How the Metroplex Went Major League

Arlington Stadium before the addition of high walls atop the outfield bleachers to cut down the severe summer winds. Note the “Lone Star State” scoreboard beyond left field. (SABR-Rucker Archive)

 

“I just want to point out that if you want it, you can have it.”1 Speaking at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon in December 1953, R.W. (Dick) Burnett informed his audience that Dallas could go major league if civic leaders made the requisite commitment to attract a team to North Texas. The oil tycoon and owner of the Texas League’s Dallas Eagles believed his city could factor into the remaking of the map of Major League Baseball with upgraded facilities. Burnett added, “If Dallas had a stadium today, it could have a major league team next year.”2 Burnett passed away in 1955 and did not live to see Dallas, alone or in partnership with Fort Worth, achieve that status, but his words spurred the effort to bring big-league baseball to Dallas-Fort Worth.

By the time of Burnett’s speech, modern air travel ensured no region of the country was too far from the established big leagues. As the Dodgers and Giants plotted moves westward from New York, the Lone Star State was a potential option for the Giants. Owner Horace Stoneham claimed in 1957 that Dallas had presented an offer in the event San Francisco could not make good on a new stadium.3 But as is well known, the Giants made the jump to California, leaving Dallas and the Fort Worth Cats as mainstays of the Double-A Texas League.

In late 1957, the Texas legislature passed legislation authorizing counties with populations greater than 350,0 people to issue bonds to support construction of stadiums. Dallas and Tarrant counties met the population threshold and, in May 1958, the counties formed a joint committee to investigate whether local interest justified the issuance of bonds to build a ballpark. Tarrant County included Arlington, a growing city along the new turnpike that connected the two regional hubs. Tom Vandergriff, the Arlington mayor, became an influential voice on the bi-county committee and a champion of efforts to land a major league team. The committee commissioned a survey, which revealed in February 1959 that the area was “ready, willing, and able” to support the drive for the big leagues.4

Dallas construction magnate J.W. Bateson purchased the Eagles in 1958 with an eventual eye toward the majors. While Burnett had believed Dallas could go it alone, Bateson thought a regional effort was better, saying, “I had wanted Dallas to have its own team but I realize now that a joint team might be best.”5 To shore up the Fort Worth side of the equation, Bateson partnered with newspaper publisher Amon Carter, Jr. to combine big-league efforts (as well as both local minor-league teams into the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers).

With Dallas-Fort Worth and other growing cities pushing for major league baseball, the inevitability of expansion became evident. This appetite could only be satisfied by organic growth of the existing leagues or by a third major league. Commissioner Ford Frick convened a meeting of baseball executives in May 1959 to establish criteria under which major league status would be granted to a third league. It did not take long for that pretender to emerge. Partly an offshoot of efforts to reestablish a second team in New York, the Continental League was launched in July 1959. Five cities were on the initial roster: Denver, Houston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York, and Toronto. Dallas-Fort Worth was not, but Bateson declared for the Continentals after voters approved an October 1959 referendum to issue $9.5 million in bonds for a stadium to be built near the turnpike in Arlington. In March 1960, the Joint Board of Park Commissioners of Dallas and Tarrant counties selected a 203-acre site near the former Arlington Downs race track on which to build a major league-caliber stadium.

The CL planned to make formal application for major league recognition, but the effort folded when the majors agreed in August 1960 to make room for the pretenders. The AL and NL committed to expand to four CL cities by 1962 with the remainder to follow. To support the effort, the Joint Board revealed plans on August 20 for a domed stadium in Arlington. The stadium could be ready for the 1961 season—but open-air with 31,000 seats, with a roof, air conditioning, and an expanded 60,000 capacity to follow for 1962. Bateson pronounced, “We’re ready to go into major league ball the minute we’re accepted.”6

The question of major league acceptance for Dallas-Fort Worth and other CL cities became muddied by the AL’s interest in Los Angeles. The CL roster of cities did not include Los Angeles or any Pacific Coast locales, but the AL was eager to rival the NL’s presence out west. Yankees owner Dan Topping wanted to extract this price from the NL if the senior circuit reentered the New York area. If Los Angeles moved up the AL list, a CL city would have to yield.

