The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the state of Texas; the five North Division teams are located in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
The Corpus Christi Hooks are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. They are located in Corpus Christi, Texas, and are named for the city's association with fishing. The team is owned by the Houston Astros. The Hooks play their home games at Whataburger Field, which opened in 2005 and is located on Corpus Christi's waterfront.
Robert Brown Thomson was a Scottish-born American professional baseball player, nicknamed the "Staten Island Scot". He was an outfielder and right-handed batter for the New York Giants, Milwaukee Braves (1954–57), Chicago Cubs (1958–59), Boston Red Sox (1960), and Baltimore Orioles (1960). His pennant-winning three-run home run for the Giants in 1951 is popularly known as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World", and is one of the most famous moments in baseball history. It overshadowed his other accomplishments, including eight 20-home-run seasons and three All-Star selections. "It was the best thing that ever happened to me", he said. "It may have been the best thing that ever happened to anybody."
Willie James Wells, nicknamed "The Devil," was an American baseball player. He was a shortstop who played from 1924 to 1948 for various teams in the Negro leagues and in Latin America.
John Junior Roseboro was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from 1957 until 1970, most prominently as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. A four-time All-Star player, Roseboro is considered one of the best defensive catchers of the 1960s, winning two Gold Glove Awards. He was the Dodgers' starting catcher in four World Series with the Dodgers winning three of those. Roseboro was known for his role in one of the most violent incidents in baseball history when Juan Marichal struck him in the head with a bat during a game in 1965.
The Philadelphia Stars were a Negro league baseball team from Philadelphia. The Stars were founded in 1933 when Ed Bolden returned to professional black baseball after being idle since early 1930. The Stars were an independent ball club in 1933, a member of the Negro National League from 1934 until the League's collapse following the 1948 season, and affiliated with the Negro American League from 1949 to 1952.
Norman Leroy Siebern was an American professional baseball player and scout. He appeared in 1,406 games over a 12-year career in Major League Baseball as a first baseman and left fielder for the New York Yankees, Kansas City Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, California Angels, San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox between 1956 and 1968. A two-time World Series champion and four-time American League All-Star, his best season came in 1962 with the Athletics, when he hit 25 home runs, had 117 runs batted in and a .308 batting average. He might be most remembered, however, as being one of the players the Yankees traded for Roger Maris on December 11, 1959.
The Big State League was a mid-level, Class B level circuit in American minor league baseball that played for 11 seasons, from 1947 through 1957. Its member clubs were exclusively based in Texas. The Corpus Christi Clippers (1955-1956), Texarkana Bears and Wichita Falls Spudders each won two league championships.
The Sophomore League was a Class D level minor league baseball league that operated from 1958 through 1961. League franchises were located in New Mexico and Texas. The league evolved from the Southwestern League, which played in 1956 and 1957. The name change was part of a systemic change. The circuit went from being one with almost no ties to major league baseball to a league where every team was a minor league affiliate of a major league team.
The Laredo Apaches were a minor league baseball team from Laredo, Texas that existed in two different incarnations: 1949-53 and again in 1995.
Schepps Palm Field was a minor league baseball venue located in Corpus Christi, Texas. It was home to the short-lived Corpus Christi Clippers of the Big State League from 1954 to 1957, and the Corpus Christi Giants from 1958 to 1959. The field was challenging to play on due to the widening cracks and hard surface.
Kyle Baseball Field was a baseball venue located in College Station, TX and was approximate to the football stadium, Kyle Field. The ballpark was installed at the same time as the football stadium in 1904; Texas A&M were one of the original members of the Southwest Conference in 1914 but did not begin baseball until 1915.
The 1959 National League tie-breaker series was a best-of-three playoff series that extended Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1959 regular season to decide the winner of the National League (NL) pennant. The tiebreaker series was necessary after the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Braves finished the season with identical win–loss records of 86–68 (.558) on Sunday, September 27, three games ahead of the San Francisco Giants. It was the first tie-breaker in the majors in eight years, also in the National League.
The Austin Braves were a Minor League Baseball team in the East Division of the Texas League and were affiliated with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves. Known as the Austin Senators from 1956 to 1964, they played at Disch Field. In 1965, they became the Austin Braves, finishing in last place with a record of 70–70. In 1966, the Braves finished in fourth place with a record of 67–73. In 1967, the team also finished in fourth place with a record of 69–71. In 1968, the Atlanta Braves moved the Austin Braves to Shreveport, Louisiana, where they played as the Shreveport Braves of the Texas League from 1968 to 1970, leaving the Greater Austin area without a professional baseball team until the Round Rock Express debuted in 2000.
The Magic Valley Cowboys were a minor league baseball team in the Pioneer League for a total of 17 seasons between 1952 and 1971. The team was based in Twin Falls, Idaho — the largest city within the Magic Valley region — and succeeded the Twin Falls Cowboys. The team played at Jaycee Field, located in the northeast corner of the city's Harmon Park.
The Austin Pioneers were a minor league baseball team based in Austin, Texas from 1947 to 1955. The Pioneers were founding members of the Class B level Big State League, qualifying for the playoffs in five seasons and hosting home games at Disch Field.
The Corpus Christi Clippers was a primary name of the minor league baseball teams based in Corpus Christi, Texas between 1910 and 1959. Corpus Christi teams played as members of the Southwest Texas League (1910–1911), Gulf Coast League (1926), Texas Valley League (1927–1928), Rio Grande Valley League (1931), Texas Valley League (1938), Rio Grande Valley League (1949–1950), Gulf Coast League (1951–1953), Big State League (1954–1957), Rio Grande Valley League (1949–1950) and Texas League (1958–1959).
The Beeville Orange Growers was the initial moniker of the minor league baseball teams based in Beeville, Texas between 1910 and 1977. The Beeville Orange Growers played exclusively as members of the Southwest Texas League in 1910 and 1911, winning the 1911 league championship. The Beeville Bees played in the 1926 Gulf Coast League, with the name revived for the 1976 Gulf States League team. The Beeville Blaze played as members of the 1977 Lone Star League.
The Slide was a baseball play that occurred in Game 7 of the 1992 National League Championship Series (NLCS) on October 14, 1992, at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1992, the Atlanta Braves returned to the NLCS and once again defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games, culminating in a dramatic game seven win. Francisco Cabrera's two-out single that scored David Justice and Sid Bream capped a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave the Braves a 3–2 victory. It was the first time in post-season history that the tying and winning runs had scored on a single play in the ninth inning. This marked the end of the three-year divisional championship run of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who after the 1992 season lost Barry Bonds, Doug Drabek, and other key players from those championship teams. The Pirates did not have another winning season until 2013.
