2011 White Sands Pupfish Season Recap - Pecos League Team Number One and the Summer That Started It All

Before there was Roswell, before there was Santa Fe, before Trinidad, Garden City, Tucson, Bakersfield, San Rafael or any of the other cities that would eventually become part of the Pecos League story, there was Alamogordo. And there were the White Sands Pupfish.

The Pupfish weren't simply another member of the inaugural 2011 Pecos League. They were Team Number One. Alamogordo was the first city to officially sign a lease to host a Pecos League team, and on the league's original digital platform the White Sands Pupfish were assigned team number one. Las Cruces was number two. Roswell was number three. Alpine was number four. The Pupfish came first. ([Pecos League][1])

For Matt McNeil, getting the Pupfish onto the field represented the realization of something he had been working toward for years. Griggs Field in Alamogordo had to become more than a municipal baseball diamond. It had to become a professional baseball park capable of hosting games night after night.

When the White Sands Pupfish finally took the field there in May of 2011, McNeil's vision had become real. Professional baseball had arrived in Alamogordo. The Pecos League had arrived. And nobody could possibly have predicted what the first summer would become.

There was winning baseball. There were large crowds by Pecos League standards. There was an All-Star Game. There were personalities. There were controversies. There was one of the strangest off-field incidents in the history of the league.

There was also a retired Air Force officer, lawyer and former college administrator named J.D. Droddy who began the season simply wanting to help professional baseball succeed in Alamogordo. That opportunity would eventually turn Droddy into a Pecos League coach, manager, championship manager and reality television personality.

Almost everything that the Pecos League would eventually become could be seen in some form during that first chaotic summer in Alamogordo. And it all started with the White Sands Pupfish.

Matt McNeil's Dream Becomes Reality

The formation of the White Sands Pupfish was one of the critical steps in transforming the Pecos League from an idea into an actual professional baseball league. The league needed cities, stadiums, leases and communities willing to take a chance on a completely new professional baseball operation.

Alamogordo became the first one. The city agreed to host the Pupfish at Griggs Park, making Alamogordo the first city to sign a lease with the new Pecos League. The league later specifically credited Matt McNeil's efforts in making the arrangement possible and described the Pupfish as Pecos League Team Number One. ([Pecos League][1])

That distinction matters. Every professional league needs a first team that proves the concept can work. For the Pecos League, White Sands was that team.

Griggs Field became the proving ground. The ballpark wasn't simply somewhere the Pupfish played games. Its conversion into a professional baseball venue represented the physical creation of Matt McNeil's vision: lights, seating, a professional schedule, tickets, concessions and players coming from around the country looking for an opportunity in professional baseball.

For the first time, Alamogordo had its own professional team playing an entire summer schedule. The Pupfish were real. So was the Pecos League.

Keith Essary Takes Over Team Number One

Keith Essary was selected to manage the first White Sands Pupfish team. That meant he wasn't simply managing an expansion club. He was helping establish what Pecos League baseball would look like.

The league was new. The operating model was new. Many of the players were entering professional baseball for the first time. Every road trip and every home series was effectively being done for the first time.

Essary's team quickly proved it could compete. The Pupfish started slowly but became one of the strongest teams in the league. By June, White Sands was one of the clubs everyone had to take seriously.

On June 8, Chris Nyman threw a complete game as the Pupfish defeated Alpine 7-2 and improved to 14-6. Two days later, White Sands beat Alpine again to improve to 16-6. On June 11, the Pupfish won once more and moved to 17-6.

The first Pecos League team was also one of its best.

Alamogordo Responds to Professional Baseball

Opening-day attendance provided an early indication that Alamogordo was interested. White Sands drew 525 fans for its opening game. That compared favorably with the other new Pecos League markets.

Las Cruces drew 280. Roswell drew 505. Ruidoso drew 212. Alpine, an established baseball market playing at historic Kokernot Field, led the group with 914.

For a completely new professional baseball franchise in Alamogordo, 525 fans represented an encouraging beginning. More importantly, people kept paying attention.

