Baseball fans have waited all season to see who will battle for the World Series championship. The formidable Houston Astros swept the Yankees and now they are looking to beat the wildcard Philadelphia Phillies. Many of these players began their career in the minor leagues around the country, including the Texas League. Three players from the Houston Astros played for the Corpus Christi Hooks: Jose Altuve, Lance McCullers Jr., and Aledmys Diaz. Diaz also previously played for the Springfield Cardinals. Many baseball players in the minor leagues do not always move up to play in the major leagues. They sometimes have entirely different careers, like Kurt Russell. He played for the El Paso Sun Kings in 1973 before returning to his acting career.
The Texas League was founded in 1888 by John J. McCloskey, and throughout its history the league has organized minor league baseball in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, and Tennessee. In 2022 the current teams are:
- Amarillo Sod Poodles
- Arkansas Travelers
- Corpus Christi Hooks
- Frisco Rough Riders
- Midland RockHounds
- Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- San Antonio Missions
- Springfield Cardinals
- Tulsa Drillers
- Wichita Wind Surge
The Frisco Rough Riders are the 2022 Texas League champions. Their first time to win the league title was in 2004, just one year after the team was founded in Frisco, Texas.
Former Texas League president, Tom Kayser, wrote a history of the league in 2005. After he retired, Kayser gave his collection on the league’s history to the DeGolyer Library in 2021. A finding aid to the collection is available at https://txarchives.org/smu/finding_aids/00396.xml. The collection mostly contains statistics and research notes, but there are also baseball cards, photographs, programs, scrapbooks, and scorecards. Researchers are welcome to visit the library to view the collection and related books. Please contact degolyer@smu.edu for assistance in DeGolyer Library.
Sources:
Tom Kayser collection on the Texas League, MSS 175, https://txarchives.org/smu/finding_aids/00396.xml
Kayser, Tom. Baseball in the lone star state: the Texas League’s greatest hits. San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 2005. GV875.T36 K39 2005