Category: American Association 1902-1997

1953 Tulsa Oilers baseball program from the Texas League

Tulsa Oilers (1919-1976)

The Oilers were Tulsa, Oklahoma’s minor league baseball team for most of the 20th century. The team competed in various league at different levels of competition. But at their competitive zenith, the Oilers spent eleven seasons from 1966 until 1976 serving as the top farm club of the National League’s St. Louis Cardinals. During this era, the Oilers won three Class AAA playoff championships and supplied a steady stream of future Major League stars.

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Grand Rapids Jets

The Grand Rapids Jets were a minor league baseball club that competed in the Class A Central League from that organization’s formation in 1948 through the circuit’s final season during the summer of 1951. The Jets served as a Chicago Cubs farm team for their final two seasons.

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1977 New Orleans Pelicans Baseball

New Orleans Pelicans (1977)

The New Orleans Pelicans were a One-Year Wonder that competed in Minor League Baseball’s Class AAA American Association during the summer of 1977. The Pels served as the top farm club of the National League’s St. Louis Cardinals. After one summer in the Superdome, the ball club moved away to Springfield, Illinois prior to the 1978 season.

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1983 Omaha Royals baseball program from the American Association

Omaha Royals / Omaha Golden Spikes

Omaha, Nebraska has hosted the top farm club of the Kansas City Royals since the Major League club’s inception in 1969. Initially known as the Omaha Royals, the Class AAA club won four league championships of the American Association, including back-to-back titles in their first two seasons in 1969 and 1970. The Royals survived the closure of the American Association, joining the Pacific Coast League in 1998. From 1999 until 2001, the team was briefly known as the “Golden Spikes” before returning to the Royals nickname. In 2011, the club re-branded as the Omaha Storm Chasers while simultaneously moving into the new $36M Werner Park.

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1968 Oklahoma City 89ers Baseball Program from the Pacific Coast League

Oklahoma City 89ers

The “89ers” (1962-1997) is the best known appellation of Oklahoma City’s long-running Class AAA minor league baseball team. The team’s name derives from the Land Rush of 1889, the same frenzied appropriation and settlement of Native American lands that inspired the University of Oklahoma’s “Sooners” nickname. Following the 1997 season, the 89ers changed leagues, stadiums and names all at once. The franchise became the Oklahoma RedHawks in 1998 and, after another re-brand in 2015, plays on today as the Oklahoma City Dodgers.

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