April 6 is opening day for the Texas League, the minor league baseball organization that includes teams from Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, and Tennessee. The Frisco Rough Riders are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, and over the years these notable players have moved up to the Texas Rangers: Elvis Andrus, Josey Gallo, Craig Gentry, Ian Kinsler, Nomar Mazara, Rougned Odor, Jurickson Profar, Justin Smoak, C.J. Wilson, and Mark Teixeira. Current Texas Rangers who previously played in the Texas League include Martin Perez, Corey Seager, Will Smith, and Jake Odorizzi.
Former Texas League president, Tom Kayser, gave his collection on the league’s history to the DeGolyer Library in 2021. Newsletters created by the Texas League from 1969-2001 were recently added to our digital collection, and above is an issue from 30 years ago. The league debuted an updated logo and announced student intern Kurt Daniels in charge of the newsletter (now editor of Dallas Cowboys Star Magazine). Other 1993 newsletters included a profile of Tulsa Drillers athletic trainer and therapist Donna Papangellin, information about league parks, statistics, pitcher of the week, player of the week, game recaps, and general league news.
Here are some Fort Worth Cats and Dallas Eagles baseball programs from 70 years ago, and a Frisco Rough Riders program from 20 years ago.
The Texas League collection contains baseball cards, research files, publications, photographs, and administrative records. A finding aid to the collection is available and 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