Chico Heat

The Chico Heat was a professional independent baseball team operating in Chico, California in the Western Baseball League. They had no operating agreement with any Major League Baseball team. They were created by Chico Heat Professional Baseball LLC, with former supermarket entrepreneur Steve Nettleton and his wife Kathy serving as principal owners. General managers included Bob Linscheid (who would go to become president of the WBL) and Jeff Kragel (now at Chico State University) and their mascot was the beloved "Heater The Dragon" (not to be confused with the Bakersfield Blaze mascot of the same name).

History

The team began operations in 1997. The team immediately won the league championship in their inaugural season and, although they did not win a championship in the four subsequent years, they won the most regular season games in each of the following seasons. They appeared in the championship series in five out of their six seasons in the league. In 2002, Chico won its second league championship in the league's and the team's final season.

Chico Heat (collegiate wood bat team)

The Chico Heat are a future collegiate wood bat baseball team based in Chico, California. They are owned by Chico Heat, LLC, led by former supermarket entrepreneur Steve Nettleton and Hall of Fame baseball executive and Chico native Pat Gillick. They will be members of the Great West League and will begin play on June 3, 2016 at Nettleton Stadium in Chico replacing the now-defunct Chico Outlaws. They were named after the former Western Baseball League franchise, also owned by Nettleton, that played from 1997 to 2002 and won two WBL Championships.

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