Minor sports leagues a major presence in Texas
Down on the Farm
America's love affair with professional sports has endured player strikes and owner lockouts for decades. At their best, sports remind fans of a simpler time--a time filled with baseball played in the sunshine and heard on radios, a time before countless sports channels on cable television. A holdover of that earlier era is gaining new life across the country and in the Lone Star State.
It is known by several names in sporting circles: Double-A; the farm system; or perhaps more simply, the minors. Minor league sports have been in Texas since the late 1800s, according to the Texas League's official Web site, www.texas-league.com. Houston, Galveston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio all fielded minor league baseball teams in 1888. Of those cities, only San Antonio has a minor league team today.
Texas' professional sports teams--such as the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Astros and San Antonio Spurs'are more widely known than their minor league counterparts, but the minor's small-town settings and affordable, family-oriented entertainment have fans coming out to minor league ballparks in record numbers.
The Texas League
Minor league baseball in the U.S. began in the 1800s, but became organized in 1901 when the presidents of seven leagues around the country formed the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, which is now known as Minor League Baseball.The Texas League opened play in 1888 and added professional affiliations in 1919. A professional affiliation is a partnership with a franchise from Major League Baseball (MLB). The Texas League has been in Double-A (AA) minor league baseball ever since, except during World War II.
Despite the "Texas" in the name, the Texas League has long featured teams spread throughout the South, in places like Albuquerque, N.M. and Lafayette, La.
The league, however, has shown signs of moving a little "closer to home" in recent years. The eight-team league saw its Jackson, Miss., franchise move to Round Rock, Texas, in 2000. Similarly, the Shreveport, La. franchise closed its operations following the 2002 season and will re-emerge in 2003 near the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Frisco, Texas.
The Midland Rockhounds have been in the league since 1972 and each year face the challenge of not only being the smallest market in the Texas League but, according to Monty Hoppel, general manager of the Rockhounds, in all of AA baseball.
Midland unveiled the new First American Bank Ballpark (FABB) for the 2002 season, and it was named the best new ballpark in the nation by baseballparks.com, an organization devoted to baseball stadiums nationwide. The FABB helped the organization draw more than 275,000 spectators to 69 home dates in 2002--an increase of more than 125,000 fans from 2001. The team ranked third in Texas League attendance. Hoppel says it's just one example of what he thinks is a growing interest in minor league baseball in Texas.
"[The league] is really strong," Hoppel says. "I'm not a big fan of teams moving around from place to place, but the [fans and owners] are real excited about the team moving to Frisco, and that will give all eight markets either a new ballpark, or at least one that's been completely remodeled."
The new ballpark, increased attendance and a strong relationship with the city of Midland and their fan base led the Rockhounds to sign a new 15-year lease with the city, securing at least the short-term future of minor league baseball in the Permian Basin. Hoppel adds that a solid relationship with the community is a must.
"If you don't have a great relationship with the city and with [MLB]," says Hoppel, "then you're going to have trouble."
The Rockhounds' affiliation with the Oakland A's of MLB's American League will enter its fifth season in 2003.
"AA is the level where this city wants to be. The fans here don't want a team in an independent league; they want the major league connection," says Hoppel. "AA is the level where teams put their stars of the future, the guys you'll see down the road, hopefully in the playoffs or the World Series."
It was the move of another long-time Texas League franchise, the Jackson, Miss. Generals, that has been the most noticed change of venue in AA baseball. The team moved to Round Rock, Texas--just north of Austin--in 2000 and was renamed the Round Rock Express.
The Express is the AA affiliate of the Houston Astros. Astros owner Drayton McLane says the Houston team is thrilled about the close proximity of the Round Rock Express.
"To be successful in any business you have to build and maintain customer support, and it is often here in the minor leagues that local area fans have a real opportunity to get to know young talented players," he says. McLane says that as minor-league players move up to major league teams, fans continue to enthusiastically support those players.
"It benefits both teams and strengthens the organization," he says.
The Express saw AA-record attendance its opening season in 2000, surpassed it in 2001, then topped it again 2002, drawing more than 670,000 fans in 70 home dates.
