The Redding Browns were a minor league baseball team that operated from 1948 to 1951 as part of the Class-D Far West League. They were based in

Redding, California Redding is the economic and cultural capital of the Shasta Cascade region of Northern California and the county seat of Shasta County. Redding lies along the Sacramento River, north of Sacramento, and south of California's northern border wi ...

. They were affiliated with the

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they ...

of the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

and won the league championship in 1950.

Ray Perry Ray Perry (February 25, 1915 – 1950) was an American jazz violinist and saxophonist. Perry was born in 1915 to a musical family and began playing the violin at a young age, while his brothers Joe and Bay became a baritonist and drummer, respec ...

led the league in home runs and RBI each year of its existence as well as managing the team and serving as team president. A book was written about the history of this tea

Redding Browns Night

In 2010, the

Chico Outlaws The Chico Outlaws were a professional baseball team based in Chico, California, in the United States. The Outlaws were a member of the Northern Division of the independent North American League, which is not affiliated with either Major League Ba ...

, one of just two professional baseball teams in the North State since the end of the Far West League, the other being the

Chico Heat The Chico Heat is the name of two baseball teams that have operated in Chico, California. The first was a professional independent team operating in the Western Baseball League from 1997 to 2002, and the second team was an independent team operat ...

, hosted a Redding Browns night where the Outlaws wore Redding Browns jerseys, with the first 500 fans at

Nettleton Stadium Nettleton Stadium is a baseball stadium in Chico, California on the campus of California State University, Chico. It is the home field for the CSU Chico Baseball team, the Wildcats. It also served as the former home of the now-defunct Chico ...

receiving a free Redding Browns t-shirt.

Chico Outlaws in Redding

Since the departure of the Redding Browns, Redding has played host to only ten professional baseball games. Those ten games were "home" games for the

who played an hour away. The games against the

Yuma Scorpions Yuma can refer to: Places * Yuma Desert, desert in southwest U.S. and northwest Mexico ;United States * Yuma County, Arizona ** Yuma, Arizona ** Fortuna Foothills, Arizona ** Marine Corps Air Station Yuma ** United States Army Yuma Proving Ground ...

were moved to Redding because of scheduling conflicts at

, and also served as a test of fan interest in a possible future North American League team in Redding. Five games were played at Tiger Field and five at

Shasta College Shasta College is a public community college in Redding, California, with branch campuses in Burney, Weaverville, and Red Bluff. It was founded in 1950 and later moved to a much larger campus while the original campus became the new locatio ...

's baseball field. The ten games were played over six days. Attendance averaged 815 fans per game and the Outlaws won four of the ten games. One of the winning pitchers for the Outlaws was local Redding product Jason Stevenson who would sign with San Francisco Giants organization at finish the season with the Double-A

Richmond Flying Squirrels The Richmond Flying Squirrels are a Minor League Baseball team based in Richmond, Virginia. The team, which is a part of the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants major league club, and plays at The Diamond. Th ...

Proposals for professional baseball in Redding

In the early 1980s, a group including then Seattle Mariners coach

Bill Plummer William Francis Plummer (born March 21, 1947) is an American former professional baseball player and manager, and current hitting coach for the Redding Colt 45s. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher in 1968 and then from 1970 to 1978, ...

, and Cottonwood livestock auction yard owner Ellington Peak, were in the works to bring the California League's

Lodi Dodgers Lodi may refer to: Places Canada * Lodi, Ontario, a community in North Stormont, Ontario, Canada Italy * Lodi, Lombardy, in the Province of Lodi of the Lombardy region ** Treaty of Lodi, 1454 between Italian city-states ** Battle of Lodi, 1796 i ...

Stockton Ports The Stockton Ports are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. They are located in Stockton, California, and are named for the city's seaport. The team plays its home games at Ba ...

, then both owned by Plummer's former teammate

Ed Sprague Sr. Edward Nelson Sprague Sr. (September 16, 1945 – January 10, 2020) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played eight seasons in Major League Baseball with four teams between 1968 and 1976. He was listed at and , he batted and threw ...

and his wife Michele Sprague, to Shasta County. The proposed stadium was to be built at the Shasta Fairgrounds in

Anderson Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson Ra ...

