The Golden Baseball League, based in Pleasanton, California, is a professional, independent baseball league which operates in the Western United States. With the exeption of the San Diego Surf Dawgs, the GBL operates in cities not served by Major or Minor League Baseball teams. The GBL is not affiliated with either Major or Minor League Baseball. It formed in 2004 and began play on May 26, 2005.

The GBL exists so that professional baseball players who are not signed by a Major or Minor League organization could have another chance at playing at a higher level. Although the level of GBL play can be categorized as between AA and AAA, players in independent baseball are usually not scouted heavily by Major League teams. Many Major League alumni have called GBL teams home in an effort get back to the Majors. The league also caters to players who are not quite talented enough to play at a higher level.

The GBL's presenting partner is Safeway Inc. Other investors in the GBL include Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak, former NFL players Mike Sherrard and Christian Okoye, and executives from Cisco Systems, Taleo, and Draper Fisher Jurvetson, among others.

The league is comprised of six teams that play their home games in city- and university-owned stadiums Three of the GBL's teams, the Chico Outlaws, Long Beach Armada, and Yuma Scorpions, operate in former Western Baseball League cities.

In the 2005 season, the Japan Samurai Bears, a traveling team of Japanese players played as a road team. With the addition of the Reno Silver Sox, and the dropping of the Mesa and Surprise franchises, a traveling team was not required for the 2006 season, thus the Samurai Bears did not return.

The GBL is planning to add additional teams in California and Arizona, plus teams in Oregon and northern Mexico, within five to seven years.

Salaries for GBL players range from $750 to $3,000 per month. Each team's entire payroll is less than a third of what the major league minimum is for one player ($316,000).

On May 9, 2005, Major League Baseball's all-time stolen base leader, Rickey Henderson, signed a contract to play the 2005 season with the GBL's San Diego Surf Dawgs, who would become the first GBL Champions. Another retired star Jose Canseco signed with the Surf Dawgs in 2006 as part of his attempt to return to baseball and promote his book Juiced and its upcoming movie adaptation. However, Canseco was quickly traded to the Long Beach Armada after only one game. He said that the move was to be closer to his daughter, although some have speculated that it was to be closer to Hollywood.

2006 Golden Baseball League Teams

Future Teams

• St. George, Utah (2007)

Suspended Teams

• Japan Samurai Bears, a traveling team made up of 24 Japanese players.
• Mesa Miners from Mesa, Arizona
• Surprise Fightin' Falcons from Surprise, Arizona

Teams that never played

• Tijuana Toros from Tijuana, Mexico.

External links

• Golden Baseball League
• Golden Baseball League shop

Golden Baseball League | Independent baseball leagues