Charlie Dromgoole, president of the Round Rock Chamber of Commerce, says the Express has captured the hearts of local residents.
"Many of them take care of whatever it is they're doing during the day, and then head out to a ballgame in the evening," Dromgoole says.
Round Rock's stadium, called the Dell Diamond after its main sponsor, Dell Computer Corp., also hosted the high school state championship games in classes 2A, 4A and 5A in 2002. The Dell Diamond has the capacity to host corporate functions and other events as well.
"It's not just the ballpark," Dromgoole adds, "but the venue itself adds opportunities for events to be staged there during the off-season."
The independents
The Texas League had only three franchises in Texas in the early 1990s, and that caught the attention of two Dallas-area businessmen and baseball fans, who set into motion plans to establish another baseball league with teams scattered across Texas and Louisiana. The Texas-Louisiana League took to the field in 1994 and will start its 10th season in May 2003, but with some changes.The Texas-Louisiana League is under new ownership and a new name--the Central Baseball League (CBL)--and is gaining permanent footholds in its eight current markets, five of which are in Texas.
The San Angelo Colts brought minor league baseball back to that city in 2000 for the first time since 1957. In only their third year of existence, they won the league title, the first in San Angelo since 1955, and drew an average of more than 1,900 fans per game for 47 home dates. It's a formula for success similar to the Texas League's--new, permanent facilities and, as General Manager Harlan Bruha says, good community relations and affordable entertainment.
"We've got a great relationship with the chamber of commerce and the city," says Bruha. "Our goal is to provide affordable, family entertainment and at the same time be a model business for the community."
Fort Worth has experienced a similar return on an investment with the return of minor league baseball.
"It's been a very natural fit," says Fort Worth Cats General Manager Monty Clegg. "There's a lot of memories for folks who went to Cats' games as kids with their fathers and grandfathers, and we've brought some of that back."
Fort Worth had a minor league baseball team from 1888 until 1958--with the last 26 years under the nickname "Cats"--but with the exception of a one-year stint in 1964 there had been no baseball in Fort Worth. That is, until the Cats returned in 2001. In an effort to help stir the echoes of years gone by, the Cats' new stadium was named LaGrave Field, the same as the former franchise's home, which was partially destroyed by fire in 1949 and later torn down.
"The new site was built on the old site. Home plate is exactly where it was in the old LaGrave Field," says Clegg.
The most visible distinction in the two leagues--the Texas League and the Central League--is the CBL's lack of affiliation with MLB. Clegg says that is always a challenge for independent leagues, but adds the fans don't seem to mind.
"There's always the drawing power of the MLB name, and you don't have that in independent ball," Clegg says. "It's always an education process. Quite frankly, it doesn't matter to the fans. Whether we're affiliated or not, the fans don't seem to care. They come for family entertainment, for fun and to see some good baseball."
Ice storm
While minor league baseball seems to be gathering steam in Texas, minor league hockey has been blazing its own trail across the state. The Central Hockey League (CHL), which merged with the former Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL) in 2001, is 16 teams strong in 2002, and nine of those franchises are in Texas."The merger really helped solidify hockey in Texas," says Mark Adams, general manager of the Lubbock Cotton Kings. "We went from 10 to 16 teams [overall] when that happened."
Adams says the Cotton Kings were number one in attendance in the WPHL, and their numbers have not slipped. But with the addition of other, established markets of the CHL, Lubbock now ranks fourth in attendance. He adds the success of the National Hockey League's Dallas Stars has increased hockey's popularity in the Lone Star State.
"The Stars have to be given some credit," he says. "With their success, it's helped us all."
There are plans for expansion of the league, which has announced that two new franchises--one in Colorado and the other in Hidalgo, Texas--will open play in 2003. According to the CHL, the league experienced a 16 percent increase in overall attendance in 2002, and in the postseason led all North American minor professional hockey leagues in attendance, averaging more than 4,300 fans per game. Adams says those factors, combined with the 11-year history of the league paint a bright picture for the future.
"There's some stability in the league now," Adams says. "We're very optimistic about the future."
Clint Shields
