Lone Star League

{{For|the indoor football league|Lone Star Football League}} {{Infobox sports league | title =Lone Star League | current_season =  | current_season2 =  | last_season =  | upcoming_season =  | logo = | pixels =  | caption = | formerly =[[East Texas League]] | sport =[[Minor League Baseball]] | replaced = | owner = | ceo = | chief operating officer = | director = | president =Patrick Newnam (1927–1928) T. H. Fisher (1929) Fred Nicholson (1947–1948) Vernon L. Harrison (1977) | commissioner = | fame =  | motto = | inaugural =1927 | teams =21 | singles = | country =[[United States of America]] | venue = | confed =  | folded =1977 | champion = | most_champs ='''2''' [[Tyler Trojans]] [[Kilgore Drillers]] | classification =[[Class D (baseball)|Class D]] (1927–1929) [[Class C (baseball)|Class C]] (1947–1948) [[Class A (baseball)|Class A]] (1977) | qualification = | tv = | sponsor = | related_comps =[[Texas Association]] [[Gulf States League]] | founder = | levels = | promotion = | relegation = | domestic_cup = | website = }} The '''Lone Star League''' was the name of three [[United States|American]] [[minor league baseball|minor]] [[professional baseball]] leagues located in the state of [[Texas]] during the 20th century. The leagues operated from 1927–1929 (as a Class D circuit), 1947–1948 (Class C) and 1977 (Class A).

==History==

Each of the three leagues was the result of a reorganization of a previous circuit. The Lone Star League of the 1920s was created by merging two Class D loops, the [[East Texas League]] and the [[Texas Association]]; it disbanded on May 16, 1929. The eight-member postwar Lone Star circuit of 1947–1948 was formed from a foundation of four teams that had played in the Class C East Texas League of 1946. After the demise of the LSL, the East Texas League was revived for the 1949–1950 seasons.

The {{Baseball year|1977}} Lone Star League was the successor of the failed [[Gulf States League]] of {{baseball year|1976}}, inheriting Texas-based GSL franchises in [[Beeville, Texas|Beeville]], [[Corpus Christi, Texas|Corpus Christi]], [[Harlingen, Texas|Harlingen]] and [[Victoria, Texas|Victoria]]. Like the GSL, it was an official Class A minor league, not an "[[independent league baseball|independent league]]," although its six teams were not affiliated with [[Major League Baseball]] [[farm system]]s. The 1977 Lone Star League played an 80-game regular season schedule from June 10 to the end of August.

The defending Gulf States League champion [[Corpus Christi Seagulls]], managed by future Major League [[coach (baseball)|pitching coach]] [[Leo Mazzone]], dominated the Lone Star League, winning 53 of its 80 games and the South Division title. No championship playoff was held and the league folded after the 1977 campaign.

==Member teams== {{col-begin}} {{col-2}} *[[Beeville, TX]]: [[Beeville Blazers]] 1977 *[[Bryan, TX]]: [[Bryan Bombers]] 1947–1948 *[[Corsicana, TX]]: [[Corsicana Oilers]] 1927–1928 *[[Corpus Christi, TX]]: [[Corpus Christi Seagulls]] 1977 *[[Gladewater, TX]]: [[Gladewater Bears]] 1948 *[[Harlingen, TX]]: [[Harlingen Suns]] 1977 *[[Henderson, TX]]: [[Henderson Oilers]] 1947–1948 *[[Jacksonville, TX]]: [[Jacksonville Jax]] 1947 *[[Kilgore, TX]]: [[Kilgore Drillers]] 1947–1948 *[[Longview, TX]]: [[Longview Cannibals]] 1927; [[Longview Texans]] 1947–1948 *[[Lufkin, TX]]: [[Lufkin Foresters]] 1947–1948 {{col-2}} *[[McAllen, TX]]: [[McAllen Dusters]] 1977 *[[Marshall, TX]]: [[Marshall Indians]] 1927; [[Marshall Comets]] 1947; [[Marshall Tigers]] 1948 *[[Mexia, TX]]: [[Mexia Gushers]] 1927–1928 *[[Palestine, TX]]: [[Palestine Pals]] 1927–1929 *[[Paris, TX]]: [[Paris Snappers]] 1927; [[Paris Colts]]/Rustlers 1928 *[[Sherman, TX]]: [[Sherman Snappers]] 1929 *[[Texas City, TX]]: [[Texas City Stars]] 1977 *[[Texarkana, TX]]: [[Texarkana Twins]] 1927–1929 *[[Tyler, TX]]: [[Tyler Trojans]] 1927–1929, 1947–1948 *[[Victoria, TX]]: [[Victoria Rosebuds]] 1977 {{col-end}}