The Pupfish were winning. The personalities were becoming familiar. Griggs Park was becoming part of the summer routine. Players such as Robert Rodriguez, Michael Hur, Justin Smith, Chris Nyman, Andrew Riddick, Steven Lemmon and others became the first generation of White Sands Pupfish.

Alamogordo wasn't simply hosting Pecos League games anymore. It had a team.

The Pupfish Become One of the Best Teams in the League

White Sands continued winning throughout June. On June 19, the Pupfish defeated Las Cruces 19-18 in one of the high-scoring games that would become a trademark of early Pecos League baseball. Michael Hur went 3-for-4 and hit two home runs. White Sands improved to 19-9.

The next day the Pupfish won again and reached 20 victories. By June 25, White Sands was 23-11. Four days later, the Pupfish defeated Roswell 17-1 to improve to 24-11.

The team had become a legitimate contender for the inaugural Pecos League Championship. That success also turned Essary into one of the league's most visible managers.

He was successful. He was outspoken. He was controversial. And as the summer progressed, the personality of the manager became almost as much a part of the White Sands story as the baseball team itself.

Keith Essary Becomes the League's First Great Villain

Every sports league eventually develops personalities that fans love and personalities that opposing fans love to hate. The Pecos League did not need long.

Keith Essary became one of its first true characters. The league later described him as probably the most successful manager on the field during the inaugural season while simultaneously calling him the league's most hated coach on the road.

That combination made him impossible to ignore. Essary's Pupfish played hard. They won games. They irritated opponents. And the manager became increasingly involved in the kind of confrontations and controversies that made the first Pecos League season feel more like frontier baseball than a polished corporate sports product.

For better and for worse, people talked about the Pupfish.

Then came Applebee's.

The Loser Leaves Town Fight

Few incidents from the inaugural Pecos League season became more legendary than what the league itself eventually called the "loser leaves town bar fight" in Alamogordo. The confrontation took place at the Alamogordo Applebee's and involved White Sands manager Keith Essary.

The episode became part of the folklore surrounding the first Pupfish season. Years later, the league's official 2011 archive still specifically referenced Essary's involvement in the "loser leaves town bar fight in Alamogordo" when explaining why his tenure with the Pupfish ended after one year.

For a new professional baseball league trying to establish itself, it was hardly conventional publicity. But conventional had never really described the Pecos League.

The incident became something people in Alamogordo talked about. Suddenly the Pupfish weren't simply the baseball team playing at Griggs Park. They were part of the conversation around town. People who had never checked the standings knew about the team. People knew who Keith Essary was.

The Pupfish had become characters in their own community. In the strange ecosystem of independent baseball, notoriety translated into attention. And attention helped transform the Pupfish into one of the most talked-about organizations in the new league.

The Team Everyone in Alamogordo Knew

By the middle of the summer, White Sands possessed something every new sports franchise desperately wants: an identity.

The team was winning. The manager was controversial. The players were recognizable. The ballpark was active throughout the summer. And everybody seemed to have an opinion about the Pupfish.

That mattered in a city that had never before been part of the Pecos League because, of course, nobody had. The league itself was being invented in real time. There were no decades of tradition to rely on. No generations of fans. No established rivalries. Everything had to be created from scratch.

White Sands managed to create something almost immediately. People cared. Sometimes they cared because the Pupfish won. Sometimes they cared because they loved the personalities. Sometimes they cared because they were furious with them. But they cared.

For a first-year professional baseball team, that was enormously valuable.

Griggs Park Hosts the Pecos League All-Star Game

Alamogordo's importance to the league was demonstrated further when Griggs Sports Complex hosted the inaugural Pecos League All-Star activities. The events included a league tryout camp, a home run derby and the All-Star Game itself.

Keith Essary was selected to coach the Zias All-Star team, which included players from White Sands, Las Cruces and Carlsbad. It was another indication that Matt McNeil's work had paid off.

The ballpark that had been prepared to host the league's first official team was now hosting one of the league's showcase events. Alamogordo had gone from being a proposed Pecos League market to becoming one of the centers of the league's first season.