Dallas applied formally to the AL on October 14, 1960, with expectations to begin play in 1962. The tilt toward the AL was driven by the NL’s focus on (and eventual selection of) New York and Houston. On the eve of the AL’s decision, Allen Russell, general manager of the minor-league Rangers, said, “There is no reason to believe that the league won’t expand and it won’t take our area.”7

On October 26, 1960, the AL announced its expansion plans, which were surprisingly brought forward to the 1961 season—fewer than six months away. Those plans did not include Dallas-Fort Worth. Rather, the AL sanctioned the move of the Washington Senators to Minneapolis-St. Paul, while establishing the Angels in Los Angeles and replacing the departed team in DC.

These moves contravened the recommendation of the AL’s own expansion committee to take two CL cities, including Dallas-Fort Worth, as had been committed. The result was particularly bitter for Bateson and Carter, who believed they were on the wrong end of a “double-cross.” Bateson huffed, “The American League has wrecked our hopes…[and] by its low blow, has ruined baseball here.”8 Carter added, “We just got a good old country beating. We thought Dallas-Fort Worth deserved major league baseball and we did all we could to bring it there.”9 Vandergriff was “heartsick”10 and blamed “quite a bit of late scheming and swapouts between some of the owners.”11 Neither Bateson nor Carter was mollified by suggestions that buying and moving the Kansas City Athletics or Cincinnati Reds might offer an alternative. The duo were so upset that they vowed to exit baseball and terminate efforts to land a major league team.

In late 1963, Tommy G. Mercer, a young businessman who led a trucking and beer distribution enterprise established by his grandfather, and Lamar Hunt, son of oil tycoon H.L. Hunt and founder of the American Football League, teamed up and acquired the Rangers to renew a big league push. Mercer believed Dallas-Fort Worth had fallen behind cities such as Atlanta, Seattle, and San Diego. To close the gap, Tarrant County voters passed a $16.5 million bond measure in April 1964 to build a convention center and baseball stadium in Arlington. The ballpark would seat 10,000 initially, but could be expanded to 45,000 upon acquisition of a major league team. Construction began that fall on what became Turnpike Stadium.

Dallas-Fort Worth was bypassed with the next franchise shift when the Braves decamped Milwaukee for Atlanta after the 1965 season. New Commissioner William D. Eckert declared upon assuming office that expansion was “a matter of years, not months.”14 Mercer and Hunt submitted expansion applications to both leagues under the name “North Texas Baseball Club,” but with the Angels and Senators struggling to establish themselves, the AL was not considering the issue. Cronin said, “We haven’t even talked expansion.”15 The NL, dealing with antitrust litigation in Wisconsin over the Braves’ departure, was in no position to do so either.

Potential antitrust issues would lead to major league expansion, but it was a different franchise shift that prompted action. The AL finally allowed Finley to leave Kansas City, in this case for Oakland, after the 1967 season. In doing so, the AL immediately created problems for itself as Missouri’s powerful Senator Stuart Symington threatened legislation to revoke baseball’s antitrust exemption. On October 19, 1967, the AL agreed to add clubs in Kansas City and Seattle for the 1969 season. Dallas-Fort Worth was barely considered, with the AL too eager to increase its West Coast presence with a Pacific Northwest outpost.