==Standings & statistics== ===1927 to 1929=== '''1927 Lone Star League''' [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14486621/1927_lone_star_league_schedule/ schedule] {| class="wikitable" !Team name!!W!!L!!PCT!!GB!! Managers |- |[[Palestine Pals]] ||69||51||.575||–|| Rip Ripperton |- |[[Texarkana Twins]] ||67||53||.558||2.0|| Charlie Miller |- |[[Mexia Gushers]] ||68||55||.553||2.5|| Les Hayes / Jim Kendrick / [[Abe Bowman]] |- |[[Tyler Trojans]]||63||55||.534||5.0|| [[George Jackson (baseball)|George Jackson]] |- |[[Paris Snappers]] ||54||67||.446||15.5||[[Red Snapp]] / T. H. Fisher |- |[[Corsicana Oilers]] ||48||72||.400||21.0||[[Les Nunamaker]] / Bennie Brownlow |- |[[Marshall Indians]]||12||17||.414||NA|| [[Abe Bowman]] |- |[[Longview Cannibals]]||9||20||.310||NA|| Bennie Brownlow |} Longview withdrew May 21. Marshall folded to even the number of teams. Both teams were disbanded May 22. '''Finals''': Tyler 4 games, Mexia 2.

{| class="wikitable" |+'''Player Statistics''' !Player!! Team!!Stat!! Tot!!!!Player!!Team!!Stat!!Tot |- |[[Carl Reynolds]]||Palestine||BA||.376|||| Gene McClung ||Corsic/Mex||W||21 |- | Buster Wisrock ||Marsh/Tyl||Runs||87|||| Gene McClung ||Corsicana/Mexia||W||21 |- |[[Carl Reynolds]]||Palestine|||Hits||180|||| E. H. McBride ||Long/Cors||SO||139 |- |Tom Pyle||Tyler||HR||26|||| Atlas Carter ||Mexia ||Pct||.810; 17–4 |} '''1928 Lone Star League''' [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/60563826/1928-lone-star-league-schedule/ schedule] {| class="wikitable" !Team name!!W!!L!!PCT!!GB!! Managers |- |[[Texarkana Twins]] ||75||47||.615||–|| Charlie Miller |- |[[Palestine Pals]] ||72||51||.585||3.5||[[Walt Alexander]] |- |[[Tyler Trojans]] ||67||53||.558||7.0||[[George Jackson (baseball)|George Jackson]] |- |[[Mexia Gushers]]||55||66||.455||19.5|| [[Roy Leslie]] |- |[[Corsicana Oilers]] ||55||68||.447||20.5|| Ray Falk |- |[[Paris Colts]]/Rustlers ||42||81||.341||33.5||[[Abe Bowman]] / Connally Ludwick / [[Turkey Gross]] |}'''Finals''': Palestine 4 games, Texarkana 1.

