for Pioneer – 1976-10-14 - p.34

External links