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.