{| class="wikitable" |+'''Player Statistics''' !Player!! Team!!Stat!! Tot!!!!Player!!Team!!Stat!!Tot |- |[[Charlie Dorman]]||Tyler||BA||.408|||| Ed Hopkins ||Texarkana||W||19 |- |[[Charlie Dorman]]||Tyler||Runs||122|||| Ed Hopkins ||Texarkana||SO||134 |- |[[Charlie Dorman]]||Tyler|||Hits||188||||[[Phil Gallivan]]||Texarkana ||Pct||.750; 15–5 |- |[[Charlie Dorman]]||Tyler||HR||39|| |} '''1927 Lone Star League''' [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/60146684/1929-lone-star-league-schedule/ schedule] {| class="wikitable" !Team name||W||L||GB||Pct.||Manager |- |[[Tyler Trojans]] ||12||8||.600||–||[[Roy Leslie]] |- |[[Palestine Pals]] ||12||8||.600||–|| Dillard Payne |- |[[Sherman Snappers]]||9||9||.500||2.0||[[Red Snapp]] |- |[[Texarkana Twins]]||6||14||.300||6.0|| Ray Corgan |}Texarkana disbanded May 16. The league disbanded on the same date. {| class="wikitable" |+'''Player Statistics''' !Player!! Team!!Stat!! Tot!!!!Player!!Team!!Stat!!Tot |- |Clyde Pratt ||Sherman||BA||.442||||[[Leon Pettit]]||Tyler||W||5 |- | Embert Mueller ||Tyler||Runs||25|||| [[Leon Pettit]]||Tyler||SO||40 |- | Clyde Pratt ||Sherman|||Hits||34||||[[Leon Pettit]]||Tyler||Pct||1.000; 5–0 |- |[[Ed Kallina]]||Sherman||HR||6 |- |John King||Tyler||HR||6 |}

===1947 to 1948, 1977=== '''1947 Lone Star League''' [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/60564353/1947-lone-star-league-schedule/ schedule] {| class="wikitable" !Team name!!W!!L!!PCT!!GB!!Attend!! Managers |- |[[Kilgore Drillers]] ||78||60||.565||–||71,685||[[Joe Kracher]] |- |[[Longview Texans]] ||78||61||.561||0.5||73,134||[[Jesse Landrum]] |- |[[Marshall Comets]] ||76||63||.547||2.5||51,494|| Jerry Feille /[[Paul Kardow]] |- |[[Tyler Trojans]]||76||64||.543||3.0||64,810|| [[Hack Miller]] |- |[[Jacksonville Jax]] ||73||67||.521||6.0||37,817|| Watty Watkins |- |[[Lufkin Foresters]] ||72||68||.514||7.0||42,692||[[Dixie Parsons]] |- |[[Henderson Oilers]]||65||72||.474||12.5||50,000|| Ray Honeycutt |- |[[Bryan Bombers]]||38||101||.273||40.5||36,817||Mike Mistovich / Harry Logan / Joe Moore |}Playoffs: Kilgore 4 games, Tyler 0;Marshall 4 games, Longview 1. '''Finals''': Kilgore 4 games, Marshall 2.

{| class="wikitable" |+'''Player Statistics''' !Player!! Team!!Stat!! Tot!!!!Player!!Team!!Stat!!Tot |- |John Stone||Henderson||BA||.396|||| Jake Henson ||Jacksonville||W||21 |- |[[Lew Morton (baseball)|Lew Morton]]||Henderson||Runs||145||||Robert Ross ||Kilgore||W||21 |- |[[Bob Marquis (baseball)|Bob Marquis]]||Lufkin|||Runs||145|||| Okie Flowers ||Longview ||SO||218 |- |John Stone ||Henderson||Hits||224|||| Frank Martin ||Longview||ERA||2.55 |- |John Stone ||Henderson||RBI||185||||Robert Ross||Kilgore||PCT||.750 21–7 |- |John Stone ||Henderson||HR||32 |} '''1948 Lone Star League''' [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/60564567/1948-lone-star-league-schedule/ schedule] {| class="wikitable" !Team name!!W!!L!!PCT!!GB!!Attend!! Managers |- |[[Kilgore Drillers]] ||94||44||.681||–||67,255||[[Joe Kracher]] |- |[[Longview Texans]] ||89||50||.640||5.5||65,033|| Dixie Parsons |- |[[Tyler Trojans]] ||77||63||.550||18||67,101||Hack Miller |- |[[Henderson Oilers]]||69||70||.496||25.5||48,116|| [[Guy Sturdy]] / John Stone / Roland Miller / Mel Hicks |- |[[Bryan Bombers]] ||66||74||.471||2.09||43,513||[[Jesse Landrum]] |- |[[Gladewater Bears]] ||59||81||.421||36.0||48,056|| Jim Dalrymple / Arthur Nelson |- |[[Marshall Tigers]]||55||83||.399||39.0||38,940||Harry Davis / [[Red Jones (outfielder)|Red Jones]] |- |[[Lufkin Foresters]]||48||92||.343||47.0||46,037||[[Red Jones (outfielder)|Red Jones]] / Stan Bartkowski / Fred Millican |}Playoffs: Kilgore 4 games, Henderson 3; Longview 4 games, Tyler 3. '''Finals''': Kilgore 4 games, Longview 0.

