Cleburne Railroaders

Last updated

Cleburne Railroaders
Cleburne Railroaders logo.svg
Logo
Information
League American Association of Professional Baseball  (East Division)
Location Cleburne, Texas
Ballpark La Moderna Field
Founded 2017
ColorsCaboose Red, Steel Rail Blue, Whistle Post White
   
Manager Pete Incaviglia
Website railroaderbaseball.com

The Cleburne Railroaders are a professional baseball team based in Cleburne, Texas, that plays in the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball. [1] The team, which began play in 2017, plays its home games at La Moderna Field. [2]

Contents

History

The history of professional baseball in Cleburne goes back to the original Cleburne Railroaders, which played in the Texas League, winning the 1906 league championship. However, this team lasted only one season. [3] A second iteration of the Railroaders competed in the Texas–Oklahoma League in 1911-1912, winning the 1911 championship. They played their home games at Gorman's Park, now part of Hulen Park.

The modern Railroaders were announced as an expansion franchise in the American Association on October 6, 2016. [4] The team plays in The Depot at Cleburne Station (now La Moderna Field), a new $25 million stadium that was recognized as a fan-favorite independent league stadium by Ballpark Digest in 2017. [5]

On June 12, 2020, it was announced that the Railroaders were one of six teams that would go on hiatus during an abbreviated 2020 American Association season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. [6]

In 2021, the Cleburne Railroaders announced three new additions to their ownership group: Neil Leibman, Alan Miller, and Jon Ryan. [7] Leibman is the Texas Rangers Chief Operating Officer and President of Business Operations and owns multiple professional sports teams. [8] Miller is the owner of COLLiDE Agency and Ryan is a former NFL player and are part owners of the Portland Pickles independent baseball team located in Oregon. In 2025 the Railroaders brought in VP of Sales Gary Olson.

The Railroaders’ colors were originally orange and blue. In 2021, the team’s colors were changed to reflect the red, blue, and white of the flag of Texas: “caboose red,” “steel rail blue,” and “whistle post white.” [9]

The Railroaders’ home uniform is a white jersey with “Railroaders” script across the chest. The pants are white with red and navy piping, the numbers are red, and on the sleeve there are Gandy and American Association patches. The away jerseys consist of a grey jersey and grey pants with the same patches as the home uniforms on the sleeves. There is also a “Heritage” uniform which features a navy blue top and grey pants with stirrups mimicking the ones worn by the original Railroaders team back in 1906. [9]

Gandy

Railroaders also introduced a new mascot to their team, known as Gandy. Gandy will join Spike, the original mascot, in representing the Railroaders and what they stand for. Gandy's background is that he was a part of the Santa Fe railroad track maintenance gang. These maintenance gangs were known as Gandy Dancers because they would sing a variety of songs while they were working on the track. [9]

Season-by-season records

Cleburne Railroaders season records
SeasonLeagueDivisionRegular SeasonPostseasonManagerRef
RecordWin%DivisionGBRecordWin%Result
2017AASouth47–53.4702nd14.5Did not qualify Gabe Suárez
2018AASouth33–66.3335th37.5Did not qualifyGabe Suárez
2019AASouth57–43.5703rd1Did not qualify Brent Clevlen
2020 AASouthOn hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 AASouth54–46.5402nd150–1.000Lost Wild Card Game 4–0 to Sioux City Explorers Mike Jeffcoat (19–18),
Logan Watkins (35–28) [a]
2022 AAEast50–50.5004th42–3.400Won East Division Semi Finals 2–1 to Kane County Cougars, Lost East Division Championship 2–0 to Milwaukee Milkmen Logan Watkins
2023AAEast46–54.4604th101–2.333Lost East Division Semi Finals 2–0 to Chicago Dogs Pete Incaviglia
2024 AAEast60–40.6001st–1–2.333Lost East Division Semi Finals 2–1 to Chicago Dogs Pete Incaviglia
2025 AAEast––Pete Incaviglia
  1. ↑ On June 30, 2021, Jeffcoat announced his retirement and Watkins was named interim manager. [10]

Roster

Cleburne Railroaders roster
Active (25-man) rosterCoaches/Other

Pitchers

  • 10 Jaime Arias
  • 26 Bryce Bonnin
  • 18 Luke Boyd
  • 27 Taylor Broadway
  • 32 Derek Craft
  • 40 Trey Dillard
  • 24 Austin Faith
  • 37 Blair Henley
  • 12 Gabe Klobosits
  • 30 Cristian Lopez
  • 16 Kade Mechals
  • 39 Nick Paciorek
  • 28 Kristian Scott
  • 29 Mike Shawaryn
  • 31 Zeke Wood



 

Catchers

  • 23 Jacob Morrow
  • 21 Andres Sosa

Infielders

Outfielders

 

Manager

Coaches

  • 14 Brooks Carey (bench)
  • 22 Billy Horn (pitching)
  • 13 Rudy Jaramillo (hitting)
  •    Jacob Popoff (clubhouse manager)
  •    Arturo Valles (trainer)

Injury icon 2.svg Disabled list
‡ Inactive list
§ Suspended list

Roster  updated May 8, 2025
 Transactions

Notable alumni

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ Reichard, Kevin (September 24, 2020). "American Association, Frontier League now MLB Partner Leagues". Ballpark Digest. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  2. ↑ Smith, Matt (June 13, 2016). "The Depot stadium construction begins" . Cleburne Times-Review. Archived from the original on November 22, 2023. Retrieved January 5, 2025.
  3. ↑ "League Champions". October 2015. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Cleburne Railroaders join American Association". American Association of Independent Baseball. October 6, 2016. Archived from the original on October 9, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Best of the Ballparks 2017, Independent Baseball: The Depot at Cleburne Station". Ballpark Digest. July 3, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Independent American Association to start baseball season July 3 with limited fans". ESPN. June 12, 2020. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  7. ↑ Francis, Robert (March 18, 2021). "Texas Rangers executive, others added to Cleburne Railroaders ownership group". Fort Worth Business Press. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  8. ↑ Stevenson, Stefan (March 17, 2021). "Texas Rangers President, Former NFL Punter Join Cleburne Railroaders Ownership Group". Fort Worth Star-Telegram . Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  9. 1 2 3 Crisp, A. J. "Railroader makeover; New colors, logos, uniforms 'put Cleburne on the map'". Cleburne Times-Review. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Railroaders Manager Mike Jeffcoat Announces Retirement". railroaderbaseball.com. Cleburne Railroaders. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  11. ↑ Cain, Scott (2017). Cleburne Baseball: A Railroader History. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press. ISBN   9781467137010. OCLC   959035985.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.