. Due to a drop in livestock prices, the deal fell through. The Lodi Dodgers moved to Southern California in 1986 and eventually became the

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are located in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and play their home games at LoanMart Field. The franc ...

, while the Ports stayed in Stockton and received a new stadium in 2005. In the early 2010s, Plummer again tried to help move a California League team to Redding in a joint venture with Chico, but instead the

Bakersfield Blaze The Bakersfield Blaze were a minor league baseball team in Bakersfield, California. They played in the Class A – Advanced California League. They played their home games at Sam Lynn Ballpark. Opened in 1941, the stadium is well known for facing ...

and

High Desert Mavericks The High Desert Mavericks were an American Minor League Baseball team in Adelanto, California, that played their home games at Heritage Field at Stater Bros. Stadium. They played in the Class A-Advanced California League. The franchise had eight ...

relocated to the

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

. Redding was proposed as the home of an expansion team in three different independent leagues: the

Golden State League The Golden State League was an Independent Baseball league that operated in California from 1994 to 1996. The league had originally targeted eight teams and considered 10-12 potential sites, they were Chico; Fresno; Henderson, Nevada; Lodi; Lo ...

and

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 ...

in 1995, and the Golden Baseball League in 2005. Between November 1997 and January 1998, the Western Baseball League's

Salinas Peppers The Salinas Peppers were an independent baseball team located in Salinas, California. The team played in the independent Western Baseball League, and was not affiliated with any Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a profess ...

were in negotiations with the City of Redding and

, to relocate to Redding for the 1998 season. The proposal include $2–4 million in renovations to the baseball field at Shasta College, that would have included seating for 3,000, stadium lights, a new outfield fence, a scoreboard, a clubhouse and restrooms. The Redding

Record Searchlight The ''Redding Record Searchlight'' is a newspaper serving Redding, California. It has a daily circulation of about 30,000 and hosts a Redding news Web site, Redding.com. History On October 17, 1938, the John P. Scripps Newspaper Group publ ...

, whose poll of 300 Redding residents found 80% wanted the team, asked its readers for possible team names and received Shasta Lakes, Redding Timberwolves, and Redding Rattlers. On January 6, 1998, the Redding City Council voted 4–0 to reject a proposed $300,000 loan to the Peppers, which would have helped pay for stadium construction. Relocation to Redding was abandoned and the Peppers franchise folded. In April 2008, a group in Redding bought the former

Travis Credit Union Park Travis Credit Union Park, also known as Nut Tree Stadium, was a stadium in Vacaville, California. It was primarily used for baseball and was the home field of the Solano Steelheads of the Western Baseball League The Western Baseball League ...

from

Vacaville Vacaville is a city located in Solano County in Northern California. Sitting approximately from Sacramento and from San Francisco, it is within the Sacramento Valley. As of the 2020 census, Vacaville had a population of 102,386, making it th ...

, in order to be rebuilt on the campus of

Simpson University Simpson University is a private, Christian university in Redding, California. Originally founded in 1921 in Seattle as Simpson Bible Institute, the institution relocated to San Francisco in 1955 and then to Redding in 1989. History Simpson U ...

in Redding. Previously the Golden Baseball League had considered buying the stadium and moving it to Redding for a new GBL franchise. A small fraction of the stadium was used in the 2014 renovation to

Tiger Field Tiger Field is a public use airport owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and located three nautical miles (6 km) south of the central business district of Fernley, a city in Lyon County, Nevada, United States. History The airport ...

in Redding, and the rest sits unused in an undisclosed location in Redding.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Baseball Referencearticle
Defunct Far West League teams Defunct baseball teams in California Professional baseball teams in California St. Louis Browns minor league affiliates 1948 establishments in California 1951 disestablishments in California Baseball teams established in 1948 Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 1951 Redding, California Sports in Shasta County, California Baseball teams disestablished in 1951 Far West League teams