Humboldt Crabs

• Location: Arcata, CA
• Nickname: Crabs
• League: Western Baseball Association (1967-1969, 1982-1996); Big West Conference (1970-1972); Horizon Air Summer Series (2006-2009, 2012-2013); West Coast League Tri-State (2009-2010); Far West League (2011-2013); Pacific Empire League 2024-;
• Ballpark: Arcata Ball Park

Team History

Founded in 1945, the Humboldt Crabs are the oldest, continuously-operated, collegiate, independent, wood-bat, summer baseball team in the country. The team has played in multiple leagues in the past such as the Far West League (2011-2013) where they won the 2011 and 2012 league championships, but it has mostly played as an independent team during its history.

In the 81+-year history of the Humboldt Crabs, over 300 players have continued on to play professional baseball, with over 70 former Crabs going all the way to the Major Leagues. The Crabs will often play teams from the California Collegiate League, West Coast League, and Golden State Collegiate Baseball League, and other independent collegiate summer teams such as the Medford Rogues and Alaska Goldpanners.

Year by year records

National Rankings through 1985 are for finishes at the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kansas, 2011-13 is the Perfect Game Summer Collegiate Team Rankings, and YSN West Coast Collegiate Summer Power Rankings starting in 2025. (*)denotes California State Semi-Pro Champion

Season	Manager	Coach	Record	National Ranking
1945	Lou Bonomini		11-6
1946	Lou Bonomini	Fred Papini	35-12
1947	Lou Bonomini	Fred Papini	34-13
1948	Lou Bonomini	Fred Papini	26-17
1949	Lou Bonomini	Fred Papini	36-14
1950	Lou Bonomini	Fred Papini, Nobby Paynter	35-12
1951	Lou Bonomini	Fred Papini	36-14
1952	Lou Bonomini	Phil Sarboe, Fred Papini	38-12
1953	Lou Bonomini	Ed Hemingway, Fred Papini	29-11
1954	Lou Bonomini		29-17
1955	Lou Bonomini		22-22
1956	Lou Bonomini		27-10
1957	Lou Bonomini	Fred Papini	24-8
1958	Lou Bonomini		17-11
1959	Lou Bonomini	Eddie Oliveria	19-8
1960	Lou Bonomini	Jack Altman	16-7
1961	Lou Bonomini	Jack Altman	24-5*	5th
1962	Lou Bonomini	Jack Altman	15-6
1963	Lou Bonomini	Bert Holt	27-7*	17th
1964	Lou Bonomini	Bert Holt	27-11*	4rd
1965	Lou Bonomini		25-10*	3rd
1966	Lou Bonomini		29-4*	3rd
1967	Lou Bonomini	Jack Altman	37-7*	4th
1968	Lou Bonomini	Jack Altman	43-11*	3rd
1969	Lou Bonomini	Wayne Hartman	30-11*
1970	Lou Bonomini	Wayne Hartman	18-18*
1971	Lou Bonomini	Tom Wheeler	21-20*
1972	Lou Bonomini	Ron Brown	39-11*
1973	Lou Bonomini	Bob Bonomini	29-19*
1974	Lou Bonomini	Tom Hinkle	27-12-1*	5th
1975	Lou Bonomini	Tom Hinkle	38-7*	5th
1976	Lou Bonomini	Berdy Harr	31-11*
1977	Lou Bonomini	Berdy Harr, Paul Weaver	35-5*	7th
1978	Lou Bonomini	Mike Simpson	40-10
1979	Lou Bonomini	Bob Milano, Ken Snyder	37-16*
1980	Lou Bonomini	Ken Snyder	45-10	7th
1981	Lou Bonomini	Ken Snyder, Al Figone	43-10*	12th
1982	Lou Bonomini	Ken Snyder	27-17
1983	Lou Bonomini	Nick Fuscardo	39-7
1984	Lou Bonomini	Nick Fuscardo	44-10
1985	Lou Bonomini	Bo Hughes	51-3	17th
1986	Lou Bonomini	Bo Hughes	51-8
1987	Lou Bonomini	Tom Giacomini	24-11
1988	Tom Giacomini	Ken Ames	32-12
1989	Tom Giacomini	Ken Ames	38-5
1990	Tom Giacomini	Ken Ames, Steve Neel	44-6
1991	Tom Giacomini	Ken Ames, Steve Neel, Matt Nutter	36-8
1992	Steve Neel	Burch Boehner	32-9
1993	Vince Maiocco	Byron Pontoni	31-6
1994	Vince Maiocco	Bryan Neagle, Sean Harper	32-9
1995	Vince Maiocco	Jeff Menard	35-5
1996	Ken “Shorty” Ames	Al Brisack	35-11
1997	Ken “Shorty” Ames	Al Brisack	44-10
1998	Ken “Shorty” Ames	Al Brisack	41-7
1999	Ken “Shorty” Ames	Al Brisack	45-3
2000	Ken “Shorty” Ames	Robin Guiver, Reggie Christiansen	33-13
2001	Ken “Shorty” Ames	Robin Guiver, Eric Brown	28-13
2002	Ken “Shorty” Ames	Robin Guiver, Eric Brown	43-12
2003	Ken “Shorty” Ames	Robin Guiver, Matt Pidgeon	43-5
2004	Ken “Shorty” Ames	Robin Guiver, Matt Pidgeon	40-9
2005	Ken “Shorty” Ames	Robin Guiver, Matt Pidgeon	37-11
2006	Matt Nutter	Robin Guiver	42-13
2007	Matt Nutter	Robin Guiver, Matt Wilson	42-12
2008	Matt Nutter	Robin Guiver. Matt Wilson	35-13
2009	Matt Nutter	Robin Guiver, Matt Wilson, Mike Jordt	48-11
2010	Matt Nutter	Robin Guiver, Mike Jordt, Tyson Fisher	43-9
2011	Matt Nutter	Robin Guiver, Mike Jordt, Brad Morgan, Tyson Fisher	40-13	20th
2012	Matt Nutter	Robin Guiver, Jeff Giacomini, Brad Morgan	37-9	29th
2013	Matt Nutter	Robin Guiver, Jeff Giacomini, Brad Morgan	42-14	26th
2014	Tyson Fisher	Eric Giacone, Andrew Ayers, David Flores	34-15
2015	Tyson Fisher	Eric Giacone, Andrew Ayers, Andrew Nelson	41-9
2016	Tyson Fisher	Eric Giacone, Tim Wheeler	35-15
2017	Robin Guiver	Eric Giacone, Brad Morgan, Ryan Dettman	39-7
2018	Robin Guiver	Eric Giacone, Brad Morgan, John Bryant	37-10
2019	Robin Guiver	Eric Giacone, Brad Morgan, John Bryant	33-16
2020	Robin Guiver		~	no season
2021	Robin Guiver	Eric Giacone, Brad Morgan, John Bryant	39-6
2022	Robin Guiver	Eric Giacone, Jeff Giacomini, John Bryant	36-10
2023	Robin Guiver	Eric Giacone, Jeff Giacomini, John Bryant	40-7
2024	Robin Guiver	Eric Giacone, Jeff Giacomini, John Bryant	33-17
2025	Robin Guiver	Eric Giacone, Jeff Giacomini, John Bryant	40-10	6th (Regionally)

