Ten Years Ago City Hall Blew Up, Birthing the El Paso Chihuahuas
It's hard to believe but Chico The Chihuahua ... and his teammates ... will turn 10 years old this season.
In 2013, an idea hatched by Mountain Star Sports finally began to come to life. They had wanted to bring minor league baseball back to El Paso after El Paso Diablos went away.
After shopping around, they made a deal to purchase the Tucson Padres, the "farm team" for the San Diego Padres. With all their ducks finally in a row, it was truly time to ... "PLAY BALL".
First, a location had to be chosen. No problem there, the city decided the old City Hall building was a perfect sacrificial lamb as it was old and in need of major renovations.
It was also almost exactly where they wanted the stadium to be.
So, how do you move a gigantic, 10-story building? The answer. Piece by piece. A demolition was arranged, most of the city turned up to watch and the (construction) playing field was cleared.
One more video, taken from a different angle.
Now that space was cleared, a design was approved and construction started.
Once all the City Hall debris was cleared, in came the bulldozers, and up went the stadium.
In just under a year, Southwest University Park rose from the rubble. You can watch it happen in just under 2 minutes.
A ton of possible team names were submitted and the list was gradually narrowed down to Aardvarks, Buckaroos, Chihuahuas, Desert Gators, and Sun Dogs
I'm good with "Chihuahuas" for the team and with "Chico" for their mascot. He's a cool guy ... even if he did once try to steal my motorcycle.