The Midland Cubs were a Class AA Texas League farm club of the Chicago Cubs in for 13 seasons. Minor league baseball was a fixture in the West Texas petroleum hub from the late 1920’s through the late 50’s. But the Cubs arrival in 1972 marked the first pro ball played in the city since the departure of the Midland Braves of the Sophomore League in 1959.
Wichita, Kansas lost its Class AAA baseball team when the Wichita Aeros left town following the 1984 season. After two summers without baseball, the city got a Class AA Texas League franchise in 1987 when the Beaumont Golden Gators moved to town. The Wichita Pilots would play just two seasons in 1987 and 1988, but during that short time the club won a Texas League championship and helped develop brothers and future Major League stars Roberto Alomar and Sandy Alomar, Jr. New owners re-named the team the Wichita Wranglers in 1989.
The Southeast Texas port city of Beaumont was a mainstay in the Class AA Texas League for the better part of four decades from 1920 to 1955. For most of this era, the city’s team was known as the ‘Exporters’. The exception was a three-year stretch from 1950 to 1952 when Beaumont’s ballclub was known as the ‘Roughnecks’ and served as a New York Yankees farm club.
The Lafayette Drillers were a Class AA farm club of the San Francisco Giants in southwestern Louisiana in 1975 and 1976. The Drillers were named co-champions of the Texas League in 1975 after rain washed away the deciding game of the league championship series.. The Texas Rangers purchased the struggling franchise in late 1976 and moved it to Tulsa, Oklahoma where the ball club plays on today, nearly a half century later, as the Tulsa Drillers.
Big State League (1957) Texas League (1958-1961) Born: 1957 – Re-branded from Victoria Eagles Moved: May 25, 1961 (Ardmore Rosebuds) Big State League Champions: 1957
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