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Beaumont Exporters

(Redirected from Beaumont Oilers)

The Beaumont Exporters was the predominant name of a minor league baseball team located in Beaumont, Texas that played between 1920 and 1957 in the Texas League and the Big State League. Beaumont rejoined the Class AA Texas League (1983-1986) and evolved into today's Northwest Arkansas Naturals.

Beaumont Exporters
Minor league affiliations
Previous classes
  • Class B (1920, 1956-1957)
  • Class A (1921-1942,1946-1955)
Previous leagues
Major league affiliations
Previous teams
Minor league titles
League titles (2)
  • 1932
  • 1938
Team data
Previous names
  • Beaumount Pirates (1957)
  • Beaumont Exporters (1953-1956)
  • Beaumont Roughnecks (1950-1952)
  • Beaumont Exporters (1920-1942,1946-1949)
Previous parks

Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Hank Greenberg (1931-1932), Whitey Herzog (1952), Carl Hubbell (1928), and Hal Newhouser (1939) played for the Exporters and Rogers Hornsby was the Manager in 1950.

Baseball history in Beaumont

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The city of Beaumont was first represented between 1903 and 1905 by the Beaumont Oil Gushers, later renamed the Beaumont Millionaires in the South Texas League. It was later represented in the Texas League from 1912 to 1917 and 1919 as the Beaumont Oilers. After the Exporters folded, the city was later represented again in the Texas league from 1983 to 1986 by the Beaumont Golden Gators and in 1994 by the Beaumont Bullfrogs of the Texas-Louisiana league.

The Exporters first formed in 1920 and played at Magnolia Ballpark through 1929 and at Stuart Stadium thereafter. The team was ranked near the bottom of the Texas League standings during the 1920s. However, when the Exporters became an affiliate of the Detroit Tigers in the 1930s, its fortunes changed.

The 1932 club, featuring future Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg, won 100 games and swept the Dallas Steers in the playoffs. Greenberg led the league with 39 home runs and 123 runs scored, while pitcher Schoolboy Rowe, who would star with Greenberg on the 1934–1935 Tiger pennant-winners, posted a league-best 2.34 earned run average. The Exporters won another championship in 1938, behind pitcher Dizzy Trout, the league's MVP. In 1942, the team won the regular-season pennant, but fell in seven games in the playoffs. Then the entire Texas League suspended operations during World War II.

 
Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg

After the war ended, the New York Yankees replaced Detroit as the Exporters' parent club in 1946. A series of last-place teams was followed in 1950 with a championship club managed by Rogers Hornsby — but it was known as the Beaumont Roughnecks that season.

The Exporters name was restored in 1953, but no more titles followed. As an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs (1954) and Milwaukee Braves (1955), it trailed the other seven Texas League teams in attendance. The Exporters then moved to Austin in 1956.

A revised club known as the Exporters then entered the Class B Big State League in 1956 as a St. Louis Cardinals' affiliate. It struggled on the field, finished last in the BSL in attendance, and briefly transferred to Texas City, Texas, playing as the Texas City Exporters, during July before returning to Beaumont. The following year, 1957, Beaumont remained in the Big State League as the Beaumont Pirates, a Pittsburgh Pirates' farm club. The league then folded as an organized baseball circuit at the end of the 1957.

Beaumont remained without a minor league club until 1983 when the Amarillo Gold Sox, the Class AA Texas League affiliate of the San Diego Padres, relocated to become the Beaumont Golden Gators. The Golden Gators played from 1983 to 1986 before the franchise moved to Wichita, Kansas and became the Wichita Pilots in 1987. The franchise relocated to Springdale, Arkansas in 2008 to become today's Northwest Arkansas Naturals.[1]

Notable alumni

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Baseball Hall of Fame alumni

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Notable alumni

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Season-by-season

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Year Record Finish Manager Playoffs
1920 81-70 4th Joe Mathes
1921 64-93 7th Pat Newnam
1922 65-88 6th Joe Mathes
1923 71-77 6th Frank Edington (23-19) / Frank Kitchens (48-58)
1924 77-73 3rd Albert Bernsen
1925 42-108 8th Albert Bernsen / Andy Woehr
1926 76-80 5th Jim Galloway
1927 56-97 8th Jim Galloway / Claude Robertson
1928 50-106 8th Claude Robertson
1929 72-87 7th Claude Robertson
1930 68-84 6th Del Baker
1931 94-65 2nd Del Baker Lost playoff for 1st half title
1932 100-51 1st Del Baker League Champs
1933 73-79 5th Bob Coleman
1934 81-69 3rd Dutch Lorbeer Lost in 1st round
1935 90-69 2nd Dutch Lorbeer Lost League Finals
1936 69-80 7th Dutch Lorbeer
1937 82-77 5th Al Vincent
1938 99-57 1st Al Vincent League Champs
1939 58-103 8th Al Vincent
1940 88-72 3rd Al Vincent Lost League Finals
1941 58-94 7th Gordie Hinkle
1942 89-58 1st Steve O'Neill Lost League Finals
1946 70-83 5th Jim Turner
1947 60-94 7th (t) Goldie Holt
1948 61-90 8th Chick Autry
1949 55-97 8th Chick Autry
1950 91-52 1st Rogers Hornsby Lost in 1st round
1951 84-77 4th (t) Harry Craft Lost in 1st round
1952 77-84 7th Harry Craft
1953 65-89 8th Al Vincent
1954 77-84 7th Les Fleming (36-42) / Mickey Livingston (41-42)
1955 51-110 8th Mickey Livingston
1956* 57-83 7th Ford Garrison
1957 61-63 3rd Monty Basgall

* Team operated in Texas City, TX from July 2 to July 7, 1956 [2]

References

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  • Johnson, Lloyd, ed., The Minor League Register. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1994.
  • Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 1997 edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America.
  1. ^ "Beaumont, Texas Encyclopedia". Baseball-Reference.com.
  2. ^ Lloyd Johnson; Miles Wolff, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (Third ed.). Baseball America. ISBN 978-1932391176.
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