Both Dallas and Fort Worth had long and storied histories in the Texas League.
Dallas was a mainstay in the Texas League from 1902 to 1958. Over the years, it was known by many nicknames—the Griffins (1902), Giants (1903–1916), Submarines (1917–1918), Marines (1919–1922), Steers (1923–1938), Rebels (1939–1942, 1946–1948) and Eagles (1949–1957), before it was dubbed the Rangers [1] in its final TL campaign.
The Fort Worth team was called the Panthers (1902–1935) and the Cats (1936–1942, 1946–1958, 1964).
Dallas won the Dixie Series, a postseason interleague championship between the champions of the Southern Association and the Texas League, in 1926,[2] 1946,[3] and 1953.[4]
In 1959, the American Association expanded and admitted Dallas as an unaffiliated club and Fort Worth as an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. Dallas' Rangers outdrew Fort Worth's Cats, 130,000 to 97,000, and the two teams were merged in 1960 as the top farm team of the Kansas City Athletics. The Dallas Cowboys, Clint Murchison's new NFL franchise, were originally to be called the "Dallas Rangers" because the baseball team's owners had told him in 1959 that they were disbanding. When the owners reversed course the following year, Murchison volunteered to rename his new team to avoid confusion.[6]
The Rangers struggled on the field and at the gate in 1960, finishing last and drawing only 113,000 fans. In 1961, the team was affiliated with the expansion Los Angeles Angels, and then in 1962 the Angels split the working agreement with the Philadelphia Phillies. During this two-year period, the Rangers featured future MLB stars such as the Angels' Jim Fregosi and Dean Chance. But they continued to lag behind other Association members in attendance.
When the American Association itself folded after the 1962 season, the Rangers joined the Pacific Coast League and affiliated with the Minnesota Twins, inheriting the players of the defunct Vancouver Mounties. The 1963 Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers, managed by Jack McKeon and led by Triple-A rookieTony Oliva, who hit .304 with 23 home runs, finally reached the .500 level. But the Minnesota affiliation lasted only that one season.
Final season and relocation to Canada
The lowly Kansas City A's returned as the team's parent in 1964. Moreover, that season the Texas League placed a team (another Cubs' affiliate) in Fort Worth, and the Rangers reverted to their Dallas-only identity.