Texas League Succumbs to Major League Greed

The Texas League of Professional Baseball Clubs, among the oldest organizations in American sports, passed into the history books on March 31, 2021. The League, along with numerous other circuits across the nation (including Minor League Baseball itself), was the victim of a hostile takeover on the part of Major League Baseball (MLB) under the pretense of its outdated anti-trust exemption. The Texas League was 133 years old. The brainchild of baseball pioneer John McCloskey, the Texas League began play in 1888. McCloskey recognized Texas as a state capable of supporting its own baseball league in the mid-1880s when several cities had grown substantial populations and Texas had reliable rail transportation service connecting the population centers. The league began as a six-team circuit, with the Houston Babies capturing the first championship. Although the Texas League played under several names in its first two decades, — the Texas Association and the North Texas League and South Texas League — by 1902, the modern Texas League was born. Despite its name, the Texas League reached far beyond the state’s borders. Over the decades, the league included teams in eight states — New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. A total of 41 cities hosted teams over the course of the league’s history, combining for nearly 1,500 seasons of baseball. Thirty-one of those cities captured at least one Texas League Championship. The Texas League’s long successful run came to a swift end when Major League Baseball enacted its anti-trust exemption granted to the organization under a 1920s’ U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Baseball, the court ruled, was a sport, not a business; thus, it was essentially granted status as a monopoly over all professional baseball. No other sports league enjoys such status or the unfettered power it provides. MLB allowed Minor League Baseball, an independent organization, to operate with little oversight for over a century. In recent years, however, MLB executives concluded that the family-friendly minor league franchises cut into potential revenue at the MLB level. The result was a takeover of the minor leagues and the elimination or reclassification of 43 of the 162 franchises last playing in 2019, prior to the COVID pandemic. The Texas League was preceded into history by countless moments that will live on in professional baseball record books as well as the many cities, teams, and players whose memories will outlive MLB’s decision that baseball as the national game only applies to the Major League level. The League is survived by the newly-established Double-A Central Division, a generic name that MLB has assigned to what is now known as “Professional Development Baseball,” Minor League Baseball having been abandoned. Surviving teams that will play in the Double-A Central include the Frisco Roughriders, Corpus Christi Hooks, Midland RockHounds, San Antonio Missions, Arkansas Travelers, Northwest Arkansas Naturals, Springfield Cardinals, Wichita Wind Surge, and the 2019 Texas League Champions, the Amarillo Sod Poodles. Three previous Texas League executives told the Progress that they had abandoned hopes that MLB would decide to honor tradition and return the Texas League and other previous Minor League Baseball circuits their longstanding names. One executive, speaking on the condition of anonymity, stated that he would work with other league franchises to see that the Texas League does return, if only in name. “[MLB] is just trying to prove who is in charge,” he told the Progress. In lieu of attending Major League Baseball games this season, those appreciating the tradition of the Texas League encourage you to contact members of Congress and request the MLB anti-trust exemption be re-examined and the organization be stripped of its monopoly over professional baseball in the United States. RIP, Texas League. May the memories you created live on in spite of MLB’s efforts to erase them.