President's 2024 Opening Day Welcome Letter

Fans,

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the historic 85^th Anniversary Season of the Pioneer Baseball League, a proud MLB Partner League.  Since 1939, the PBL has been providing fans throughout the Mountain West region with the best in affordable family entertainment and thrilling minor league baseball during their Big Sky summers.

And now, in this milestone 85^th season, the PBL is pleased to include teams from Oakland (the "Oakland Ballers") and Davis (the "Yolo High Wheelers"), California as our first step toward creating a new division on the Pacific Coast to further our vision for providing more fans with greater access to our wonderful brand of community-based baseball.

This year you'll see some interesting new rules as we continue our drive toward innovative enhancements to the game.  Most interesting will be the new "Strike Zone Challenge" that gives each team 3 opportunities a game to challenge the plate umpire's ball or strike call.  Players can challenge up to 6 times a game but lose the right to challenge after 3 calls are confirmed by the computers up in the press box.  We think this will not only provide some fun strategy to the game but will also help resolve the number of disputes with the umpires.  

Celebrating our 85^th year gives us the opportunity to look back over all the great players and managers to come through the Pioneer league, as well as the many historic moments, that have contributed to the league's rich history and success. Players such as Frank Robinson (Ogden Reds), George Brett (Billings Mustangs), Pedro Martinez (Great Falls Dodgers), Paul Goldschmidt (Missoula Osprey), Jazz Chisholm (Missoula Osprey) and so many other great players. And who can forget Tommy Lasorda (Ogden Dodgers) and all the outstanding managers and coaches who've helped promote this league into the premier player development league in all of baseball.

So, we welcome you, our cherished fans, to join us in commemorating this remarkable 85-year old testament to our American culture and to share with us the next exciting chapter of the PBL's history. 

We can't wait to see what the future of baseball and family entertainment in the Pioneer League will bring.

Michael Shapiro

President