The Long Beach Armada were an independent professional baseball team based in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, in the United States. The Armada was a member of the North Division of the now-defunct

Golden Baseball League The Golden Baseball League was an independent baseball league based in San Ramon, California, with teams located in the western United States, western Canada and northwest Mexico. The GBL was not affiliated with Major League Baseball or the orga ...

(GBL), which was not affiliated with either

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

or Minor League Baseball. The Armada played its home games at

Blair Field Blair Field is a stadium in Long Beach, California. It originally opened in 1956 and is primarily used for baseball. It holds 3,238 people. It is named for Frank Blair, the sports editor for the '' Long Beach Press-Telegram'' newspaper for 32 y ...

. The Armada fielded a team for the Arizona Summer League in 2010 months after suspending GBL operations, and then a team in the

Arizona Winter League The Arizona Winter League was an independent instructional winter baseball league. Arizona Winter League games were all played at Desert Sun Stadium in Yuma, Arizona. The league was founded in 2007. It disbanded in 2013 due to parent league, th ...

in 2011. The franchise has been owned by Diamond Sports & Entertainment, primary investors in the current North American League (NAL), since 2005. The team had 13 different players during its first five seasons that played at the major league level. In addition, 21 Long Beach Armada players have had their contracts purchased by major league organizations.

Team history

The team was one of the original eight GBL charter teams that began play in 2005. They began play in May 2005, three years after their predecessors, the Long Beach Breakers, folded along with the

Western Baseball League The Western Baseball League was an independent baseball league based in the Western United States and Western Canada. Its member teams were not associated with any Major League Baseball teams. It operated from 1995 to 2002. The league was founde ...

. Former Armada manager

Steve Yeager Stephen Wayne Yeager (born November 24, 1948) is an American former professional baseball catcher. Yeager spent 14 of the 15 seasons of his Major League Baseball career, from 1972 through 1985, with the Los Angeles Dodgers. His last year, 1986, ...

managed the Breakers to the WBL Championship in 2001, that team's inaugural season, beating the Chico Heat 3 games to 2.

Legal issues with the city

On December 18, 2009, the Long Beach Armada, to protect its ability to play at

, engaged lawyers to take action against the

City of Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the list of United States cities by population, 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the List of citie ...

and

Long Beach State University California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

alleging that the two public entities conspired to prematurely end the Armada's permit to play at Blair Field that still had three years left. The City of Long Beach made an arrangement to either sell or provide a long-term lease to Long Beach State University for the college to take over the maintenance and cost of running Blair Field, but first had to revoke the Armada's permit, which was standing in the way of completing a deal and had usage and concessions rights. As a result, the Armada suspended operations following the 2009 season.

Arizona Summer League (2010)

The Armada fielded a team in the Arizona Summer League in June 2010. They played alongside the

Bisbee Miners The Bisbee Miners were a season-season independent professional baseball team that played in the Arizona Summer League representing Bisbee, Arizona. They play their home games at Desert Sun Stadium in Yuma, Arizona, home of the North American ...

and

San Diego Surf Dawgs The San Diego Surf Dawgs are an independent professional baseball team representing San Diego, California, that played for two seasons in the Golden Baseball League, based out of San Ramon, California, and then later in the short-season instructi ...

. They replaced the El Centro Imperials.

Arizona Winter League (2011)

On January 5, 2011, the

released their schedule and it was announced the Armada would be joining the league along with the returning

Sonora Pilots The Sonora Pilots are a professional independent baseball team based in Yuma, Arizona and represent Sonora, Mexico. They play in the International Division of the developmental Arizona Winter League, a short-season instructional winter league sa ...

and two new teams, the Arizona RoadRunners and

Team Mexico Team Mexico is a professional wrestling stable that was first formed in 2004 to compete in TNA Wrestling's America's X-Cup Tournament and has since returned to compete in other TNA X Cup Tournaments. History 2004 The original team consisted of ...

and would become the second team (behind the Surf Dawgs) to have played in all three leagues within the GBL/NABL system.

Notable players

Notable former Armada players include former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

star

José Canseco José Canseco Capas Jr. (born July 2, 1964), nicknamed Parkway Jose, Mr. 40-40 and El Cañonero Cubano (The Cuban Cannon), is a Cuban-American former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder and designated hitter. During his time with the Oaklan ...

; ex-Yankee

Hideki Irabu was a Japanese professional baseball player of American and Japanese mixed ancestry. He played professionally in both Japan and the United States. Irabu played for the Lotte Orions / Chiba Lotte Marines and Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professiona ...

; outfielder

Josh Womack Josh is a masculine given name, frequently a diminutive (hypocorism) of the given names Joshua or Joseph, though since the 1970s, it has increasingly become a full name on its own. It may refer to: People A–J * "Josh", an early pseudonym of S ...

, who became a web sensation in June 2009 with the video of his "spinning bat trick"; and former Dodger

José Lima José Desiderio Rodriguez Lima (September 30, 1972 – May 23, 2010) was a Dominican right-handed pitcher who spent 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Detroit Tigers (1994–1996, 2001–2002), Houston Astros (1997–2001), Kan ...

, who was on the roster at the time of his death in May 2010. In February 2008, The Armada signed

Tony Torcato Anthony Dale Torcato (born October 25, 1979 in Woodland, California) is a former Major League Baseball Player. Professional career Torcato was drafted in the 1st round (19th overall) of the 1998 Major League Baseball Draft by the San Francisco ...

, who has since been traded to the Chico Outlaws. One month later, in March 2008, the Long Beach Armada signed former

pitcher Jerome Williams.Jerome Williams
/ref> Other ex-major leaguers who have played for the Long Beach Armada include

Bud Smith Robert Allan "Bud" Smith (born October 23, 1979) is an American retired baseball pitcher. Smith was active at the major league level in 2001 and 2002, playing for the St. Louis Cardinals. Minor leagues In 2000, Smith led the minor league Cardin ...

Nick Bierbrodt Nicholas Raymond Bierbrodt (born May 16, 1978) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He spent four seasons from 2001 to 2004 in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Cleveland Indians and ...

Adam Pettyjohn Adam Christopher Pettyjohn (born June 11, 1977) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds. Listed at and during his playing career, he batted ...

(the only Armada to have made it back to the big leagues from the club),

Mark Quinn Mark David Quinn (born May 21, 1974) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder and right-handed batter who played for the Kansas City Royals and former coach for the Baltimore Orioles. Quinn was drafted in the 11th round of the 1995 ...

, Alan Newman, Chris Wakeland, Cleatus Davidson,

Steve Smyth ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

, and

Seth Etherton Seth Michael Etherton (born October 17, 1976) is an American baseball coach and former pitcher, who is the current pitching coach for the USC Trojans. He played college baseball at USC from 1995 to 1998. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) fo ...

Season-by-season records

Golden Baseball League (2005–2009): :¹ Arizona Summer League (2010):

References

External links

Baseball Reference
{{Greater Los Angeles Area Sports Baseball teams established in 2005 Armada Golden Baseball League teams Professional baseball teams in California Tourist attractions in Long Beach, California Armada Baseball teams disestablished in 2011 Defunct baseball teams in California 2005 establishments in California Defunct independent baseball league teams 2011 disestablishments in California