The AL’s action forced the NL to consider whether to expand on a similarly expedited timeframe. The NL opened an expansion process in late 1967 that attracted applications from Buffalo, Milwaukee, Montreal, and San Diego, in addition to Dallas-Fort Worth. Having to rely on NL action placed Dallas-Fort Worth in a disadvantageous position given the presence of Houston president Judge Roy Hofheinz on the league expansion committee. The Astros broadcast their games throughout Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and Hofheinz placed greater value on monopolizing Texas media revenues than creating an instate rivalry. Mercer analyzed the situation, “It all boils down to Hofheinz. If he relents and goes for us, I’d say we’re in.”16 Though Hofheinz denied charges of bias against Dallas-Fort Worth, the NL announced in May 1968 that it would expand to Montreal and San Diego for 1969. Mercer bristled, “This is still a big disappointment, and it still rankles but, in the long run, we might be better off. We’re going to start looking and keep looking, and Hofheinz doesn’t have an American League veto.”17

The AL presented numerous possibilities for someone looking to buy and relocate a team. The Senators hit the market in late 1968, and Hunt claimed to have reached out. Both the sellers and the AL preferred to keep the club in Washington, and the league approved the sale of the Senators to Minnesota businessman Bob Short (over entertainer Bob Hope) in December. Hunt observed, “I don’t have to tell you that several American League franchises are doing poorly.”18 The Chicago White Sox struggled to draw fans and began playing games in Milwaukee; Hunt inquired, but the sale of controlling interest in the Artnell Corporation which owned the club, from Arthur Allyn to brother John, shelved immediate prospects of a move. The Cleveland Indians were periodically rumored to be headed to Dallas, and owner Vernon Stouffer periodically denied such plans. Even Finley appeared to develop wanderlust after only a few seasons in Oakland.

One of the AL’s newest members was also its most unstable. Under-financed and playing in minor-league Sicks’ Stadium, the Seattle Pilots struggled from the start. The team was almost evicted during its inaugural 1969 season, and Pilots officials scouted Dallas-Fort Worth and Milwaukee in case relocation became necessary. Mercer and Hunt declined to seriously pursue the Pilots, with Mercer describing negotiations in October 1969 thus: “We felt like…we had told them a price and they had taken that price to Milwaukee and asked them to beat it and then came back to us and asked us to beat that.”19 Bankruptcy followed for the Pilots ahead of the 1970 season, and the team landed in Milwaukee as the Brewers just before Opening Day.

Despite more than a decade of dashed hopes, patience remained the order of the day. Hunt explained the cautious approach, “We’re interested only in making a reasonable deal….We feel we can afford to wait.”20 Mindful that Milwaukee’s major league stadium gave that city a leg up, Vandergriff had urged, “We have to have a bigger stadium, one that can be enlarged to major league standards in a minimum of time.”21 To be ready in May 1970, Arlington voters overwhelmingly approved a $10 million bond issue to expand Turnpike Stadium to 21,000 seats before the 1971 season. The wait was nearly over.

After a winning season in 1969 spurred a surge in attendance, the Senators returned to their losing ways and lower gate numbers followed. Owner Short complained of losing money and argued that if baseball felt compelled to maintain a team in DC to placate Congress, then the other owners should share his losses. He owed money to the Armory Board, his landlord at RFK Stadium, and had loan payments upcoming on his leveraged purchase of the Senators. Selling or moving became Short’s only options.

The AL convened on September 21, 1971, to consider the relocation question. Vandergriff and other local officials made their way to the meeting, armed with sweeteners to entice Short and the AL. The promises included a $1 per year lease at Turnpike Stadium on the first million fans, expansion of the ballpark to 35,0 for 1972 and 45,000 for 1973, payment of indemnifications to the Texas League and the Mercer/Hunt group, and a $7.5 million advance on a decade’s worth of broadcast rights. (That final promise would clear Short’s debts but handicap cashflow after Short sold the team in 1974.) The AL consented to the move by a 10-2 vote with only Baltimore and Chicago in the negative. Vandergriff cheered, “We started 13 years ago with the Bi-County Sports Committee. It’s been a long hard road but now I can say it was well worth it.”22

Despite earlier promises of a name-the-team contest, the name “Texas Rangers” was revealed at a November 23, 1971, luncheon with hundreds of business leaders. Turnpike Stadium also acquired a new name. Vandergriff rejected calls to name the ballpark to honor his efforts to bring major league baseball to the area and, at his suggestion, “Arlington Stadium” became the name. The Rangers were set to debut on April 6 at home, but a players’ strike delayed the season opener by over a week. After going 1-3 in Chicago and Anaheim, the Rangers hosted an announced 20,105 fans for their home opener on Friday, April 21, 1972, which was a 7-6 win over the California Angels. The Metroplex was now major league.

