The Chico Heat is the name of two baseball teams that have operated in

Chico, California Chico ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "little") is the most populous city in Butte County, California, United States. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 101,475 in the 2020 United Sta ...

. The first was a professional independent team operating in 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 fou ...

from 1997 to 2002, and the second team was an independent team operating as part of the summer collegiate wood bat league known as the

Great West League Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

, which began operations in 2014 and ceased operations in 2018. The team's title sponsor was Golden Valley Bank. Both teams were majority owned by Steve and Kathy Nettleton.

History

The original Chico Heat (1997–2002)

The team started as a professional independent baseball team operating in

, in the

. They had no operating agreement with any

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

team. They were founded on July 29, 1996, by Chico Heat Professional Baseball LLC, with former supermarket entrepreneur Steve Nettleton and his wife Kathy serving as principal owners. General managers included Bob Linscheid (who would go on to become president of the WBL) and Jeff Kragel (now at

Chico State University California State University, Chico (Chico State) is a public university in Chico, California. It was founded in 1887 as one of about 180 " normal schools" founded by state governments in the 19th century to train teachers for the rapidly growin ...

) and their mascot was the "Heater The Dragon" (not to be confused with the

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

Dayton Dragons The Dayton Dragons are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Dayton, Ohio, and play their home games at Day Air Ballpark. In 2011, they broke the record for most ...

mascots of the same name). The team began operations in 1997. The team immediately won the league championship in their inaugural season and, although they did not win a championship in the four subsequent years, they won the most regular season games in each of the following seasons. They appeared in the championship series in five out of their six seasons in the league. In 2002, Chico won its second league championship in the league's and the team's final season. After leaving the financially troubled league and after efforts to join

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 ...

Class A-Advanced High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...

California League The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leagu ...

by trying to lure the

Visalia Oaks Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-most populous city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 38th most populous in California, and 183 ...

to Chico failed, the Heat ceased operations effective immediately. The team played 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 He ...

, which is located on the campus of

California State University, Chico California State University, Chico (Chico State) is a public university in Chico, California. It was founded in 1887 as one of about 180 "normal schools" founded by state governments in the 19th century to train teachers for the rapidly growing ...

. They were preceded by the Oroville/ Chico Red Sox of the minor league's Class-C Far West League from 1948 to 1949 and were succeeded by 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 ...

of the independent

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 org ...

, taking their place in 2005. The Heat has been the most successful professional baseball franchise in the city's history. On August 11, 2007, former Heat majority owner Steve Nettleton and former Heat players were honored as part of a celebration called "Remember The Heat Night" hosted by the Chico Outlaws as they faced the St. George RoadRunners. The original Heat mascot "Heater" even made an appearance. The Outlaws won the ball game in front of over 3,500 fans at Nettleton Stadium.

The Chico Heat of the GWL (2014–2018)

On November 25, 2014, the franchise announced its return to the field in the summer of 2016, but this time as a member of the summer collegiate wood bat league known as the

. Steve Nettleton will return as a principal owner along with former

executive and Chico native

Pat Gillick Lawrence Patrick David Gillick (born August 22, 1937) is an American professional baseball executive. He previously served as the general manager of four MLB teams: the Toronto Blue Jays (1978–1994), Baltimore Orioles ( 1996– 1998), Seattle ...

. The Heat's beloved mascot "Heater The Dragon" returned to the team after a 20-year absence. They began play on the road in a loss to the rival

Marysville Gold Sox The Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox were a summer collegiate wood-bat baseball club based in Marysville, California, in the United States, that began as an independent professional team in 1995. They played their home games at Bryant Field (stadium), Bryant ...

. The Heat defeated the Medford Rogues 2 games to 1 to capture the inaugural GWL Championship. It is the second time in franchise history that they won a championship in their first season. On July 24, the Heat hosted the second annual GWL All-Star Game. This year, the entire Heat team faced the best of the Great West League, a departure from the normal format. The home run derby will also take place the same day. The Heat faced the Rogues for the second straight season in the GWL Championship, this time falling to their rivals 2 games to 0. In 2018, the Heat would return to the GWL Championship, this time against the

Lincoln Potters The Lincoln Potters are a collegiate wood bat baseball team based in Lincoln, California. They are operating as part of the summer collegiate wood bat league known as the Pacific Empire League. It began operations in 2016 as members of the Gr ...

. They downed the Potters 2 games to 0 to win their second and final championship. On October 4, 2018, the Heat GWL team announced that they were suspending operations as a result of the Great West League itself suspending operations.

Year-by-year record

Western Baseball League

Great West League

Broadcasting

The original Chico Heat were broadcast on KPAY NewsTalk 1290 AM throughout their entire run with longtime area broadcaster Rory Miller on the call. The current Heat welcomed Miller back to the air waves on The Edge 101.7 FM sharing broadcast duties with KPAY's Mike Baca, with broadcast engineers Mike Vislosky and Ryan Mouser.

The death of Steve Nettleton

On January 11, 2019, Heat founder and majority owner Steve Nettleton died at age 79 following a long battle with Parkinson's Disease.Chico philanthropist, baseball lover dies age 79
Robin Epley, ''Chico Enterprise-Record'', January 11, 2019

References

External links

Chico Heat official website archives
(archive.org) {{Great West League Western Baseball League teams Sports in Chico, California Defunct independent baseball league teams Defunct baseball teams in California 1997 establishments in California 2018 disestablishments in California Baseball teams established in 1997 Baseball teams disestablished in 2018