The heyday of local pro ball
Mar. 1—The heyday of professional baseball in Pauls Valley decades ago is about to get the cobwebs dusted off for a little peek thanks to a planned TV feature.
What's up is a scheduled visit this week by KTEN sports anchor Tyger Allen, who plans to do a feature on the Pauls Valley Raiders.
In case you don't know who the Raiders are, they were the minor league baseball team that played right here in the local Wacker Park from 1948 to 1954.
With anyone and everyone invited to come out, Allen plans a visit, complete with a few on-camera interviews, starting at 10 a.m. Friday, March 3 at the Pauls Valley Depot Museum located inside the local train depot.
Led by the Pauls Valley Historical Society, the whole idea is for Allen to put together a story on the Raiders and the impact the team had on the community back in the day.
The theme is "From the Battlefield to the Ballfield. From Then to Now."
"We want to promote it and get people to show up," said Lorraine Walker of the local history group.
"Anyone with an interest in the history of the community and the baseball team is encouraged to come. If you have an interest then please come out.
"Anyone with information about the Raiders or memorabilia we would ask them get in touch with us."
It was back in 1948 when the Pauls Valley Raiders joined the Sooner State League, along with the Chichasha Chiefs.
The league already had the Ada Herefords, Ardmore Indians, Duncan Cementers, Lawton Giants, McAlester Rockets and Seminole Oilers.
Although the Raiders finished that first year with a 56-81 record the years attendance was still at more than 27,000 with about 400 per game.
The next year the Raiders captured the league pennant with an 88-52 record. PV then defeated Ada in the playoffs before losing in the finals to the Lawton Giants, where attendance was nearly 900 a game.
In 1952 the Raiders won a playoff series before losing a seven-game finals to McAlester.
The team folded after the '54 season, along with the Ada team.
As for this week's gathering, Walker said it's also meant to bring a little more awareness to the depot museum and the overall history of Pauls Valley.
The really neat thing here is the museum gets more visitors than you might think.
"It's not just people riding the train. We have people driving through the area that just stop to check out the museum," Walker said.
"Some of them see the signs on the highway and come to the toy museum and then the depot museum. "Sometimes we're their destination."
The museum's hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and now 1 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
She adds the historical society is also planning to partner with the U.S. Postal Service for an event in August to celebrate Pauls Valley having a post office for more than 150 years.
