Palm Springs Angels
Encyclopedia
The Palm Springs Angels were a minor league baseball
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...

 team of the Class A California League
California League
The California League is a Class A Advanced minor league baseball league which operates throughout the state of California. Before 2002, it was classified as a "High-A" league, indicating its status as a Class A league with the highest level of competition within that classification, and the fifth...

 from 1986 to 1993 and an affiliate of the California Angels
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California, United States. The Angels are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The "Angels" name originates from the city in which the team started, Los Angeles...

. They relocated to Lake Elsinore, California
Lake Elsinore, California
For the lake see Lake Elsinore.Lake Elsinore or LE is a city in western Riverside County, California. The population was 51,821 at the 2010 census...

 after the 1993 season and became the Lake Elsinore Storm
Lake Elsinore Storm
The Lake Elsinore Storm is a minor league baseball team in Lake Elsinore, California, USA. It is a Class A - Advanced team in the California League, and is a farm team of the San Diego Padres. The Storm plays its home games at Lake Elsinore Diamond...

.

The team was brought to this desert city in 1986 (formerly the Redwood Pioneers
Redwood Pioneers
The Redwood Pioneers were a minor league baseball of California League. They were part of the California Angels farm system. The Pioneers played in Rohnert Park, California during the early 1980s . The team produced players such as Kirk McCaskill, Mark McLemore and Devon White to name a few...

), where the major league team under country music legend and team owner Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...

 had the Angels use Palm Springs
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...

 as a spring training camp in Palm Springs Stadium
Palm Springs Stadium
Palm Springs Stadium is a stadium in Palm Springs, California. It is primarily used for baseball. It was formerly named Angels Stadium and was the home field of the Palm Springs Suns of the Western Baseball League in 1995 and 1996. Palm Springs Stadium is currently the home of the Palm Springs...

, built in 1950 was renovated in the late 1990s for other minor league teams.

Although average game attendance was below average of the league in the late 1980s, the P.S. Angels picked up on fans in the early 1990s, when stadium attendance records surpassed the 100,000 mark in 1992 and again in 1993.

The last team owner, Ken Stickney in The Desert Sun
The Desert Sun
The Desert Sun is a local daily newspaper serving Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley of Southern California.It is owned by Gannett publications since 1988 and acquired the Indio Daily News in 1990 to become the sole local newspaper....

 interview stated the P.S. Angels' move was due to a lack of city council support to approve a new minor league ballpark, after the California Angels gone to a new spring training facility in Tempe, Arizona
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2010 population of 161,719. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale...

.

Today, Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley
Coachella Valley
Coachella Valley is a large valley landform in Southern California. The valley extends for approximately 45 miles in Riverside County southeast from the San Bernardino Mountains to the saltwater Salton Sea, the largest lake in California...

 has more population. Local baseball fans have a four-team California Winter League
California Winter League (2010)
The California Winter League is a developmental instructional league based out of Palm Springs, California that is a showcase tryout opportunity for players hoping to get noticed by professional teams. It was founded on September 10, 2009, by Andrew Starke, owner of the Palm Springs Chill and the...

 to play all their games in Palm Springs Stadium , as well the collegiate-level team Palm Springs Power
Palm Springs Power
The Palm Springs POWER is a collegiate-level baseball team based in Palm Springs, California and are members of the Southern California Collegiate Baseball Association. They play their home games at Palm Springs Stadium, also the home of the California Winter League...

 (2004-) fared better in fans, media and renevue than the minor league Angels.

The Palm Springs area was granted a team, the Palm Springs Chill
Palm Springs Chill
The Palm Springs Chill are an independent baseball team based in Palm Springs, California. They are co-owned by the Palm Springs Power and play their home games at Palm Springs Stadium...

 of the Arizona Winter League
Arizona Winter League
The Arizona Winter League is the short-season instructional independent winter professional baseball league affiliated with the independent North American League...

 for the 2007-08 season. There could be a Golden Baseball League
Golden Baseball League
The Golden Baseball League, based in San Ramon, California, was an independent baseball league. It later merged with the Northern League and the United Baseball League to form the North American League in the western United States, western Canada and Mexico....

 in Palm Springs in the future.

Former Palm Spring Angels players include Pete Rose Jr.
Pete Rose Jr.
Peter Edward "PJ" Rose Jr. is a former professional baseball player. The son of Major League Baseball's all-time hits leader Pete Rose, Pete Jr. has played in the minor leagues most of his career except for a brief stint in for the Cincinnati Reds. He was released Sept...

, J.T. Snow, Tim Salmon
Tim Salmon
Timothy James Salmon is a former Major League Baseball right fielder and designated hitter who played his entire career with the California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels...

, Garrett Anderson and Jim Edmonds
Jim Edmonds
James Patrick "Jim" Edmonds is a former American Major League Baseball center fielder. He played for the California/Anaheim Angels, the St. Louis Cardinals, the San Diego Padres, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Chicago Cubs, and the Cincinnati Reds...

.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK