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2011 Las Cruces Vaqueros Season Recap - A Talented Team Undone by Grandstand Problems, Poor Attendance and a Disappointing Finish
The 2011 Las Cruces Vaqueros should have been one of the flagship teams of the new Pecos League. Las Cruces was the largest city in the league. The Vaqueros were not a brand-new organization. They had already played professional baseball in 2010 as members of the Continental Baseball League. They entered 2011 with experienced ownership, a local coaching staff, a recognizable identity and a roster talented enough to spend part of the season in first place.
Instead, the second season of Vaqueros baseball became one of the most disappointing and underperforming seasons in the early history of the Pecos League. The final record was 35-32. That was technically a winning season, but almost nothing about 2011 felt like a winning season in Las Cruces.
The Vaqueros had the talent to contend for the inaugural Pecos League Championship. They started quickly, swept Alpine at Kokernot Field, built an early lead in the standings and possessed what the Pecos League later described as the best offense in the league. They still missed the playoffs.
Worse, the problems surrounding the team had very little to do with the quality of baseball available in Las Cruces. The City of Las Cruces determined that the old grandstand at Apodoca Park was no longer structurally safe for spectators. The historic racetrack-style structure could not be used as the primary seating area, forcing the city and team to improvise with limited seating down the lines while plans were developed for a permanent replacement.
For a professional baseball team attempting to build momentum in only its second season, the timing could hardly have been worse. The construction situation effectively destroyed much of the Vaqueros' opportunity to build attendance in 2011. Fans arriving at Apodoca Park were not walking into a normal professional baseball environment. The familiar grandstand was unavailable, seating was limited and the ballpark looked like a facility caught between what it had been and what the city hoped it would eventually become.
Attendance collapsed. At one point the Vaqueros were averaging approximately 135 fans per game, despite playing in a city with roughly twice the population of most other Pecos League markets. Alamogordo and Roswell were dramatically outdrawing Las Cruces.
The lack of attendance eventually affected the team financially. Player salaries were reduced. Sponsorship problems left the club without the revenue it had expected. Organizational confusion carried over from the difficult 2010 Continental League season.
The irony was painful. Las Cruces had one of the most talented teams in the league. It simply could not turn that talent into the successful professional baseball operation everyone expected.
From the Continental League to the Pecos League
The story of the 2011 Vaqueros really began with the collapse of the Continental Baseball League. The Vaqueros were Andrew Dunn's team in the Continental League in 2010. That league deserves credit for finally bringing professional baseball to Las Cruces, but by the end of the season its structure had become increasingly unstable.
Las Cruces and Alpine were essentially the two functioning home-market teams. The league also relied heavily on travel operations, including the Coastal Kingfish and Desert Valley Mountain Lions. For Las Cruces and Alpine, it became increasingly obvious that they were effectively operating in a two-team home-market league surrounded by unstable scheduling arrangements.
Then Continental League president Ron Baron resigned. Andrew Dunn and Bob Ward had to decide what came next. The answer was the Pecos League.
Rather than abandon independent professional baseball in New Mexico and West Texas, Dunn and Ward moved forward with a new league built around markets that could actually host teams. Las Cruces and Alpine became the bridge between the Continental League and the Pecos League.
The old travel teams were gone. The Desert Valley Mountain Lions were gone. The Coastal Kingfish were gone. In their place were new regional rivals including the White Sands Pupfish in Alamogordo, the Roswell Invaders and the Ruidoso Osos.
The geography made far more sense. The league could be built around New Mexico and West Texas. Travel costs could be controlled. Teams could develop genuine rivalries. For Las Cruces, it should have represented a fresh start.
A Completely Different Vaqueros Team
Almost everything about the Vaqueros changed between 2010 and 2011. Gone were the powder blue pants. The Vaqueros would wear white pants exclusively. Gone was the Continental Baseball League. Las Cruces was now part of the New Mexico-based Pecos League.
Gone were most of the players who had finished the 2010 season in Las Cruces. That was partly the result of success. Many of the Vaqueros' better players had been picked up by higher-level independent leagues during the course of the 2010 season.
Only Brandon Kelly, Mitch Saum and Steve Detweiler were expected back in camp from the previous year's roster. The new coaching staff did not want to enter 2011 saddled with old commitments simply because players had been part of the 2010 club. The intention was to build the strongest team possible for the new league.
