Tombstone
Born: 2000 – Texas-Louisiana League expansion team
Folded: January 30, 20011Christensen, Mike. “Tex-La League pulls D-Kats”. The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS). January 31, 2001
First Game: May 5, 2000 (T 2-2 @ Greenville Bluesmen – suspended by rain after 3 innings)
Last Game: September 3, 2000 (L 7-2 vs. Greenville Bluesmen)
Texas-Louisiana League Championships: None
Stadium
Smith-Wills Stadium
Opened: 1975
Ownership & Affiliation
Owner:
Major League Affiliation: Independent
Attendance
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Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 2007
Trophy Case
Texas-Louisiana League Rookie-of-the-Year
- 2000: Casey Myrick
Background
For a quarter century, Jackson, Mississippi marked the eastern boundary of Minor League Baseball’s Class AA Texas League. From 1975 to 1999 the city hosted farm clubs for New York Mets and Houston Astros and saw future superstars such as Darryl Strawberry, Kevin Mitchell, Bobby Abreu, Billy Wagner, Carlos Guillen and Lance Berkman come through Smith-Wills Stadium on their way to the Majors.
But after the 1999 season the Astros and the Texas League pulled out of Jackson in favor of a brand new $25 million palace on offer in the Austin, Texas suburb of Round Rock. The independent Texas-Louisiana League quickly filled the void, placing the Jackson DiamondKats franchise at Smith-Wills in time for the 2000 season.
The DiamondKats top player of note – and the only one on the roster ever to play in the Bigs – was 10-year Major League veteran outfielder Mark Carreon. Carreon was originally a draft pick of the New York Mets. He actually spent the 1984 and 1985 seasons playing for the old Jackson Mets in the Texas League. Carreon hit .340 for the DiamondKats, which placed him 9th in the Tex-La league in hitting. The 36-year old retired after the 2000 season.
First baseman/outfielder Casey Myrick (.329, 9 HRs, 56 RBI) earned the Texas-Louisiana League’s Rookie-of-the-Year Award.
Jackson fans weren’t impressed with the caliber of independent baseball after 25 years in the Texas League. The DiamondKats averaged well under 1,000 fans per night. The club shut down at the end of their first and only season in 2000.
Jackson DiamondKats Shop
Links
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