The Boise Athletics were a

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

team located in

Boise, Idaho Boise ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Idaho, most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Loca ...

. They were members of the

Class A-Short Season Class A Short Season (officially Short-Season A) was a level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States from 1965 through 2020. In the hierarchy of minor league classifications, it was below Triple-A, Double-A, Class A-Advanced (crea ...

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseba ...

for two seasons (1975, 1976) and were affiliated with the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

History

In 1974, the Northwest League awarded Boise a new franchise to begin play in 1975. However, by the close of the season, the league's expansion plans were thwarted by the termination of operations by the

Lewiston Broncs {{Infobox Minor League Baseball , name = Lewiston Broncs , firstseason =1921 , lastseason =1974 , allyears =1921, 1937, 1939, 1952–1974 , city =Lewiston, Idaho , logo = , caplogo = , past class level = Short-seas ...

and

Tri-City Atoms The Tri-City Atoms were a minor league baseball team located in Kennewick, Washington. The Tri-Cities in southeastern Washington, which include Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco, fielded a number of minor league teams in the Northwest League an ...

. The New Westminster Frasers sought a new home after enduring a season of poor attendance, and relocated to Boise. This was Boise's first entry in the Northwest League. The

, who had been partnered with Lewiston, signed a player development contract with Boise. The club adopted their parent club's name to become the Boise Athletics; the parent club had won a third consecutive

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

. On June 18, 1975, Boise hosted its first professional baseball game since 1963 with 1,814 in attendance. Tom Trebelhorn, who played the previous season in the Oakland farm system at Lewiston, served as manager. The A's finished the season at an even , but Boise struggled financially, which was attributed to the absence of beer sales. Their home field was located on a

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

campus and the

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...

denied the sale of beer. Despite the lack of beer revenue, they were third in home attendance in the six-team league. Trebelhorn returned as manager in 1976 and the most intriguing player on Boise's roster was

Rickey Henderson Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson (December 25, 1958 – December 20, 2024), nicknamed "Man of Steal", was an American professional baseball left fielder who played 25 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for nine teams from 1979 to 2003, inc ...

, fresh out of high school. The future hall of famer played in 46 games for Boise and hit .336 as a 17-year-old. Even with the exciting Henderson, attendance had fallen dramatically in the A's second season. With only 181 in attendance, the A's closed out the season in a losing effort against the Walla Walla Padres in what became their final game; and finished the season at . Following the season, it was reported by the ''

Medicine Hat News The ''Medicine Hat News'' is a daily newspaper published in Medicine Hat, Alberta. It features a city news section, a national news section, a world news section, a sports section, a comics section, and a classifieds section. The paper is owned ...

'' in

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

that an executive of the Boise A’s Northwest League baseball team said he has talked to municipal officials and businessmen in

Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff, Alberta, R ...

about the possibility of moving the club into the city and into the Pioneer League. A little more than a month later, it was confirmed that the Boise franchise was departing the City of Trees for Medicine Hat as a member of the Pioneer League. Boise took a one-year hiatus from baseball, with the unaffiliated

Buckskins Buckskins are clothing, usually consisting of a jacket and leggings, made from buckskin, a soft sueded leather from the hide of deer. Buckskins are often trimmed with a fringe – originally a functional detail, to allow the garment to sh ...

beginning (and ending) play in 1978; the Hawks' first season was nine years later.

Ballpark

Home games of the Boise A's were played at Borah Field (now Bill Wigle Field) on the campus of

Borah High School Borah High School is a three-year public secondary school in the western United States, located in Boise, Idaho. One of four traditional high schools in the Boise School District, it serves students in grades in the southwest portion of the di ...

. Also the home of the Buckskins (1978) and

Hawks Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and othe ...

for their first two seasons (1987, 1988), the

ballpark A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into two field sections called the infield and the outfield. The infield is an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined in part ba ...

is still in use today for high school and

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...

play.

Season records

Notable alumni

* Brian Kingman (1975) * Darrell Woodard (1975) *

(1976) * Boise A's players

References

External links

Stats Crew
Boise A's {{s-end Defunct Northwest League teams Oakland Athletics minor league affiliates Defunct baseball teams in Idaho Baseball teams disestablished in 1976 Baseball teams established in 1975