The result was essentially a new Vaqueros roster wearing the same name.
Miguel Gomez Takes Over the Vaqueros
Las Cruces also changed its coaching structure. Miguel Gomez became the central figure in the 2011 field operation. Jeff Banegas and Effrain Lada joined him on the Vaqueros coaching staff.
Gone were Bobby Brown and Sean Kramer. Brown returned to Alaska, while Kramer moved on to become the pitching coach for the San Angelo Colts.
Gomez represented something particularly important for Las Cruces: a local connection. The Vaqueros believed the team needed people who understood the city, its baseball community and the relationships necessary to make professional baseball work locally.
That same philosophy extended beyond the dugout.
Gone Was the El Paso-Based Front Office
One of the largest complaints surrounding the 2010 Vaqueros involved the way the organization had been operated away from Las Cruces. The team's general management operation had largely been based in El Paso. That arrangement generated complaints from fans, local businesses and community leaders who believed a Las Cruces professional baseball team needed to actually operate as a Las Cruces organization.
The Vaqueros listened. For 2011, the team planned a locally based operation led by people including Claudia Castillo, Jeff Banegas and Alyssa Gintant. The objective was to create an organization that was more responsive and accessible to Las Cruces businesses and fans than the previous Continental League operation had been.
There was significant damage to repair. The previous season had produced frustration among sponsors, and many 2010 businesses did not return. The Pecos League's later season review recalled that local businesses had complained strongly about having an El Paso-based staff operating the Las Cruces team.
The 2011 organization therefore entered the season trying to rebuild two things at once. It had to build a baseball team, and it had to rebuild trust with the market. Then the grandstand problem made everything much harder.
Apodoca Park Suddenly Has No Usable Grandstand
The most damaging development had nothing to do with the players. The familiar grandstand at Apodoca Park was determined to be structurally unsound.
The old racetrack-style structure had been part of the identity of the ballpark, but structural concerns meant spectators could no longer simply sit in the traditional grandstand behind home plate. The City of Las Cruces had to react quickly. Temporary and limited seating was arranged along the first-base and third-base sides while the future of the main structure was addressed.
The Vaqueros suddenly had a professional baseball team without a normal professional baseball seating configuration. That changed the entire experience.
A new league needs fans to walk into the stadium and immediately feel that something exciting is happening. Instead, fans in Las Cruces were greeted by a facility undergoing a major transition.
The Vaqueros weren't even certain until late in the spring that they would be able to operate normally at Apodoca Park. By the time the season arrived, the city had done enough to allow baseball to continue, but the damage to the team's attendance potential had already been done.
The grandstand situation became the defining off-field problem of the season.
The Construction Ruined the Attendance Opportunity
Las Cruces should have been the Pecos League's attendance leader. It was the largest market in the league. The Vaqueros were entering their second season rather than introducing professional baseball for the first time. They had already established a name and logo. They had local players and coaches. They had a winning-caliber roster.
Instead, attendance became one of the league's biggest disappointments. The Pecos League reported during the season that Las Cruces was averaging approximately 135 fans per game. That was especially alarming because smaller markets such as Alamogordo and Roswell were drawing substantially better crowds.
The limited grandstand seating was a major part of the problem. There simply wasn't a normal place for a substantial crowd to sit. Even when the baseball was good, the ballpark environment did not allow the Vaqueros to capitalize on it.
The team eventually had a home date with only 89 fans in attendance. For an organization playing in the largest city in the Pecos League, that number was impossible to ignore.
The Vaqueros had expected Las Cruces to become one of the league's strongest markets. Instead, the crowds became one of the smallest.
The Financial Problems Followed
Poor attendance quickly became more than an embarrassment. Independent baseball teams depend heavily on ticket revenue, sponsorships and game-day income. There is no major television contract waiting to cover a bad summer. If fans don't come through the gate, the financial effects are immediate.
Las Cruces experienced exactly that problem. The team had also entered the year with lingering sponsorship damage from 2010. Many businesses had not renewed. Some sponsorship commitments that did exist created collection problems.
As revenue fell below expectations, something had to be cut. Player salaries were affected. That produced another layer of frustration inside an organization that already had enough problems.
The Vaqueros had talented players, but the financial operation surrounding them was struggling to support the team they had built.
