Beaumont Golden Gators

The Beaumont Golden Gators were a minor league baseball team in the double A Texas League from 1983 to 1986. Owned by insurance man Ted Moor, the team was an affiliate of the San Diego Padres for their entire tenure. Future Major League Baseball players John Kruk, Roberto Alomar, Joey Cora, Ozzie Guillén, Sandy Alomar, Jr., Shane Mack, and Benito Santiago all played at one time for the Golden Gators. The team played its home games at Vincent-Beck Stadium on the campus of Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas and won the 1983 Texas League championship. Their uniforms were a gaudy gold, white, and green and the hats were of the historic pillbox variety with a white B surrounded by a golden triangle. The cities of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange are known in local parlance as the "Golden Triangle." The oil bust in 1986 caused the local economy to falter and Moor sold the team to a group that moved them to Wichita, Kansas before the 1987 season, becoming the Wichita Pilots. The team spent 21 seasons in Wichita, being renamed to the Wichita Wranglers in 1989, before moving to Springdale, Arkansas and becoming the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Prior to their time in Beaumont the team had been the Amarillo Gold Sox.