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The Dallas Rangers were a high-level minor league baseball team located in Dallas, Texas, from 1958-64. The team was known by the Dallas Rangers name in 1958-59 and 1964 and as the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers from 1960-63. It played in the Class AA Texas League in 1958, the AAA American Association from 1959-62 and the AAA Pacific Coast League in 1963-64, and its home stadium was Burnett Field.
Both Dallas and Fort Worth had long and storied histories in the Texas League. The Dallas club had had many nicknames since its founding in 1902 including the Griffins (1902), Giants (1903-1918), Marines (1919), Submarines (1920-1921), Steers (1922-1938), Rebels (1939-1942, 1946-1947) and Eagles (1948-1957), before it was dubbed the Rangers in 1958, its final TL campaign. The Fort Worth team was called the Panthers (1902-1931) and the Cats (1932-1942, 1946-1958, 1964). As of 2006, a Fort Worth Cats independent league club was still using the latter name.
In 1959, the American Association expanded and admitted both cities to AAA baseball, Dallas as an unaffiliated club and Fort Worth as an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. Dallas outdrew Fort Worth, 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 were initially called the Dallas Rangers but were renamed to avoid confusion with the baseball club.[1]
The Rangers struggled on the field and at the gate that season, finishing last and drawing only 113,000 fans. In 1961 and 1962, the team was affiliated with the expansion Los Angeles Angels and featured future MLB stars such as Jim Fregosi and Dean Chance, but continued to lag behind other Association members in attendance. In 1962, the team was jointly affiliated with both the Angels and the Philadelphia Phillies.
When the American Association itself folded after the 1962 season, the Rangers joined the Pacific Coast League and affiliated with the Minnesota Twins. The 1963 Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers, managed by Jack McKeon, finally reached the .500 level, but the Minnesota affiliation lasted only one year. The lowly A's returned as the team's parent in 1964. Moreover, that season the Texas League placed a team in Fort Worth, and the Rangers reverted to their Dallas-only identity.
The last Dallas Rangers club, managed by John McNamara, won only 53 of 157 PCL games and drew only 39,000 fans. The franchise moved to Vancouver in 1965. The Dallas-Fort Worth regional name was then applied to the Texas League club, which played in Arlington and became known as the Spurs through 1971. The old nickname Rangers was revived for the major league Texas Rangers, who moved to Turnpike (renamed Arlington) Stadium in 1972