Then the Baseball Team Started Winning
For all of the off-field problems, the most frustrating part of 2011 was that Las Cruces could actually play. The Vaqueros started the regular season quickly.
On May 20, Josh Spicer threw a complete game as Las Cruces defeated Carlsbad 3-1 at Apodoca Park. The victory moved the Vaqueros to 6-1. The early record continued improving.
Las Cruces went into Alpine and swept the Cowboys at Kokernot Field. By June 6, the Vaqueros were 14-4 after defeating Alpine 4-2. By June 7, Las Cruces had built a three-game lead in the standings.
At that point, the Vaqueros appeared to be exactly what everyone expected them to be: one of the best teams in the Pecos League.
The problem was that the early record was somewhat deceptive. Eight of the team's early victories had come against the Carlsbad Bats, who would eventually finish with one of the worst records in the league.
Las Cruces had taken care of the opponent it was supposed to beat. The real test would come against the league's stronger clubs.
Eight Straight Games Against Ruidoso
One of the strangest stretches of the season came when Las Cruces played the Ruidoso Osos eight consecutive times. The results perfectly summarized the inconsistency that would eventually define the Vaqueros.
Las Cruces swept four games from Ruidoso at Apodoca Park. Then the teams went to Ruidoso, and the Osos swept all four games there.
Four wins. Four losses. Same two teams. Completely different results depending on the ballpark.
The Vaqueros were still in contention, but the dominance of the early season had begun to disappear. Then the wheels started coming off.
White Sands Turns the Season
The White Sands Pupfish delivered one of the most damaging blows to Las Cruces' season. White Sands swept three games from the Vaqueros, including a wild 19-18 game that represented everything unpredictable about early Pecos League baseball.
Las Cruces could score. The Vaqueros could hit. They could put enormous numbers on the scoreboard. But they could not consistently close games.
After losing the White Sands series, Las Cruces returned home and somehow lost two consecutive games to Carlsbad. That was disastrous. The Bats were the weakest club in the league. A team trying to win a championship simply could not afford to give away home games against Carlsbad.
Then Alpine came to Las Cruces and swept the Vaqueros. The team that had once appeared to be in control of the league was suddenly fighting just to remain in the postseason race.
The Best Offense in the League
What made the collapse particularly difficult to understand was the amount of offensive talent on the roster.
Clint Stroud had one of the best offensive seasons in the Pecos League. He played 49 games, collected 69 hits, scored 46 runs, hit 11 doubles and 14 home runs and drove in 52. He finished with a .359 batting average.
Harry Williams Jr. was another major weapon. Williams collected 79 hits in 57 games, hit .366 and drove in 53 runs.
Steve Detweiler hit .327 with 50 hits, 12 doubles, four home runs and 41 RBIs in only 41 games before receiving an opportunity to move up. Henry Fuentes supplied tremendous power, hitting 12 home runs, scoring 52 runs and driving in 40.
Juan F. Martinez hit .347 and stole 19 bases. Rob Herrmann hit .366 with 70 hits. Bo Bell added six home runs and another dangerous bat.
This was not a team that lacked offensive ability. The official Pecos League season review went so far as to describe Las Cruces as having the best offense in the league.
Clint Stroud Becomes the Vaqueros' Offensive Star
If one player best represented what Las Cruces could have been in 2011, it was Clint Stroud. Stroud's 14 home runs placed him among the league's most dangerous power hitters. He combined that power with a .359 batting average and 52 RBIs.
He was exactly the type of player a championship contender needed in the middle of its lineup. The Vaqueros had several hitters capable of carrying the offense on any given night.
The issue was never whether Las Cruces could score enough runs to compete. The issue was whether the entire operation could remain stable enough for that offense to carry the team through August.
Steve Detweiler Moves Up
Steve Detweiler also represented one of the positive aspects of the Vaqueros season. He had been one of the few players returning from the 2010 club and immediately became one of Las Cruces' best hitters.
Detweiler hit .327 while producing 50 hits in 41 games. His 12 doubles and 41 RBIs made him another key piece of the offense. His performance eventually earned him an opportunity in the Can-Am League.
From a player-development standpoint, that was exactly what the Vaqueros and Pecos League wanted. A player performed well in Las Cruces. A higher league noticed. He moved up.
