Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs were an American minor league baseball team in the Texas League from 1965 to 1971. The team played in Turnpike Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The Spurs were created when the AAA Dallas Rangers moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1965. With the opening of Turnpike Stadium, the AA Texas League's Fort Worth Cats, an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, moved into the new venue and adopted the regional Dallas-Fort Worth designation and the Spurs nickname.

The Spurs were affiliated with the Cubs (1965-67), Houston Astros (1968) and Baltimore Orioles (1969-71). The team's most successful tie-up was with Baltimore, with players such as Don Baylor, Bobby Grich, Enos Cabell and Wayne Garland and managers Cal Ripken Sr. and Joe Altobelli its most notable alumni.

The Spurs led the Texas League in attendance every season of the team's seven-year existence. The Dallas-Fort Worth area was considered a prime location for an expansion team or a re-located franchise, and nearly was admitted to the National League in 1969. But the league instead expanded to Montreal.

Two years later, the struggling Washington Senators received American League permission to transfer to the area, and the Spurs were succeeded in 1972 by the Texas Rangers, who moved into Turnpike Stadium (rechristened Arlington Stadium).