J.D. Droddy Walks Into the Story

While Keith Essary was managing the Pupfish on the field, another figure who would become enormously important in Pecos League history was watching from much closer than anyone realized.

J.D. Droddy had moved to Alamogordo in 2002. His life before baseball had already been unusual. He had served more than 20 years in the Air Force. He graduated from Harvard Law School. He practiced law. He pursued graduate study in political science. He taught government at the college level. He worked as a college administrator. And after moving to Alamogordo, he became heavily involved in local theater as a producer and playwright.

Then professional baseball came to town. Droddy was fascinated. He wanted to help.

At first, his involvement had nothing to do with managing baseball games. He became part of the host-family network surrounding professional baseball in Alamogordo. He housed players and helped with the kind of behind-the-scenes jobs that keep a low-budget independent baseball operation alive.

He also became involved with team photography and other support roles. It was the smallest possible opening into professional baseball. Droddy took it.

From Host Family to Baseball Operations

The importance of host families in the early Pecos League is difficult to exaggerate. Players were not receiving luxurious accommodations. Many depended directly on local families willing to provide bedrooms, meals, transportation help and basic support throughout the season.

The relationship gave people such as Droddy an unusually close look at the realities of independent professional baseball. He wasn't watching from a luxury suite. He was living with the players. He heard about the road trips. He saw the injuries. He understood the frustration of players trying to move up.

And he became increasingly fascinated with the league itself. Droddy wanted to become more involved. The Pecos League eventually gave him that chance.

The Carlsbad Bats Open Another Door

The 2011 Carlsbad Bats existed on the opposite end of the standings from White Sands. The Bats were essentially the league's travel operation and endured an extraordinarily difficult inaugural season. They began 0-24 under manager John Aber before Ryan Powell took over and eventually finished with only nine victories. ([Pecos League][2])

But even the struggling Bats created opportunities. Their existence meant more professional baseball jobs. It meant more opportunities for coaches and players to enter the league.

For Droddy, involvement around the players and league operation became a gateway into baseball itself. What began with helping players as part of the Alamogordo baseball community evolved into direct involvement with professional teams.

He wasn't content simply to be the person providing a place to stay. He wanted to learn the professional game from inside the dugout. That opportunity eventually arrived.

Droddy Joins the Trinidad Triggers

When the Pecos League expanded into Trinidad, Colorado for the 2012 season, the new Triggers organization pulled several people directly out of the White Sands operation. Justin Smith, Brett Mendoza and Andrew Riddick were among the Pupfish players who moved to Trinidad.

The Triggers also brought J.D. Droddy into their organization. At the time, the league described Droddy as the White Sands booster club president and one of the Pupfish's most loyal fans. ([Pecos League][3])

Think about how quickly the transformation had happened. When the Pecos League arrived in Alamogordo, Droddy was a local baseball supporter. He became a host. He became a team photographer. He helped wherever help was needed. Then he joined the Trinidad organization. Soon he was in uniform.

Assistant Manager Becomes Manager

Droddy served as an assistant with Trinidad during the 2012 season. That summer became another crash course in Pecos League baseball.

Justin Lowery began the season as manager of the Triggers. After Lowery left in June, Droddy briefly took over the club before Ryan Powell assumed control. The league's official managerial history records Droddy managing Trinidad from June 21 through June 24 during that transition.

The experience was brief, but it proved something important. J.D. Droddy could manage a professional baseball team. The league noticed.

For 2013, he was named the field manager of the Trinidad Triggers. The person who had entered the Pecos League as a local supporter and host family only two years earlier now had his own professional team. The league's 2013 managerial announcement specifically listed Droddy as Trinidad's manager after serving as an assistant in 2012.

Then Television Came Calling

What happened next could never have been predicted when Droddy first agreed to help baseball players in Alamogordo. A television production company decided the Pecos League was interesting enough for a reality television series.

The Trinidad Triggers became the focus. Cameras followed the team through its 2013 season. And J.D. Droddy became one of the central personalities.