{| class="wikitable" |+'''Player Statistics''' !Player!! Team!!Stat!! Tot!!!!Player!!Team!!Stat!!Tot |- |[[Joe Kracher]]||Kilgore||BA||.433|||| Ralph Pate ||Longview||W||23 |- | Al Kubski ||Longview||Runs||140|||| Willis Chamness ||Kilgore||SO||162 |- | Allen Cross ||Kilgore|||Hits||193||||[[Otho Nitcholas]]||Tyler ||ERA||1.97 |- |John Stone ||Henderson||RBI||146|||| Ralph Pate ||Longview||PCT||.885 23–3 |- |John Stone ||Henderson||HR||23 |} '''1977 Lone Star League''' {| class="wikitable" !North standings!!W!!L!!PCT!!GB!!Attend!! Managers |- |[[Victoria Rosebuds]] ||38||42||.475||–||14,198||[[Tom Zimmer]] |- |[[Beeville Blazers]] ||37||43||.463||1.0||7,150|| Bill Bryk |- |[[Texas City Stars]] ||35||41||.461||1.0||12,305||[[Al Gallagher]] |} {| class="wikitable" !South standings!!W!!L!!PCT!!GB!!ATTEND!!Managers |- |[[Corpus Christi Seagulls]]||53||27||.663||–||93,137|| [[Leo Mazzone]] |- |[[Harlingen Suns]] ||40||38||.513||12.0||68,203|| Paul Thomas / Mike Krizmanich |- |[[McAllen Dusters]] ||33||45||.423||19.0||35,752||Shannon Kelly / Jack Allen |}Playoffs: None. Corpus Christi refused to play. Victoria and Texas City cancelled their series for a North Division championship.

{| class="wikitable" |+'''Player Statistics''' !Player!! Team!!Stat!! Tot!!!!Player!!Team!!Stat!!Tot |- | Ken Jones ||Beeville||BA||.393|||| Nick Baltz ||Beeville||W||12 |- | Mike Manderino ||Beeville||Runs||76||||Armando Reyes ||Corpus Christi||SO||101 |- | Lloyd Thompson ||Corpus Christi|||Hits||109|||| Armando Reyes ||Corpus Christi ||ERA||2.59 |- | Charles Diering ||Victoria||Hits||109|||| Jim Rainey ||Corpus Christi||RBI||67 |- | Mark Sinovich ||Corpus Christi||HR||16 |}<ref name="encyc">{{cite book |title=The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball |editor1-first=Lloyd |editor1-last=Johnson |editor2-first=Miles |editor2-last=Wolff |edition=Third |publisher=[[Baseball America]] |date=2007 |isbn=978-1932391176}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}} *{{Cite book| editor1-last=Johnson| editor1-first=Lloyd| editor2-last=Wolff| editor2-first=Miles| title=The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball| edition=2nd| location=Durham, N.C.| publisher=Baseball America| year=1997| isbn=978-0-9637189-8-3}}

==External links== *[https://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/league.cgi?code=LONE&class=D 1927–1929 Lone Star League page] at [[Baseball Reference]] *[https://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/league.cgi?code=LONE&class=C 1947–1948 Lone Star League page] at [[Baseball Reference]] *[https://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/league.cgi?code=LONE&class=A 1977 Lone Star League page] at [[Baseball Reference]]

[[Category:Defunct minor baseball leagues in the United States]] [[Category:Baseball leagues in Texas]] [[Category:Sports leagues established in 1927]] [[Category:Sports leagues disestablished in 1977]]