For the Vaqueros trying to win the inaugural Pecos League Championship, however, every successful player who left created another hole to fill. That became another major problem as the season progressed.
The Vaqueros Kept Losing Their Best Players
Las Cruces entered the Pecos League as one of the destinations players wanted to join. The city was larger than the other markets. Apodoca Park had one of the best playing surfaces in the league. The Vaqueros already had a year of independent baseball history.
But good players at this level are always trying to move up. Las Cruces repeatedly lost players to the United League, North American League and other higher independent organizations.
Sean Keeler became one of the most unusual examples. Keeler moved between leagues repeatedly but still managed to throw 32.2 innings for Las Cruces. During those innings he went 3-0 with a 1.93 ERA and struck out 37 hitters.
Josh Walker also provided excellent pitching in a smaller sample, going 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA over 19 innings. Mike Duckworth became an effective bullpen arm.
There was pitching talent. The problem was keeping enough of it together when the games mattered most. By late summer, the constant movement had reduced the depth of a roster that had looked overwhelming earlier in the season.
A Talented Team Without Enough Stability
That became the central contradiction of the 2011 Vaqueros. Las Cruces had excellent hitting. It had quality pitching. It had good defensive players. It had a local coaching staff.
Yet the organization surrounding the players never developed the stability necessary to maximize that talent. The grandstand problem hurt attendance. Poor attendance hurt revenue. Revenue problems affected salaries. Players were unhappy. Top performers moved to other leagues.
The front office was still being rebuilt after the problems of 2010. Responsibilities within the organization were not always clearly defined. And eventually those problems began showing themselves on the field.
The Vaqueros Developed a Discipline Problem
The frustration also appeared in the team's behavior. The 2011 Vaqueros became involved in several confrontations during the season. Players repeatedly came out of the dugout during disputes, and the team struggled at times to maintain control when emotions escalated.
One of the strangest incidents involved members of the Las Cruces game-day operation and Ruidoso manager Kevin Griffin.
It was another sign that the Vaqueros were no longer simply dealing with baseball problems. An organization that had entered the season expecting to contend was increasingly fighting itself.
The Attendance Was Impossible to Ignore
By the middle of the season, the Pecos League publicly identified Las Cruces as its biggest disappointment. That description wasn't primarily because the team was bad. The team wasn't bad.
The disappointment was that Las Cruces should have been doing much better both on and off the field. The Vaqueros had an excellent roster and played in the largest city in the league, yet crowds were averaging only around 135.
The grandstand situation clearly frightened away some fans, but by the middle of the season it was obvious that facility construction alone could not explain everything. Las Cruces simply had not connected with the community the way Alamogordo and Roswell had during the inaugural Pecos League season.
That was especially painful because the Vaqueros had already been in town for a year. The novelty of professional baseball had worn off. Now the organization had to prove it deserved continued support.
The Playoff Race Comes Down to Alpine
Despite everything that had gone wrong, Las Cruces remained alive late in the season. That speaks to how talented the roster actually was.
The Vaqueros entered a critical four-game series against Alpine needing to make up ground. Alpine held approximately a game-and-a-half advantage entering the final stages of the race.
Las Cruces needed the series. Instead, the teams split. That left the Vaqueros needing help and needing to essentially sweep Roswell at the end of the schedule.
For a moment, that impossible scenario started to become possible. Roswell was preparing for the playoffs and rested much of its primary pitching staff. Las Cruces won the first game, then another, then another.
Suddenly the final game mattered.
Roswell Ends the Vaqueros Season
For the deciding game, Roswell put its regular players back into action. The difference was immediate. The Invaders defeated Las Cruces 12-1.
Just like that, the Vaqueros season was over. Alpine advanced to the postseason. Las Cruces went home.
For a team that had spent part of June in first place, possessed the league's most dangerous offense and had entered the season expecting to be one of the Pecos League's premier organizations, missing the playoffs was an enormous disappointment.
The Vaqueros became the only salaried Pecos League team that failed to qualify for the postseason. The final historical record was 35-32.
A winning record. And an underachieving season.
35-32 Doesn't Explain the Disappointment
Years later, someone looking only at the standings might wonder why the 2011 Vaqueros were remembered so negatively. Thirty-five wins and 32 losses is not a terrible record.
