The Texas League in Baseball, 1888–1958

For over 100 years, the Texas League has been one of the top minor leagues in the Southwest. This work is a statistical history of the Texas League from its inception in 1888 through 1958, when Houston, Fort Worth and Dallas left for higher aspirations in Triple A and major league baseball.
The book is arranged by year, and each chapter begins with a short introduction that also highlights a player, team, or aspect of the game that season. The teams are then presented in standings order, and the author provides statistics for each player (games, at bats, runs, hits, runs batted in, doubles, triples, home runs, walks, strikeouts, stolen bases, and batting average) and each team (wins, loses, winning percentage, and games behind first place). For pitchers, the statistics provided here include wins and losses, winning percentage, games, games started, complete games, shutouts, innings pitched, hits allowed, walks, strikeouts, and earned run averages.

Award-winning author Marshall D. Wright is a sports statistician and archivist. He lives in Quincy, Massachusetts and is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and Society International of Hockey Research.

Marshall D. Wright
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 572
Bibliographic Info: tables, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2004
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1802-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1189-1
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vi
Preface      1

Prelude: Lone Star Baseball      5
1888: First Effort      7
1889: A Measure of Stability      14
1890: Cut Short      19
1892: John McCloskey      24
1895: Algie McBride      31
1896: Incomplete      37
1897: Galveston Sand Crabs      43
1898: Casualty      49
1899: Southern Replacements      54
1902: Lucky Wright and the Oil Citys      59
1903: Divided      66
1903: STL: New Organization      70
1904: Infinite Playoff      74
1904: STL: Second Half Surge      78
1905: Blue Laws      82
1905: STL: Orphans      88
1906: One-Season Wonder      92
1906: STL: Ineligible      98
1907: Reunited      103
1908: San Antonio Bronchos      110
1909: Multi-Team Player      118
1910: Disputed Title      125
1911: Mid-Season Correction      132
1912: Less Thans      139
1913: Age of the Buffalo      147
1914: Waco Navigators      155
1915: Act of God      162
1916: Walt Dickson      169
1917: Even and Odd      176
1918: Work or Fight      184
1919: Fort Worth Panthers      191
1920: Upgrade      198
1921: Joe Pate      206
1922: Paul Wachtel      214
1923: Losing Gambit      223
1924: Big Boy Kraft      232
1925: Outburst      240
1926: Panthers Declawed      249
1927: Player-Manager      257
1928: Spudders      266
1929: Paul Easterling      274
1930: Half Pint’s Big Day      282
1931: Houston Buffaloes      291
1932: Beaumont Exporters      299
1933: Oklahoma Contingent      308
1934: Bucs by a Nose      316
1935: Oklahoma City Indians      324
1936: Centennial Game      332
1937: Homer Peel      341
1938: Playing Through      350
1939: Cats by a Whisker      359
1940: Working Agreement      368
1941: Rebels’ Run      377
1942: For the Duration      386
1946: Guaranteed Job      395
1947: The Best Versus the Rest      407
1948: Battle to the End      417
1949: Cats Rise Again      427
1950: Opening Day      437
1951: Fourth Place      447
1952: Reversal      457
1953: Balance      466
1954: Shreveport Sports      476
1955: Pitchers’ League      487
1956: Ken Guettler      498
1957: Dallas Eagles      509
1958: Winds of Change      519
Postlude: Evolution      529

Selected Bibliography      531
Index      533

“recommended”—ARBA; “a comprehensive, useful book”—Sports Collectors Digest.