Amarillo Gold Sox
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Amarillo Gold Sox 1939 (1939–1942; 1946–1963; 1965–1974; 1976–1982) Amarillo, Texas |
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| League | Texas League (1959–1963; 1965–1974; 1976–1982) |
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| Major league affiliations | |
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| Minor league titles | |
| League titles | 1948, 1952, 1976 |
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Previous names
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Previous parks
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Potter County Memorial Stadium (1959–1963; 1965–1974; 1976–1982) |
The Amarillo Gold Sox was the name of an American minor league baseball franchise that represented the city of Amarillo, Texas, in the Class D West Texas–New Mexico League, the Class A Western League and the Double-A Texas League at various times between 1939 and 1982.
Amarillo's first minor league club, the Gassers, appeared in 1923. While the minor leagues weathered the economic troubles of the Great Depression, Amarillo was frequently unrepresented in professional baseball.
But in 1939, Amarillo joined the WT-NM League as the Gold Sox when the loop expanded from six to eight clubs. The Gold Sox played in the league until the circuit suspended operations due to World War II on July 5, 1942. In 1946, the postwar West Texas–New Mexico League was reborn as a Class C league and the Gold Sox returned to the field. In 1948, led by skipper Buck "Leaky" Fausett, the team won its first league playoff title. (It would win the playoffs again in 1952.)
In 1953, Alvin Lakind played for the team and batted .300; his grandson Jared Lakind went on to play minor league baseball 60 years later. In 1955, Amarillo won the regular-season pennant and led the WT-NML in attendance, but it was a Pyrrhic victory, as the league folded for good at the close of the season. The Gold Sox, however, remained alive by moving up to the Western League as an unaffiliated club. It enjoyed success on the field, winning the 1956 regular-season title, and at the gate, leading the league in attendance in its final season, 1958.
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