Texas League

Texas League

Texas League logo
Sport	Baseball
Founded	1902
No. of teams	8
Country	USA
Most recent champion(s)	Midland RockHounds
Classification	Double-A
Official website	Official Website

The Texas League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the South Central United States. It is classified as a Double-A league. The league was founded in 1888 and ran through 1892. It was called the Texas Association in 1895, the Texas-Southern League in 1896 and again as the Texas League from 1897–1899. It was revived as a class D league in 1902, moved to class C in 1904 where it played through 1910 (except for 1906 as class D again), played at class B until 1920, and finally moved up to class A in 1921. The Texas League, like many others, shut down during World War II. From 1959 to 1961, the Texas League and the Mexican League formed the Pan American Association. The two leagues played a limited interlocking schedule and post-season championship. By 1971, the Texas League and the Southern League had both decreased to seven teams. They played an interlocking schedule with the SL known as the Dixie Association. The two leagues played separate playoffs.

Despite the league's name, only its four South Division teams are actually based in Texas; the four North Division teams are located in surrounding states of Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri. The league maintains its headquarters in San Antonio.

The League's name is well known due to its association with a particular aspect of the game. A bloop single that drops between the infielders and outfielders has been called a Texas Leaguer since the 1890s, despite no evidence that it originated in the Texas League, or was any more common there than elsewhere. There is a common thread throughout Civil War anecdotes that refer to a game played 30 years earlier in the Sabine Pass area. As the story goes, a Union soldier hit a ball over the outfielder's head, leading him into a long chase for the ball which resulted in a bullet wound from a nearby sniper. After the incident, hits were only awarded for balls that landed between the infielders and outfielders.