The resulting six-episode Pecos League television series aired on Fox Sports in 2014. The league later promoted Droddy's unlikely story specifically as "JD Droddy from Host Family to Reality TV Star." ([Pecos League][4])

It was almost impossible to invent a better independent baseball story. Host family. Photographer. Booster club supporter. Baseball operations helper. Assistant manager. Field manager. Reality television personality. All in a matter of a few years.

And all because professional baseball had first come to Alamogordo.

The Television Show Makes Droddy a Pecos League Personality

The television series captured the Pecos League at a particularly raw point in its history. There were long bus rides. Tiny budgets. Unusual ballparks. Players trying desperately to move up. Managers dealing with situations that would rarely exist in affiliated professional baseball.

Droddy was perfect for the show because he was unlike almost any conventional baseball manager. He was older. Highly educated. A military veteran. A lawyer. A former college professor and administrator. A playwright. And now a professional baseball manager.

The league's later history identifies Droddy as a featured character in the Fox reality series and notes that his unusual background eventually led a Houston television station to describe him as "the most interesting man in baseball." ([Pecos League][5])

None of it happens without 2011. None of it happens without Alamogordo. None of it happens without the White Sands Pupfish.

Meanwhile, White Sands Keeps Winning

Back in 2011, the original Pupfish weren't thinking about what J.D. Droddy would become several years later. They were trying to win the first Pecos League championship.

By July 16, White Sands had improved to 32-17 after defeating the Carlsbad Bats. On July 29, the Pupfish defeated Las Cruces 10-2 and improved to 35-23. On August 4, White Sands defeated Roswell 4-3 to move to 37-24.

When the regular season ended, the official standings listed White Sands at 41-29-2. Only the Roswell Invaders finished ahead of them. The first official team in Pecos League history had finished second in the inaugural regular season.

For an expansion organization in a completely new professional league, it was an extraordinary beginning.

The Playoffs End Quickly

White Sands entered the postseason believing it had a legitimate opportunity to win the first Pecos League Championship. The Pupfish had spent much of the season near the top of the standings. They had talented players. They had home support.

But the postseason produced a very different outcome. The Ruidoso Osos eliminated White Sands in the opening round. The league's later historical ranking remembered the 2011 Osos as an unusually cohesive roster and specifically noted that Ruidoso swept White Sands in playoff games that were not close.

The inaugural Pupfish season was over. There would be no championship. Roswell ultimately became the first Pecos League Champion.

But White Sands had accomplished something almost as important. It had demonstrated that the league could work.

The Essary Era Ends Almost Immediately

Despite the success on the field, Keith Essary would not return to manage White Sands in 2012. The league's official archive described a significant local backlash surrounding the manager after the season.

According to that account, White Sands supporters threatened to withdraw support if Essary returned. His off-field issues, public comments and involvement in the infamous Alamogordo bar incident had overwhelmed what had otherwise been a successful first year on the field.

It was classic early Pecos League. A manager could finish second in the league, become one of the most recognizable personalities in town, help create one of the league's first genuine fan bases and still be gone before the following season.

Essary's first Pupfish team had become popular partly because it won and partly because it seemed as though something unpredictable could happen every night. Sometimes that unpredictability occurred at Griggs Park. Sometimes apparently it occurred at Applebee's.

The Pupfish Had Created Real Fan Passion

The strongest evidence that the White Sands Pupfish had succeeded wasn't simply the attendance number. It was the intensity of the reaction surrounding the team.

Fans cared enough about the manager to demand change. They cared enough about the players to become personally invested. They cared enough about the team for White Sands to become one of the league's strongest early markets.

A later Pecos League account recalled the 2011 Pupfish as one of the league's leading teams in fan enthusiasm. That support was strong enough that Alamogordo was selected to host another Pecos League All-Star Game in 2012.

That was the real success of 2011. Matt McNeil had wanted to make professional baseball work at Griggs Field. By the end of one season, Alamogordo wasn't merely watching professional baseball. It was emotionally invested in it.

Pecos League Team Number One

The league would eventually grow far beyond what existed in 2011. Teams would stretch across New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Arizona, California and other states. New stadiums would enter the league. New rivalries would develop. Players would move from the Pecos League to affiliated organizations. Some would eventually reach Major League Baseball.