But expectations matter. Las Cruces had been 14-4. It had swept Alpine at Kokernot Field. It had built a three-game lead. It had the best offense in the league. It had players who would advance to higher levels of independent baseball. It had enough talent to beat anyone.
And it still missed the playoffs.
That is why 35-32 felt so disappointing. This wasn't a rebuilding club squeezing out 35 victories. It was a potential championship team that never became what it should have been.
Apodoca Park Was Being Rebuilt Around Them
The 2011 season should also be remembered with some sympathy for what the Vaqueros were trying to overcome. The stadium problem was enormous.
The City of Las Cruces had determined that the old grandstand could no longer safely serve spectators. The city had to remove the old structure and develop plans for a replacement.
That type of project might ultimately improve a professional baseball operation. During construction, however, it can destroy one.
The Vaqueros were attempting to sell professional baseball while their primary seating structure was unavailable. There was no normal grandstand atmosphere. There was limited capacity. There was uncertainty about the facility before the season. There was construction hanging over everything.
By the following offseason, the City of Las Cruces was moving forward with a major replacement grandstand project that would dramatically increase usable seating and give Apodoca Park a more permanent configuration.
But that did not help the 2011 Vaqueros. Their opportunity to establish attendance momentum had already been lost.
Miguel Gomez and the Local Staff Faced an Impossible Situation
Miguel Gomez and his staff had been brought in partly because Las Cruces wanted local leadership. They were expected to reconnect the Vaqueros with the community after the problems of the El Paso-based Continental League operation.
But the coaching staff could not rebuild a grandstand. It could not force sponsors damaged by the previous year's experience to return. It could not create seating that didn't exist. It could not prevent better leagues from signing productive players.
And it could not fix every organizational problem while also trying to win baseball games.
The Pecos League's later assessment gave Gomez and his staff credit for doing what they could with extremely limited resources. The result was not what anyone wanted. But the problems were much bigger than the manager.
There Were Still Success Stories
For all of the negativity surrounding the season, the Vaqueros still accomplished one of the primary missions of independent baseball. Players moved up.
Steve Detweiler earned an opportunity in the Can-Am League. Sean Keeler moved between multiple higher independent leagues. Several other players received opportunities outside the Pecos League.
Clint Stroud produced one of the best offensive seasons in the league. Harry Williams Jr., Henry Fuentes, Rob Herrmann and Juan Martinez gave Las Cruces one of the deepest lineups in the inaugural Pecos League.
The baseball talent was real. That may be what makes the season so frustrating.
A More Stable League Survives the Chaos
One major positive was easy to overlook amid everything else. The Vaqueros completed the season.
That had not been guaranteed in the Continental League environment. The previous league had become unstable enough that Las Cruces and Alpine were effectively trying to operate while the structure around them was falling apart.
The Pecos League provided something different. Roswell had a team. Alamogordo had a team. Ruidoso had a team. Alpine remained. Las Cruces remained.
There was a real regional schedule and a championship at the end of it. The Vaqueros' problems were serious, but they were no longer problems caused by the league itself disappearing underneath them.
That gave Las Cruces something to build on.
Miguel Salcedo Gives the Operation New Direction
One of the most important developments late in the season was Miguel Salcedo assuming greater responsibility for the team's operation. The original Pecos League season review later described that move as one of the best decisions Las Cruces made during the year.
The Vaqueros needed organization. They needed someone clearly responsible for the operation. They needed an offseason rather than another emergency.
And after surviving 2011, they finally had one.
The City Commits to Apodoca Park
The grandstand crisis also demonstrated that the City of Las Cruces was willing to invest in the facility. The old structure could not simply remain in place.
Plans moved forward for new seating and a rebuilt grandstand configuration. The next version of Apodoca Park was intended to provide substantially greater usable capacity and eliminate the uncertainty that had damaged the 2011 season.
That investment mattered. It demonstrated that professional baseball still had an opportunity in Las Cruces despite everything that had gone wrong.
The Vaqueros planned to return. And 2012 would effectively become a referendum on whether the organization could finally operate the way everyone had envisioned.
The Powder Blue Era Ends
The transformation would extend to the Vaqueros' visual identity. The powder blue associated with the earlier team was being phased out. Royal blue would become the dominant direction.
A new manager would eventually arrive. The front office would continue being rebuilt. The grandstands would be rebuilt. And the roster would again change dramatically.
