Las Vegas Wranglers (baseball)
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Las Vegas Wranglers 1947–1958 (1947–1952, 1957–1958) Las Vegas, Nevada |
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| League titles | 1 (1949) |
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Cashman Field (1948–1952, 1957–1958) Park @ Las Vegas Boulevard & Bonanza Avenue (1947) |
The Las Vegas Wranglers were a minor league baseball team that played in various leagues in the 1940s and 1950s. They were Las Vegas's first professional team in any sport.
The Wranglers were one of the charter franchises of the Class C Sunset League in 1947. Despite Paul Zaby's league-leading .402 batting average and a historic offensive season from Calvin Felix, the Wranglers (a Boston Braves affiliate) finished just 73-67, third place, and were beaten in the semifinals by Riverside, California. Las Vegas was managed by ex-major leaguer Newt Kimball, who also won 14 games as a pitcher for the Wranglers that year.
The 21-year-old Felix led the Sunset League in nearly every offensive category in 1947, including 52 home runs, the second-most ever hit in a pro league by such a young player (Tony Lazzeri, also then 21, hit 60 HR for Salt Lake City in 1925, but his team played 200 games). Felix was sold to the Class AAA Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League after the season, but never played for them; instead he wound up with the unaffiliated Denver Bears of the Western League in 1948, and with Santa Barbara (a Dodgers affiliate) in 1949. By 1953, Felix was with the AAA Montreal Royals, but was sent down to the Texas League in '54; he never played in the majors. [1]
Actor Cameron Mitchell pitched one game for the '47 Wranglers; Las Vegas, needing all the pitching help they could get in the offense-minded Sunset League, signed Mitchell after he shut out the Los Angeles Angels (PCL) for four innings in an exhibition game. But the actor was shelled, allowing eleven runs in less than an inning to the Ontario, California Orioles. [2]
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