History
The team succeeded the Little Rock Travelers, which became defunct in 1961. The Travelers were the first professional sports team to claim an entire state in 1957 when they became the Arkansas Travelers. Both versions of the name derive from the old folk song, The Arkansas Traveler.
In 2004 the team introduced new road jerseys and alternate caps that paid homage to the Travs’ home city. The jerseys had “Little Rock” written across the chest. Travelers’ jerseys have either featured “Arkansas” or “Travelers” ever since the 1950s.
“Nostalgia is in these days and the retro look has become stylish,” said Travs’ Executive Vice President/General Manager Bill Valentine. “We were the Little Rock Travelers for years and after all this time we thought we lost the identification with Little Rock. Some people actually didn’t know we’re from Little Rock. The LR logo has had success on our replica caps and we thought that the time to make this change was right now.”
From 1932 to 2006, the Travelers played at Ray Winder Field, which now is nearly three-quarters of a century old and is showing signs of age. After a successful special election in 2005, the team moved to a new stadium at the start of the 2007 season. Dickey-Stephens Park, the new stadium in North Little Rock, Arkansas, hosted the first Travelers game against the Frisco RoughRiders on April 12, 2007. It will be primarily used for baseball and will be the home field of the Arkansas Travelers minor league baseball team. It holds at least 7,000 people. It replaced the club's former home, Ray Winder Field. Funded by a North Little Rock voter-approved one-cent sales tax, Dickey-Stephens Park was built through a partnership between the Travs, Little Rock financier Warren Stephens and the city of North Little Rock. After donating an 11-acre (45,000 m2) plot of land east of the Broadway Bridge, Mr. Stephens named the ballpark in honor of two pairs of baseball-loving brothers; Stephens Inc. Founders Jack and Witt Stephens, and Hall of Fame Catcher Bill Dickey and his brother Skeeter, also a former Major League ballplayer. Both Dickey brothers worked for Stephens Inc. following their baseball careers. Bill, who caught for the 1925 Little Rock Travelers, also managed the club for one season following a 17-year Hall-of-Fame career with the New York Yankees that included seven World Series titles.
Read more about this topic: Arkansas Travelers
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