Tombstone
Born: 1978 – California League expansion franchise
Folded: 1979
First Game: April 13, 1978 (L 3-2 vs. Modesto A’s)
Last Game: August 31, 1979 (W 4-1 @ Visalia Oaks)
California League Championships: None
Stadium
Sam Lynn Park (4,500)11979 San Jose Missions Yearbook
Ownership & Affiliation
Owner: Dan Walker
Major League Affiliation: Independent
Attendance
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Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 2007
Background
The Bakersfield Outlaws were a short-lived Class A minor league baseball team in the California League. The Outlaws managed to survive through two seasons operating as an independent club, without a Major League parent organization to provide players and share costs.
Sam Lynn Park
The Outlaws faced a number of stadium problems at 38-year old Sam Lynn Park. It was a rare ballpark built with home plate facing west, so that batters at evening games face directly into the setting sun. A stand of trees behind the outfield fence helped shield batters’ eyes for many years, but the arrival of Dutch Elm disease in California in the mid-1970’s destroyed the natural barrier. The death of the trees, along with the stadium’s cramped clubhouse, reportedly contributed to the demise of Bakersfield’s previous California League ballclub, the Bakersfield Dodgers (1968-1975).2Earl Gustkey. “Outlaws Rescue Class A Baseball”. The Times (Los Angeles, CA). April 16, 1978
The sun and the dead trees weren’t the only stadium challenges. The city of Bakersfield condemned a section of the right field stands two months before the Outlaws opened their first season in April 1978.
Because of a superseding commitment to host a softball tournament at Sam Lynn Park, the Outlaws had to play their final 27 games of the 1979 season on the road.
On The Field
The Outlaws were dreadful on the field, finishing last place in both 1978 (48-92) and 1979 (63-77).
A couple of Outlaws players did make it to the Majors though. First baseman Gene Krug hit .318 with 15 homers and 103 RBI for Bakersfield in 1978. He earned a cup of coffee with the Chicago Cubs during the spring of 1981.
Onix Concepcion was the Outlaw’s big success story. The 21-year old shortstop played the entire 1979 season in Bakersfield on loan from the Kansas City Royals organization and hit .300. By August of the following year, he was in the Majors with Kansas City and he was the starting shortstop for the Royals’ 1985 World Series championship team.
The Outlaws folded up at the end of the 1979 season. The California League returned to Bakersfield a couple of years later with the formation of the Bakersfield Mariners in 1982.
Bakersfield Outlaws Shop
Links
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