Letter to the Editor: Recalling Amarillo Texans summer collegiate baseball team, 1989-93

Many of us have fond memories of the old ballpark. It opened in 1957 after the old ballpark burned down. When the Gold Sox (Padres farm club) played there in 1980-81 we used to hand dollar bills to Tony Gwynn to celebrate his home runs.

Several of us local fans got together and founded a Jayhawk League team in 1988-89 and spent a lot of elbow grease and money; and we proved there were still a lot of baseball fans in Amarillo after the ballpark sat vacant for several years.

In our five seasons, we produced six major leaguers, 40 minor leaguers and many boys who became excellent coaches, especially Tim Tadlock who has taken Texas Tech to the College World Series three times and Johnny Cardenas, a local boy who is in his 14th year as the head coach at Stephen F. Austin. We also packed the stadium to sweep a 3-game series against the Russian Olympic Team and had outstanding July 4th fireworks shows.

The people of Amarillo were great fans and opened their homes to be house parents for the players. We played our final season and gave up our ballpark lease to the Amarillo Dillas, and everyone's combined efforts led to Hodgetown and the Sod Poodles.

Thanks again to all of the great people of Amarillo who pitched in and helped to prove that Amarillo was still a baseball town. I talk often with our former players, boosters, house parents, Phil Woodall and Mark Lee and are all proud of the five years we worked to support Amarillo and the old stadium.

Mike Moore, Anna, TX

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Letter: Amarillo Texans summer collegiate baseball team, 1989-93