Lewiston Broncs
The Lewis-Clark Broncs were a minor league baseball team based in Lewiston, Idaho, and played from 1952 through 1974.
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 Broncs had two distinctions:
- They played in the smallest town in America to have a professional baseball team; and
- 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.
Affiliations
The Broncs were affiliated with four major league franchises:
| Year | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| 1952 | Independent |
| 1953 | St. Louis Browns |
| 1954 | Baltimore Orioles |
| 1955–56 | Independent |
| 1957 | Philadelphia Phillies |
| 1958–59 | Independent |
| 1960–66 | Kansas City Athletics |
| 1967–70 | St. Louis Cardinals |
| 1971 | Independent |
| 1972 | Baltimore Orioles |
| 1973–74 | Oakland Athletics |
- The St. Louis Browns became the Baltimore Orioles in 1954.
- The Kansas City Athletics moved to Oakland in 1968.
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 Broncs 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 Broncs was lost games due to the best players being quickly moved up to other minor league franchises in Single-A (Burlington Bees) and Double-A (Birmingham A's).
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
- ↑ "Reggie Jackson - minor league statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
- ↑ "Rick Monday, Jackson end holdouts, sign contracts". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Associated Press. March 7, 1969. p. 23.
- ↑ Barrows, Bob (January 10, 1975). "Directors’ vote kills Bronc baseball". Lewiston Morning Tribune. p. B1.
- ↑ Barrows, Bob (January 11, 1975). "Broncs’ demise no sudden thing". Lewiston Morning Tribune. p. B1.
- ↑ "Pro ball returns to Boise after absence of 11 years". Lewiston Morning Tribune. June 18, 1975. p. B1.
- ↑ "Teams added for Pioneer". Spokane Daily Chronicle. Associated Press. October 14, 1976. p. 34.
External links
- Baseball-Reference.com - minor league teams - Lewiston, Idaho
- Nat Notes – Northwest League
- Northwest League of Professional Baseball 2012 Media Guide
- (Information on page 28 supports the fact that the franchise's official nickname was Broncs, not Broncos).