JOHN BAUER resides with his wife and two children (with one now at college) in Bedford, New Hampshire. By day, he is general counsel of an insurance group headquartered in Manchester, New Hampshire with specialties in corporate and regulatory law. By night, he spends many spring and summer evenings staying up too late to watch the San Francisco Giants, and he is a year-round avid reader of baseball, history, and baseball history. He is a past and ongoing contributor to various SABR projects.

 

Sources

In addition to the notes cited below, the author also consulted the following:

Helyar, John, Lords of the Realm: The Real History of Baseball (New York: Villard Books, 1994).

Jozsa Jr., Frank P., Major League Baseball Expansions and Relocations: A History, 1876-2008 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2010).

McCue, Andy, Stumbling Around the Bases: The American League’s Mismanagement in the Expansion Eras (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2022).

O’Neal, Bill, The Texas League: A Century of Baseball (1888-1987) (Austin, TX: Eakin Press, 1987).

Shapiro, Michael, Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball from Itself (New York: Times Books, 2009).

 

Notes

1. Bill Rives, “Big Baseball Stadium Would Bring Majors Here—Burnett,” Dallas Morning-News, December 16, 1953.

2. Rives, “Big Baseball Stadium.”

3. Joe King, “Mayor of ‘Frisco Calls Pay-TV Key to Bid for Giants,” The Sporting News, July 31, 1957, 8.

4. “Dallas-Fort Worth Reported Ready for Majors in Survey,” The Sporting News, March 11, 1959, 21.

5. Bill Rives, “Texas Neighbors Plan Joint Bid for Major Team,” The Sporting News, May 28, 1958, 34.

6. Ray Gillespie, “Dallas, Fort Worth Join Hands in Major Bid,” The Sporting News, September 21, 1960, 15.

7. “Area Baseball Leaders Head for AL Meet,” Dallas Morning-News, October 25, 1960.

8. Ray Gillespie, “‘A.L. Double-Crossed Us,’ Claims Angry Dallas Pair,” The Sporting News, November 2, 1960, 4.

9. Bill Rives, “Berth In Future? Chances Remote,” Dallas Morning News, October 27, 1960.

10. “Sadness at Arlington, Too,” Dallas Morning News, October 27, 1960.

11. “Disappointed Backers Blast League Owners,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, October 27, 1960.

12. Ernest Mehl, “Frankie Fires Fast Reply to Finley Fusillade,” The Sporting News, August 30, 1961, 5.

13. Dan Daniel, “Finley Backs Off—Fails to Seek Approval for Shift,” The Sporting News, September 29, 1962, 16.

14. Clifford Kachline, “Expansion ‘Years Away,’ Majors Insist,” The Sporting News, December 18, 1965, 1.

15. Kachline, “Expansion.”

16. Merle Heryford, “Buffalo Dome No Worry,” Dallas Morning News, May 11, 1968.

17. Merle Heryford, “Dallas-FW Search Not Ended,” Dallas Morning News, May 29, 1968.

18. “‘Dallas Will Step Up Bid For A.L. Team’—Hunt,” The Sporting News, February 28, 1970, 24.

19. Sam Blair, “A Trip Worth Missing,” Dallas Morning News, April 1, 1970.

20. Wells Twombly, “Lamar Hunt—Facts and Fiction,” The Sporting News, December 5, 1970, 20.

21. Merle Heryford, “18 Years, Dreams, and Vandergriff, Dallas Morning News, September 26, 1971.

22. Harold McKinney, “Short Set to ‘Pitch Tent’ in Arlington,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, September 22, 1971, E1.