Surprise Fightin' Falcons
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| Surprise Fightin' Falcons Founded in 2005 Disbanded in 2005 Surprise, Arizona |
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| Owner(s)/Operated By: Golden Baseball League | |||
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| Manager: Ozzie Virgil, Jr. | |||
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| Website: www.goldenbaseball.com/surprise | |||
The Surprise Fightin' Falcons are an inactive professional baseball team based in Surprise, Arizona. They played in the Arizona Division of the independent Golden Baseball League, which is not affiliated with either Major League Baseball or Minor League Baseball. They played their homes games at the Surprise Recreation Campus athletic facility, which includes a spring training ballpark called Surprise Stadium.
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[edit] History
The Fightin' Falcons started as one of eight charter teams in the GBL along with the Chico Outlaws, Fullerton Flyers, Long Beach Armada and San Diego Surf Dawgs in California, the Mesa Miners and Yuma Scorpions in Arizona and a traveling team, the Japan Samurai Bears that began play in May 2005. The league owns the naming rights to the team as well as the other seven original teams. In their only season, they finished 3rd in the Arizona Division with a 45-45 record. The team included the league's first ever MVP, Desi Wilson, who during the year had a league record 30-game hitting streak. Outfielder Billy Brown hit a team high 14 home runs and won a gold glove. The team was managed by Ozzie Virgil, Jr. and their mascot was Luke the Falcon.
The team, which played for one season, was based in the Arizona Division. Following the league suspending operations and relocation of the Miners in November 2005, the Fightin' Falcons were also dropped from the league partially to achieve a balance of six clubs instead of seven and because of no other teams being based in central Arizona.
[edit] Accusations of attendance inflating?
The Fightin' Falcons and the GBL were accused by some of allegedly inflating attendance numbers at their home games at Surprise Recreation Campus field, given the fact that the Mesa Miners had the worst attendance in the league at 2005. The decision by the league to disband the team and to relocate the Miners to Reno had nothing to do with the controversy, which was dismissed as nonsense since it couldn't be proven. Those same accusations of alleged attendance inflation are being made today regarding the Long Beach Armada, an active team. That, too, has yet to be proven and is dismissed as nonsense by the league, who still owns the rights to both teams.
[edit] Rebirth?
The GBL has stated publicly that they would reconsider the Arizona market (Surprise and Mesa) if the league, the city of Mesa and the concessionaire at HoHoKam Park in Mesa could reach agreement on a revenue sharing agreement for concessions sales at Miners games. The Miners were the only team in the league not to receive any funds from concessions sales at their games.
Should the Fightin' Falcons return to the league (which owns the rights to the team), they could be brought back as either an expansion or relocated team and there could be a push to have the team play at Surprise Stadium, the spring training home of the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers and home of the Arizona Fall League's Surprise Rafters. That stadium is on the grounds of the Recreation Campus. But nothing is definitive. If not, the team name could be placed with an expansion team elsewhere.
The team cap logo and colors is being used by the Sonora Pilots of the Arizona Winter League, the GBL's instructional league. [1] [2] The GBL owns the rights to the name, logos, uniforms and history of the Falcons.
[edit] Team Record
| Season | W | L | Win % | Place | Playoff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 45 | 45 | .500 | 3rd, Arizona Division | Did not qualify. |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ It's official: Baseball here in January (The Yuma Sun, November 15, 2006)
- ^ More From Yuma... SONORA PILOTS BEAT THE HEAT 12-6 IN AFTERNOON DESERT CONTEST (Caroline, Sam, Junior & Smokey, February 14, 2008)
[edit] External links
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