Reality television would come. Championship franchises would rise and fall. But the digital numbering never forgot which organization came first.

White Sands Pupfish. Team Number One.

The league's later history specifically preserved that fact, identifying White Sands as #1 and Alamogordo as the first city to sign a lease to host a Pecos League team. ([Pecos League][1])

That makes the 2011 Pupfish something more than an old franchise from the Pecos League's early years. They were foundational.

One Summer Creates Multiple Pecos League Legacies

Looking backward, it is remarkable how many threads of future Pecos League history began in Alamogordo during that first season. Keith Essary established himself as one of the league's first memorable managers. White Sands became one of the league's first strong fan markets. Griggs Park became an established Pecos League venue. The Pupfish finished second in the league. The city hosted the league's All-Star festivities. And J.D. Droddy found his way into professional baseball.

Droddy's journey alone demonstrates why the 2011 season deserves to be remembered. He wasn't hired as a manager. He wasn't recruited as a baseball executive. He was simply someone in Alamogordo who became fascinated when professional baseball came to town.

He helped house players. He took photographs. He became a supporter. He learned the league. Then he moved into baseball operations. He became an assistant manager. He became a manager. He became one of the central characters in the Pecos League television show.

And several years later, he would manage the Tucson Saguaros to the 2016 Pecos League Championship. The league continues to recognize Droddy both for his television role and for that championship managerial career. ([Pecos League][4])

The Beginning of the Pecos League

Every league has a beginning that looks much smaller in retrospect than what eventually follows. In 2011, nobody knew whether the Pecos League would survive. Nobody knew whether communities would support the teams. Nobody knew whether players would view the league as a legitimate professional opportunity.

Nobody knew whether municipal stadiums scattered across New Mexico and West Texas could form the foundation of a sustainable independent league. Alamogordo was the first community willing to officially find out.

Matt McNeil helped make Griggs Field ready. The city signed the lease. The Pupfish were created. Keith Essary assembled and managed the team. Players arrived. Fans came through the gates. Games were played. Arguments happened. Rivalries developed. An infamous night at Applebee's became part of league folklore.

And professional baseball took root in Alamogordo.

The Legacy of the 2011 White Sands Pupfish

The 2011 White Sands Pupfish did not win the first Pecos League Championship. Roswell did. But the Pupfish may have been every bit as important to proving the league could survive.

They finished 41-29-2. They finished second in the regular-season standings. They drew 525 fans for the first home game. They hosted the league's first All-Star festivities. They produced one of the league's first great managerial personalities in Keith Essary. They produced one of its first major controversies.

And they created enough passion that fans were already demanding changes before Year Two.

More importantly, the White Sands Pupfish proved something. The Pecos League could put professional baseball in a city such as Alamogordo and make people care.

That was Matt McNeil's dream when Griggs Field was being prepared. By the summer of 2011, the dream was no longer theoretical. There were professional players standing on the field. There were fans in the seats. There was a scoreboard keeping track of wins and losses. There was a pennant race. There were stories people were telling around town.

And there was a retired Air Force officer and Harvard-trained lawyer named J.D. Droddy watching it all and realizing that perhaps he wanted to be part of professional baseball himself.

From that one summer came a franchise that would play in Alamogordo through 2019. From that one summer came one of the league's most recognizable managers. From that one summer came a baseball venue that became synonymous with the Pecos League's earliest years. And from that one summer came proof that the Pecos League itself could work.

That is why the White Sands Pupfish will always occupy a special place in league history. They weren't simply one of the original teams. They were the first official one.

Pecos League Team Number One.

2011 White Sands Pupfish

Manager: Keith Essary
Home: Griggs Park - Alamogordo, New Mexico
Record: 41-29-2
Second Place - Inaugural Pecos League Regular Season
Opening Day Attendance: 525
Hosted the inaugural Pecos League All-Star festivities
Alamogordo was the first city to sign a Pecos League lease
White Sands was designated Pecos League Team #1

And in the summer of 2011, the Pupfish helped turn the Pecos League from an idea into a professional baseball league.