sla book review: baseball in the lone star state

baseball in the lone star state

Reviewed by Jorge Iber

JULY 25, 2006 archive

While Texas has produced more than its fair share of Major League immortals, with the names of Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan, and Joe Morgan being just three recent examples, in the minds of most American sport fans, the state is better known (for both positive and negative reasons) for its intense passion for football. A quick review of my institution's (Texas Tech University) library offerings, for example, revealed a mere 11 books containing the words "Texas" and "baseball" in their titles, with most classifiable as "popular" literature, such as Mike Shropshire's Seasons in Hell: with Billy Martin and Whitey Herzog and "The Worst Baseball Team in History" - the 1973-1975 Texas Rangers. For those seeking a more academic take, there was little beyond Alan Klein's excellent Baseball on the Border: A Tale of Two Laredos. Contrast that with three times as many offerings (a total of 34) for "Texas" and "football," with books by authors such as H.G. Bissinger, Carlson Stowers, and Harold Ratliff within the popular genre, and books and articles by Jorge Iber and Ty Cashion for readers seeking a more academic perspective.

No doubt about it, tales of pigskin glory abound in Texan history (and mythology), with the national pastime relegated to a far less significant literary and social role. Such a pattern, then, begs for authors to go forth and seek out the history of baseball (both professional and amateur) in this enormous state. Such a noble undertaking, in part, is what lead Tom Kayser and David King to compile the stories of key events, persons, games, and teams from the history of Texas' most important minor league for their project, Baseball in the Lone Star State: the Texas League's Greatest Hits. Kayser (the Texas League's current president) and King (a sportswriter and author of San Antonio at Bat: Professional Baseball in the Alamo City) have produced a highly readable and enjoyable book that traces the Texas League from humble beginnings in the later part of the 19th century all the way through to the story of the fabulously successful (both on the field and at the gate) Round Rock Express, which has now left the league and become part of the AAA Pacific Coast League. The work is a treasure trove of tales on the organization's foundation, great players (including Hank Greenberg, Dizzy Dean, Billy Williams, Steve Carlton, Earl Weaver, and many others), successful (for example, the 1919-1925 Ft. Worth Cats, a team which won six successive pennants and five of the first six Dixie Series) and dreadful (such as the 1914 Austin Senators, which lost a numbing 114 games) teams, plus all of the hitting, pitching, and scoring records that any baseball fanatic could possibly want to know. Clearly, Kayser and King have generated a very thorough synopsis of the on-field stories of the Texas League.

One quibble with the work is that it does not provide much information regarding Texas society beyond the field of play. For example, in the chapter on Dave Hoskins, who integrated the league in 1952 while playing with the Dallas Eagles, Kayser and King do little more than provide a passing glance regarding the circumstances this brave man faced before crowds in segregated cities such as Houston. How did fans react to an African American player? Did Hoskins' success on the field help to destabilize how African Americans were perceived by whites in the Dallas area? Questions such as these are not effectively addressed.

Even less attention is provided to some of the Latino athletes who played in the league during the late 1940s through the 1950s, such as Procopio Herrera, Danilo Rivas, and Tony Diaz. What were the experiences of Latinos who had to navigate an "in between" existence (being neither African American nor white) during these years? Once again, the authors have little to say on this important issue. Still, since they are not academic historians, it is not fair to criticize Kayser and King for not being up-to-date with the latest historiographic trends in sport history. I merely point out their omissions in hope that historians of Texas might be motivated to follow up on interesting, and possibly enlightening, stories.

In sum, Kayser and King are to be commended for researching the history of the Texas League for Baseball in the Lone Star State. It is a valuable addition to the sporting history of Texas and demonstrates that professional baseball does have a long standing, and important, history deep in the heart of gridiron country.

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