American West Baseball League

The American West Baseball League was a proposed independent circuit that was formed in 2012 and supposed to start play in 2013. Sean Smock, a former minor league general manager, was to be the league commissioner. It was also set to have a winter league, which was canceled.

In the first few months of the league's formation, multiple teams joined or were set to join, including the Yuma Desert Rats, who withdrew from the league in January 2013; the Orange County Flyers, the Long Beach Splash, the Fullerton Flyers, the North County Cannons and a team from Mesa, AZ. However, by January 2013 -- and after the Desert Rats withdrew -- the league had only Fullerton, San Diego, Orange County and North County. Later in January, the league added a team in Las Cruces, NM (later named the Las Cruces Sun Rays) and in late February, Nogales, AZ. The Nogales club was to be named the Nogales Desert Ghosts. North County dropped out of the league in March. In May, the Bisbee Copperheads joined, but the writing was on the wall for the circuit: In late May, it admitted it would postpone its start to 2014, though the league never resurfaced. One source says there was also a push to put a team in Douglas, AZ.

The league involved numerous persons of note, including Albie Lopez (team owner), Edgar Renteria and Edinson Renteria (investors).

Team managers in the league were to include Jolbert Cabrera (Nogales), Kelly Stinnett (Las Cruces), Hal Lanier (Yuma), Evert Renteria (Fullerton) and Danny DiPace (Bisbee).