BISBEE — The Copper Kings are moving up in the world of baseball.

This year, the team has been asked to join the Pacific Southwest Baseball League.

“This is a step up for baseball in Bisbee,” said Tom Mosier, co-owner and president of the Copper Kings.

The invitation to play in the league was based on the reputation of the Copper Kings management and the historic Warren Ballpark, said Butch Hammett, general manager and coach.

“This has been a premiere league in Arizona for 12 years. We were able to grow into it,” Hammett said.

The Copper Kings are looking for ballplayers who are high school graduates, college players and even college grad players who want to improve their skills and gain more experience during the summer months.

“We’re offering talented young men in Southeast Arizona the opportunity to further their career in baseball. We try to stay as local as possible and recruit from area high schools and colleges. And that helps us attract a larger fan base,” Hammett said.

He likes the integration of the age groups and looks at the college players as being essential to the mix.

They provide experience and help mentor some of the younger players, Hammett said.

As a district manager of the Little League, he has been able to watch boys become young men on the field and off and takes pride in knowing many of his former players. In fact, he was familiar with 21 out of last year’s 25 players who had played in Little League.

The Kings will be facing some stiff competition in the new league thanks to Pac-10 players who join the PSBL teams. Last year, the Havasu Heat took the championship of the National Baseball Congress, which put the league on the map. Other teams in the PSBL include San Luis Banditos, Garden of Gears, Las Vegas Red Vipers and the Casa Grande Cotton Kings, Mosier said.

There will even be a few fun games as the Kings take on the Flying Mustangs from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and maybe even a team from Fort Huachuca.

Most of the games, according to the tentative schedule, will be played in Bisbee, one of the few cool spots in Southeastern Arizona in the summertime.

The season starts May 31, with three games — an exhibition game between the Bisbee Bee’s and the Hot Flashes, followed by a double header with Tucson. The two teams meet again on Sunday, which will be Rotary Club of Bisbee Kids Day.

League play begins on June 6 with a double-header with the Casa Grande Cotton Kings.

The Kings are getting a following from travelers who base their weekend trips around the games, Mosier said.

“Many of our fans are travelers who come here to enjoy the games, the ball parks and Bisbee. Many come from Phoenix. But we’d like to build a local  following as well,” he added. “We want to continue and build on the family atmosphere.”

Last year, the Kings ran an average attendance per game of 300 people. This year the management hopes to boost that as more people hear about the chance to watch talented players up close and personal in the 99-year-old ballpark.

The team gets a lot of support from local businesses, Mosier said.

“This community has really gotten behind us. The Copper Queen Hotel puts on the King’s colors (turquoise, copper and black) on game days and they really support us,” he said.

The teams and visitors coming into town also help the Bisbee economy busy-up during the slower summer months.

“We want to thank everyone who helped us out last year and we’d love to see them come back,” Mosier said.

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For information on the Copper Kings, call Tom Mosier at (520) 732-7325.

For information on the Pacific Southwest Baseball League, go online to pswbl.com.