According to a press release on the Pecos League website, Raton will get the Osos franchise after a proposal to share management of the Trinidad, Colo., Triggers fell through.
"Location, location, location. Raton is ideal for the final Northern Division team," wrote league Commissioner Andrew Dunn of the move. "With higher hotel costs and a need for a 5th team in the Northern Divison, Raton is perfect."
Raton becomes the 10th team in a league that had just six in 2011, when the Ruidoso Osos – after a season which saw a change in managers and general managers, tiny crowds on a field with no lights, and players that agreed to play for no play in the last few weeks before the playoffs – were still one game away from winning the first league championship over the Roswell Invaders.
After that season was finished, Dunn made the decision to place the Osos franchise "on hiatus" rather than face another season on a field in which there were no lights, greatly reducing the team's ability to draw fans.
"Ruidoso had one of the coolest campaigns and most popular teams in the Pecos League, for Raton to take over the tradition will be great," Dunn wrote. "Immediately it brings back memories of White Mountain Park in Ruidoso."