The Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox are 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 play their home games at Colusa Casino Stadium, formerly known as Bryant Field, adjacent to Ellis Lake, in Marysville. The team name was changed to the Marysville Gold Sox in 2010 to more particularly identify the city in which the team is located, but have since reverted to "Yuba-Sutter".
Team history
The franchise began as a professional team in the Western Baseball League in 1995 as the Surrey Glaciers and only played one season at Stetson Bowl in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. In 1996 they relocated to Reno, Nevada, becoming known as the Reno Chukars and played their home games at Moana Stadium. They changed their name to the Reno Blackjacks in 1999 and played their final season in Reno before relocating to Marysville, where they were renamed the Feather River Mudcats for their inaugural 2000 season in Marysville. Because of the team's infringement on the previously trademarked name of Mudcats by the Carolina Mudcats of the Southern League, the Feather River Mudcats changed their name to the Feather River Fury in preparation for the 2001 season, though never took the field under that name since the team filed for bankruptcy prior to the season start. There was no baseball in Marysville for the 2001 season. The City of Marysville stepped in to operate the team for the 2002 season in order to keep baseball alive in the area and the city-owned ballpark in use. The City changed the name to Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox and played the season in the Western Baseball League. Upon conclusion of that 2002 season the Western Baseball League disbanded, thus ending the Gold Sox as a professional team. The team was purchased from the City in 2003 by Bob Bavasi of Bavasi Sports Partners and local auto dealer Don McCullough and began 2003 season play as a summer collegiate wood-bat team as it remains to this day. The ball club played the 2003 and 2004 seasons in the California Collegiate League. In 2005, the Gold Sox became the host team for the Horizon Air Summer Series, a collegiate wood bat league created by Bob Bavasi. Prior to the 2005 season, Don McCullough died. Upon McCullough's death, Peter Bavasi, former General Manager of the San Diego Padres, President of the Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians, came out of retirement to help administer the club for the 2005 and 2006 seasons. On January 1, 2007, Bob Bavasi invited Fair Oaks attorney Tom Lininger and his wife Karyn to join in the ownership of the club as majority shareholders. Tom Lininger became the team's managing partner and sold the team after the 2014 season.
In 2015, the organization was sold to CSH Holdings, Pat Gillick, Kevin Knight and Jake Knight. In 2016, the team moved to the Great West League which played a balanced schedule home and away. The League and team conduct operations like a class A short season minor league baseball team. The ownership group hired veteran general manager Michael Mink to handle the operation in November 2016. The Gold Sox name was stolen from the Amarillo Club of the Texas league, in honor of Yuba-Sutter, having been called the "Gateway to the Gold Fields" during the California gold rush of the mid-1800s. The Gold Sox mascot is Mr. G, a gecko-like creature that is a favorite with children. On November 6, 2017, the Gold Sox management announced that they were reverting the tea, name back to the Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox after the originally-named professional team after the Yuba City Bears ceased operations and were replaced the next day by the San Francisco Seals. On October 4, 2018, the Gold Sox announced that they are considering options for 2019 and beyond as a result of the Great West League suspending operations. On November 15, 2018, the Gold Sox announced that they would ceasing operations if new ownership was not found.
Since their inception, the Gold Sox have played their home games at what was originally known as Bryant Field, located along Highway 70 in the east part of Marysville. It has experienced several name changes since then, including Appeal-Democrat Park and All Seasons RV Stadium. The stadium is now known as Colusa Casino Stadium, named for the local Indian gaming facility in Colusa, who purchased the naming rights in 2015. The Gold Sox shared their field with the Yuba City Bears, who joined the GWL in 2017, then later folded their GWL operations.
Year-by-year record
Notable alumni
Dallas Braden
Tommy Everidge
Anthony Bass
Curtis Partch
Brock Stassi
Max Stassi
Cody Anderson
Justin Haley
Drew Anderson
Coaching staff
Michael Frantz
Wayne Franklin
Radio broadcasts
The Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox Gold Sox official flagship radio station is KUBA-AM 1600. Todd Kuhnen provides play-by-play.
