Pioneer League Names Executive Of The Year Award After Longtime Ogden Raptors Owner

OGDEN, Utah—Dave Baggott has long been associated with Wasatch front baseball, from his time with the Salt Lake Trappers to his ownership of the Ogden Raptors.

The Pioneer Baseball League announced the ‘Executive of the Year Award’ would be named after Raptors owner Dave Baggott on Tuesday, September 3.

“It’s been a hell of a ride,” said Bags. “I’d be stupid to do anything else. I mean, who wouldn’t want to wake up and come to the ballpark every day? A lot of people think that being in professional baseball has a lot of glitz and glamor, but all we’re really doing is selling hot dogs for a living. We’re not in the baseball business; we’re in sales.”

Game day tickets going on sale very soon at https://t.co/BrEV6ckUIL pic.twitter.com/lJZ8ULz340

— Ogden Raptors (@OgdenRaptors) April 24, 2024

Baggott’s Pioneer Baseball League career began in 1985 as a player for the Idaho Falls Eagles. After his playing days, Baggott found his way into the press box, where he worked as the Trappers PA announcer.

He endeared himself to fans with a unique flare that included celebrity impressions, singing, and barking like a dog to encourage Trapper rallies. After the Trappers left Salt Lake for Idaho in 1992, Baggott teamed with Johnny Lindquist to relocate the club back to Utah. The franchise settled in Ogden, Utah, and became a PBL fixture.

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Following three years in a temporary ballpark, the Raptors opened Lindquist Field in 1997.

“The site was an old iron works plant with contaminated soil, but when the mayor took us to the site, we knew it had to be the place for our ballpark,” Baggott remembered. “The view just takes your breath away.”

2024 is Baggott’s 40th year in the PBL.

“Dave Baggott personifies and represents everything great about Minor League Baseball,” said his friend and colleague Dave Heller, owner of the Billings Mustangs. “He’s fan-friendly, community-oriented, passionate about the game, and, above all, a prince of a human being. There is no better advocate for and representative of Minor League Baseball than Dave Baggott.”

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Brian Preece is a sports.ksl.com insider covering Locals in MLB and Salt Lake Bees. Follow Brian’s Bees and Beehive baseball coverage here.

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