The Pioneer League Podcast

After I was laid off from Missoula Broadcasting Company, I wanted to do everything I could to continue creating sports content for people to enjoy. One of those endeavors was the WyoSports Podcast, but I also decided to start The Pioneer League Podcast.

The Pioneer League was the lowest level of professional baseball affiliated with Major League Baseball. It was the only local connection to MLB for many baseball fans in states like Montana, Wyoming and Idaho for many years. The Rookie-level Pioneer League was often the first stop for many professional baseball players on their way to big league glory.

Hall of Famers George Brett and Trevor Hoffman (where he played shortstop) are two examples of legends to pass through. Current MLB superstars like Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and many others started their professional baseball careers by putting on the uniforms of the Missoula Osprey, Casper Ghosts or one of the other Pioneer League ball clubs.

After the 2019 MLB season, 40 Minor League teams lost their affiliation to Major League Baseball clubs, including all of the Pioneer League’s teams. I wanted to create something for people to remember these teams and the experiences that players had playing professional baseball in Big Sky Country.

The podcast series is what I dubbed “an audio scrapbook” of the experiences of a handful of players that saw their careers begin in the Pioneer League. I wanted to find out more of what it was like to play baseball in a part of the United States that is certainly not known for “baseball.”

I was able to welcome former MLB All-Star Greg Vaughn and several other players that had long MLB tenures and would be familiar to some fans to talk about their Pioneer League experiences. The podcast was very successful for an independent podcast, and it was featured on 406mtsports.com, which is a collection of newspaper sports pages in Montana.

You can check out every episode below:

2002 Great Falls Dodger and 11-Year MLB Veteran James Loney – The Pioneer League Podcast

In this episode, host David Graf interviews 2002 Great Falls Dodger and 11-year MLB veteran James Loney. Loney was selected 19th overall by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2002 MLB Draft. Loney was a great pitcher and hitter in high school, and the Dodgers wanted him to play first base. He's the only member of the first season of The Pioneer League Podcast to get called up to the next level before finishing the year in the Pioneer League. During his time in Great Falls, he hit .371/.457/.624 and clubbed 5 homers. After his first year in professional baseball, he was listed as the #34 prospect on the 2003 edition of Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects list.Loney talked about arriving in Great Falls shortly after his high school season ended, the mindset of just moving up a level at a time, and how he met Barack Obama in Cuba.The second season of The Pioneer League Podcast will be here shortly. In the meantime, stay subscribed, so you don't miss it when it returns!Please rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast to help other baseball fans find the podcast! Donate at the link in the description below, or you can Venmo @davidgraf.You can follow David and James on Twitter:@mrdavidgraf@james_loneyYou can follow David and James on Instagram:@davidgraf@james_loneyShoutout Turntkenny on the music! Check him out on Tik Tok @turntkenny and Instagram @sometimes_turnt!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-pioneer-league-podcast/donations

1. 2002 Great Falls Dodger and 11-Year MLB Veteran James Loney 25:27
2. Billings Gazette and 406mtsports.com Senior Sports Writer Mike Scherting 38:05
3. 2014 Billings Mustang and Current Tampa Bay Ray Brian O'Grady 33:50
4. 1997 Pioneer League Triple Crown Winner Greg Morrison 41:33
5. 2015 Idaho Falls Chukars and Current Iowa Cubs Play-By-Play Broadcaster Alex Cohen 25:38