The San Luis Obispo Blues began in 1946 when founding manager Sandy Leguina gathered a group of WWII vets coming home to San Luis Obispo, who wanted to play baseball. He added a few younger players and began the season as the San Luis Obispo Merchants playing against semipro and town teams from throughout California.

     It was only a few weeks later that George Baker, sports editor of the Telegram-Tribune newspaper, commented in a column that any team worth anything should be called something more colorful than the “Merchants.” He offered the name “Blues” and said that if no one else could suggest a better name, he would start calling them that. He referenced that their uniforms had blue lettering and blue stockings and declared that any objections should be addressed to his desk, “else in the future we will” use the new name.

     So his article on the Blues’ June 30, 1946, game with the Los Angeles Cubs, a highly regarded semipro team, was headlined “Blues to Meet LA Cubs.” That, incidentally, was a contest won by the Blues, 8-1. The team developed land near Mission San Luis Obispo that was owned by the Catholic diocese as its home field. Located adjacent to where Mission College Prep now sits, that site is now used by MCP high school as the home field for its athletic program.

     There is still a handful of players from the late 40s and early 50s that reside in the Central Coast area, and can be spotted occasionally at home games of the Blues, including Eddie Angelo, Jerry Hurley, Hal Martin, Dick Morrow, Buddy Rosa, Ron Rodenberger, Charles “Doc” Seger, and Jim Zanoli.

     The Blues became directly connected to the roots of Little League, Babe Ruth, youth baseball, and the American Legion baseball programs in San Luis Obispo when, during the 1950s and 1960s, it was Leguina and other members of the team who provided the organizational leadership, coaches, and other resources for the various leagues and teams.

     Many men who have gone on to play or manage in the Major League Baseball have played for or against the SLO Blues over the years, among them Hall of Famer Leroy "Satchel" Paige, Jim Lonborg, Chuck Estrada, Mel Queen, Joe Amalfitano, Rocky Bridges, Jim Lefebvre, Dean Treanor, Tom Morgan, Virgil Trucks, Tom Hutton, Andy Messersmith, and Brian Fuentes.