All-American Association (2001)
Tombstone
Born: 2001 – All-American Association founding franchise
Moved: January 20021Christensen, Mike. “Jackson to get former Tyler, Texas, ballclub”. The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS). January 30, 2002
First Game: June 1, 2001 (L 7-5 @ Baton Rouge Blue Marlins)
Last Game: August 20, 2001 (L 4-3 @ Albany Alligators)
All-American Association Champions: 2001
Stadium
Mike Carter Field (4,185)22001 Tyler Roughnecks Program
Opened: 1938
Dimensions (2001): Left: 325′, Center: 370′, Right: 325′
Branding
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owner: Texas Independent Baseball (Carl Bell, et al.)
Attendance
Background
The Tyler Roughnecks were an independent professional baseball club that played for only one season at Mike Carter Field. The Roughnecks were founding members of the six-team All-American Association. The league featured clubs in small cities across Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas.
The arrival of the Roughnecks in 2001 marked the Texas city’s second brush with the independent baseball craze of the 1990’s and early 2000’s. The Tyler WildCatters played in the Texas-Louisiana League from 1994 through 1997.
Both of the All-American Association’s Texas-based clubs, the Roughnecks and the Fort Worth Cats, were owned by Carl Bell.
In Competition
In their only season of competition, the Roughnecks placed 3rd in the All-American Association with a 39-32 record. The Albany Alligators eliminated the Roughnecks in heart-rending fashion in the opening round of the playoffs in August. With the win-or-go-home Game 3 knotted at 3-3 in the bottom of the 12th inning at Albany, Tyler catcher Keronn Walker saw Rich Turrentine’s pitch skip off his mitt for a seaso-ending passed ball.
Rookie pitcher Tommy John III, who led the Roughnecks in wins with 7, is the son of 26-year Major League veteran pitcher Tommy John.
30-year old right hander Jeff Ware (4-4, 4.26 ERA) was the only Roughneck to ever see time in the Major Leagues. Ware made 18 appearances with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1995 and 1996.
Move To Mississippi
In December 2001 the Roughnecks and Fort Worth Cats, both owned by Carl Bell, defected from the All-American Association to the rival Central Baseball League. (The All-American Association would disband a few months later). One month after the league switch, Bell’s Texas Independent Baseball announced that the Roughnecks would relocate to Jackson, Mississippi for the 2002 Central League season.
Known as the Jackson Senators in Mississippi, the franchise would play four more seasons before disbanding in 2006. Bell’s Fort Worth Cats were far more successful than the Roughnecks and played in various leagues until 2014.
Professional baseball has never returned to Tyler, Texas since the Roughnecks left town after the 2001 season.
Tyler Roughnecks Shop
Links
##
