Tombstone
Born: September 27, 1984 – Affiliation change from Midland Cubs
Re-Branded: September 16, 1998 (Midland Rockhounds)1Erfort, John. “Let’s get ready to Rock”. The American (Odessa, TX). September 17, 1998
First Game: April 9, 1985 (L 6-5 @ El Paso Diablos)
Last Game: August 29, 1998 (W 7-6 @ Wichita Wranglers)
Texas League Championships: None
Stadium
Angels Stadium (5,000)21998 Jackson Generals Program
Opened: 1952
Ownership & Affiliation
Owners:
- 1985 – 1987: Bernard Lankford & Max Christensen
- 1987 – 1990: Richard Holtzman
- 1990 – 1998: Miles Prentice & Bob Richmond
Major League Affiliation:
- 1985-1996: California Angels
- 1997-1998: Anaheim Angels
Attendance
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Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 2007
Background
The Midland Angels were a long-time Class AA farm club of the California/Anaheim Angels between 1985 and 1998. The Texas League franchise originally formed in 1972 as the Midland Cubs. The Angels replaced the Chicago Cubs as Midland’s parent club prior to the 1985 season.
Midland rarely gave local fans much to cheer for in the Texas League pennant chase during the Angels’ era. The team posted only two winning seasons (1987 and 1989) in fourteen years and offered up nine straight losing campaigns during the 1990’s. Odessa American sports editor Cameron Hollway suggested geographical bias by the Angels contributed to Midland’s streak of poor teams:
“For nothing more than geographic concerns, Anaheim development personnel always could keep a closer eye on its prospects by keeping them in [Class A] Lake Elsinore, California or [Class AAA] Vancouver. Thus, Anaheim has had a tendency to leave good first-year players in Lake Elsinore and to promote good prospects out of Midland to Vancouver, often too early.”3Hollway, Cameron. “Midland does the right thing by teaming with A’s”. The American (Odessa, TX). September 17, 1998
In spite of the Midland Angels’ relentless losing during the 1990’s, long-time general manager Monty Hoppel and his staff steadily built up the club’s attendance throughout the decade and cemented Midland’s status as a fixture in the Texas League. In 1995, Baseball America awarded the Midland Angels its prestigious Bob Freitas Award as the nation’s most outstanding Class AA minor league baseball franchise.
Key Players
Top future Major Leaguers who developed at Midland during the Angels era included:
- Outfielder Devon White (Midland ’85)
- Outfielder Dante Bichette (Midland “86)
- Relief pitcher Bryan Harvey (Midland ’87)
- Pitcher Robert Hernandez (Midland ’88-’89)
- Outfielder Tim Salmon (Midland ’90-’91)
- Second baseman Damion Easley (Midland ’91 & ’96)
- Outfielder Garret Anderson (Midland ’92)
- Outfielder Jim Edmonds (Midland ’92)
- Pitcher Troy Percival (Midland ’92)
- Catcher Benjie Molina (Midland ’96-’97-’98)
- Pitcher Jarrod Washburn (Midland ’96-’97)
- Third baseman Troy Glaus (Midland ’98)
- Pitcher Ramon Ortiz (Midland ’98)
Salmon, Anderson, Percival, Molina, Washburn, Glaus and Ortiz all became key contributors to the Anaheim Angels 2002 World Series championship team.
Midland also hosted a number of former Major League regulars making rehab appearances or attempting comebacks on the back nine of their careers. Noteworthy members of this group included:
- 1981 National League Cy Young Award winner Fernando Valenzuela made four solid starts (3-1, 1.96 ERA) for Midland in 1991.
- 41-year old future Hall-of Famer Bert Blyleven made five starts for Midland in 1992
- 39-year old Pedro Guerrero played 66 games for Midland in 1995 (.302/.376/.437) in an unsuccessful Major League comeback attempt
Joe Maddon, Midland’s field manager for the 1985 and 1986 seasons, became one of the most highly respected Major League managers of the early 21st century with the Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago Cubs. In 2016 Maddon led the Cubs to their first World Series championship since 1908.
Angels To Rockhounds
Midland’s final Player Development Contract with the Angels expired at the end of the 1998 season. Team officials signed a new PDC with the Oakland Athletics in September 1998. Concurrent with the change in parent clubs, Midland announce the team would be re-branded as the Midland RockHounds for the 1999 season.
A RockHound is a nickname for a geologist who explores for oil and gas deposits and references the huge influence of the oil and natural gas industry in Texas’ Permian Basin region.
As of 2022, the RockHounds remain in the Texas League and continue their affiliation with the Oakland Athletics. The Midland/Oakland partnership has now far outlived Midland’s earlier long-term relationships with both the Chicago Cubs (1972-1984) and California/Anaheim Angels (1985-1998).
Midland Angels 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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