After two chaotic seasons, almost nothing about the Las Cruces Vaqueros could be taken for granted.
2011 Las Cruces Vaqueros - By the Numbers
Manager: Miguel Gomez Coaching Staff: Miguel Gomez, Jeff Banegas, Effrain Lada Home: Apodoca Park - Las Cruces, New Mexico Official Pecos League Record: 35-32 Playoffs: Did Not Qualify Early Season Record: 14-4 after sweeping Alpine at Kokernot Field Attendance: Approximately 135 per game during the early portion of the season Major Facility Problem: Original Apodoca Park grandstand ruled structurally unsafe League: First season in the Pecos League after playing in the Continental Baseball League in 2010
Clint Stroud: .359 AVG, 69 H, 46 R, 11 2B, 14 HR, 52 RBI Harry Williams Jr.: .366 AVG, 79 H, 54 R, 14 2B, 4 HR, 53 RBI Steve Detweiler: .327 AVG, 50 H, 12 2B, 4 HR, 41 RBI Henry Fuentes: 59 H, 52 R, 10 2B, 12 HR, 40 RBI Juan F. Martinez: .347 AVG, 68 H, 46 R, 19 SB Rob Herrmann: .366 AVG, 70 H
Sean Keeler: 3-0, 1.93 ERA, 32.2 IP, 37 SO Josh Walker: 2-0, 1.42 ERA, 19 IP, 22 SO Mike Duckworth: 2.18 ERA in 24.2 relief innings
The Biggest Disappointment in the League
That was the phrase the Pecos League used during the season, and it remains a fair description. Not because the Vaqueros were terrible. They weren't.
A terrible team doesn't finish 35-32. A terrible team doesn't start 14-4. A terrible team doesn't sweep Alpine at Kokernot Field. A terrible team doesn't have Clint Stroud hitting 14 home runs, Harry Williams hitting .366 and Steve Detweiler earning an opportunity in a higher league.
The disappointment came from what Las Cruces could have been. The Vaqueros should have been one of the strongest teams in the Pecos League. They should have had one of the league's largest crowds. They should have been a playoff team.
They had the population. They had the players. They had the market. They had a city willing to invest in the ballpark.
But almost everything surrounding the team went wrong at the same time. The old grandstand was declared unsafe. Construction and limited seating ruined the attendance opportunity. Problems left behind by the Continental League operation damaged sponsorship relationships.
The new local staff inherited an organization that needed to be rebuilt while the season was already approaching. Player salaries had to be reduced when attendance collapsed. Some of the team's best players moved to higher leagues. The roster lost depth. The team lost discipline. And the early first-place club eventually lost its playoff spot.
The Legacy of the 2011 Las Cruces Vaqueros
The 2011 Las Cruces Vaqueros are one of the clearest examples in Pecos League history of why a professional baseball team is much more than the players standing on the field.
Las Cruces had enough baseball talent to win. What it didn't have was a stable environment around that talent.
The ballpark was undergoing a crisis. The business operation was being rebuilt. The fan base had been damaged by the final year of the Continental League. The coaching staff was trying to reconnect the team with the community. Players were moving in and out. Money became tight.
Eventually all of those problems caught up with the baseball team.
The final record was 35-32. That record looks respectable today. In 2011, it felt like failure.
Las Cruces had been in first place. The Vaqueros had the league's best offense. They had one of the most talented rosters in the inaugural Pecos League. And when the playoffs began, Las Cruces wasn't there.
But the season also proved something important. The Vaqueros had survived the collapse of the Continental League. Andrew Dunn and Bob Ward had moved forward with the Pecos League rather than allowing professional baseball in Las Cruces and Alpine to disappear with the old league.
The City of Las Cruces had committed to rebuilding Apodoca Park. The team had begun replacing its El Paso-centered operation with a local Las Cruces staff. There would be another season.
And that mattered.
The 2011 Vaqueros did not become the championship team they should have been. They became something messier: a talented team, an unstable organization, a ballpark under reconstruction, a disappearing audience, a first-place start and a late collapse.
Ultimately, it became one of the most disappointing winning seasons the Pecos League has ever had.
The 2011 Las Cruces Vaqueros finished 35-32.
They were good enough to win.
They simply never became the team - or the organization - they were supposed to be.
