Tombstone
Born: May 25, 1961 – The Victoria Rosebuds relocate to Ardmore, OK in midseason1ASSOCIATED PRESS. “Ardmore Joins Texas League Chase”. The Paris News (Paris, TX). May 26, 1961
Moved: October 9, 1961 (Albuquerque Dukes)
First Game: May 27, 1961 (L 12-3 @ Amarillo Gold Sox)
Last Game: September 1, 1961 (L 2-1 @ Victoria Giants)
Texas League Championships: None
Stadium
Cardinal Park (2,800)2ASSOCIATED PRESS. “Ardmore Baseball Fans Are Excited About TL Debut”. The News-Record (Miami, OK). June 4, 1961
Ownership & Affiliation
Owner: Derrest Williams
Major League Affiliation: Baltimore Orioles
Background
Thank you to reader Alan Strout for sending in this ultra rare scorebook (above) from the 1961 Ardmore Rosebuds of the Texas League.
The small Oklahoma city of Ardmore (pop. 20,184 in the 1960 census) hosted Class D ball in the Sooner State League during the post-WW II minor league baseball boom, but the Ardmore Cardinals folded along with the rest of the Sooner State League following the 1957 season. The city lucked into a Class AA ball club in the spring of 1961 when Derrest Williams, owner of the Texas League’s Victoria Rosebuds, grew weary of losing $500 per night playing to puny crowds in that Texas city. 43 games into the season, Williams gained approval from his fellow league owners to pull up stakes and move to Ardmore’s 2,800-seat Cardinal Park.
Weirdly, the league’s Harlingen Giants also executed a midseason move a couple of weeks later and they decided to move to Victoria, meaning that one of the Ardmore’s new Texas League opponents was the city they themselves just left.
In Competition
The Victoria/Ardmore Rosebuds were a Baltimore Orioles farm club and not a particularly good one. The club finished last place in the 6-team Texas League with a 57-83 mark.
The team’s best player was 18-year old southpaw Dave McNally, an 18-year old bonus baby seeing his first pro action on an $80,000 contract with Baltimore. But McNally left Rosebuds before the team arrived in Ardmore, demoted to the Three-I League after an 0-3 start in Victoria. McNally would soon recover and was in the Majors with the Orioles by age 19. He went to onto win 181 games for Baltimore between 1962 and 1974 and earned two World Series rings with the O’s.
Move To Albuquerque
In a coordinated move in the fall of 1961, ownership groups from El Paso, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico bought out the owners of the two smallest cities in the Texas League: Ardmore and the Victoria Giants club that had replaced the Rosebuds. El Paso and Albuquerque would help to stabilize the Texas League for years to come as the Minor League Baseball industry continued to battle very lean times during the 1960’s.
Ardmore, meanwhile, never again hosted pro baseball after the departure of the Rosebuds at the end of the 1961 season.
Ardmore Rosebuds Shop
Editor's Pick
The Texas League Baseball Almanac
By David King & Tom Kayser
Since forming in 1888, the Texas League has produced some of the most beloved American baseball players and seen more than its fair share of colorful events. In 1931, Houston pitcher Dizzy Dean pitched and won both ends of a double-header in Fort Worth, throwing a three-hit shutout in the second game. In 1906, center fielder Tris Speaker pitched for Cleburne to beat Temple 10-3. In 1998, Arkansas’ Tyrone Horne hit for the “homer cycle” in San Antonio, finishing to a standing ovation. “The Texas League Baseball Almanac” delivers day by day the record-breaking events, personal triumphs and memorable games that helped to shape baseball in the region. Join authors David King and Tom Kayser on a nine-inning trip down one of minor-league baseball’s most historic institutions, both in season and off.
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