Admission To Triple-A Baseball
In 1959, the American Association expanded and admitted both cities, Dallas as an unaffiliated club and Fort Worth as an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. Dallas outdrew Fort Worth, 130,000 to 97,000, and the two teams were merged in 1960 as the top farm team of the Kansas City Athletics. The Dallas Cowboys, Clint Murchison's new NFL franchise, were originally to be called the "Dallas Rangers" because the baseball team's owners had told him in 1959 that they were disbanding. When the owners reversed course the following year, Murchison volunteered to rename his new team to avoid confusion.
The Rangers struggled on the field and at the gate in 1960, finishing last and drawing only 113,000 fans. In 1961 and 1962, the team was affiliated with the expansion Los Angeles Angels and featured future MLB stars such as Jim Fregosi and Dean Chance, but continued to lag behind other Association members in attendance. In 1962, the team was jointly affiliated with both the Angels and the Philadelphia Phillies.
When the American Association itself folded after the 1962 season, the Rangers joined the Pacific Coast League and affiliated with the Minnesota Twins. The 1963 Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers, managed by Jack McKeon, finally reached the .500 level, but the Minnesota affiliation lasted only one year.
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Famous quotes containing the words admission and/or baseball:
“To be rich is to have a ticket of admission to the masterworks and chief men of each race. It is to have the sea, by voyaging; to visit the mountains, Niagara, the Nile, the desert, Rome, Paris, Constantinople: to see galleries, libraries, arsenals, manufactories.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The salary cap ... will be accepted about the time the 13 original states restore the monarchy.”
—Tom Reich, U.S. baseball agent. New York Times, p. 16B (August 11, 1994)