Crabs in MLB

73 former Crabs went on to play in the Major Leagues: Dave Melton (1949), John Oldham (1952-1953, 1961–1962), Chuck Nieson (1961), Danny Frisella (1964), Rich Nye (1965), Mike Paul (1965), Buzz Stephen (1965), Sandy Vance (1966), Steve Hovley (1966), Jim Nettles (1966), Bob Gallagher (1966), Greg Shanahan (1967-1970), Lute Barnes (1967-1968), Rick Sawyer (1967), Ken Hottman (1968), Ken Crosby (1968), Rick Miller (1968), Dane Iorg (1968-1970), Bruce Bochte (1969), Bill Bonham (1969), Eric Raich (1970), Bob Kammeyer (1971), Rich Dauer (1972), Frank LaCorte (1972), Warren Brusstar (1973), Steve Davis (1973), Barry Bonnell (1974), Sandy Wihtol (1974), Randy Niemann (1975), Bruce Benedict (1976), Joe Price (1976), Jim Wessinger (1976), Tim Tolman (1976), Mike Gates (1977), Stefan Wever (1977), Craig Lefferts (1978), Rich Bordi (1978), Jim Scranton (1978), Tom Dodd (1978-1979), Rod Booker (1979), Jack Fimple (1979-1980), La Schelle Tarver (1980), Jim Wilson (1981), Colin Ward (1981), Shane Turner (1982), Scott Anderson (1982-1983), Jose Mota (1983), John Fishel (1983), Xavier Hernandez (1984), Mike Harkey (1985), Scott Chiamparino (1985), Steve Olin (1985–86), Eric Gunderson (1985–86), Dennis Springer (1986), Scott Lewis (1986), Victor Cole (1987), Ed Giovanola (1988), Greg Gohr (1988), Gary Wilson (1989), Mike Redmond (1991), Mike Kinkade (1992), Roland Delamaza (1992), Mike Thurman (1993), Rob Ryan (1993), Josh Pearce (1998), Leo Rosales (2002), Brett Pill (2003), Vinnie Pestano (2004), Bradley Zimmer (2012), Jason Alexander (2016), James Outman (2016), David Hamilton (2016), and David Morgan (2021).

Four players, Lee Gregory (1966–67), Bill Serena (1961), Eddie Kearse (1951), and Floyd Stromme (1950) played for the Crabs after playing in the majors.

Famous Crabs

Bill Prentice (1946), Dick Clegg (1949), Roger Osenbaugh (1949-1950), Bob Milano (player 1962–1963, coach 1979), Augie Garrido (1966), Mark Marquess (1966-1967), Russ McQueen (1971-1972), Brad Kelley (1973), Tom Beyers (1977–78), Pat Casey (1980), Kerwin Danley (1982), Mike Dotterer (1982), Gary Henderson (1983), Reggie Christiansen (player 1995–1996, coach 2000), Marco Grifantini (2004), Steve Detwiler (2007, 2009), and Alex Crosby (2014).