San Antonio Missions
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the historic churches see: San Antonio Missions National Historical Park
| San Antonio Missions | ||
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| League | Texas League | |
| Division | South Division | |
| Year founded | 1968 | |
| Major League affiliation | San Diego Padres | |
| Home ballpark | Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium | |
| Previous home ballparks | ||
| City | San Antonio, Texas | |
| Current uniform colors | white, gold and black | |
| Previous uniform colors | ||
| Logo design | The wordmark "Missions" in white with black drop shadow. Centered below the wordmark is "San Antonio" in black with a gold star centered between 'San' and 'Antonio' outlined in black. Centered above the wordmark is a gold depiction of the Alamo outlined in black with a streaking baseball forming black streaks. | |
| Division titles | ||
| League titles | 2002, 2003 Texas League Champions | |
| Manager | Randy Ready | |
| Owner | Elmore Sports Group | |
The San Antonio Missions are a minor league baseball team based in San Antonio, Texas. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres major-league club. The Missions play in Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium, located in San Antonio. Opened in 1994, the park seats 6,300 fans. The San Antonio Missions official mascott is "Ballapeño" (a baseballing jalapeño). "Henry the Puffy Taco" (a child-friendly mascot named for a local restaurant) races around the bases with children during the seventh inning.
The Missions are owned by the Elmore Sports Group, an organization which also owns the Inland Empire 66ers of the California League.
Today, San Antonio is the nation's largest metropolitan area without baseball at the Major or AAA level. In April and May of 2006 the city was active in negotiations to relocate the troubled Florida Marlins, but the Marlins spurned a May 15th decision deadline imposed by the city, ensuring the continuation of Missions baseball for the next few years.
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[edit] History
The current Missions franchise began in 1968; however, the Texas League has hosted San Antonio Missions teams as far back as 1933, when the Longview Cannibals in the St. Louis Browns organization moved to San Antonio and took the name Missions. They remained a Browns affiliate until the Texas League's temporary demise after the 1942 season due to World War II.
After the war, the Texas League and the Missions resumed play. In 1959 they left the Baltimore Orioles organization (the Browns had moved to Baltimore five years earlier) for the Chicago Cubs organization. The Cubs affiliation lasted only four years, after which the team was renamed the Bullets and joined the Houston Colt .45s organization. They would move to Amarillo in 1965. This franchise remains in the Texas League today as the Tulsa Drillers.
San Antonio was not long without Texas League baseball, however. For the 1968 season, the league expanded to eight teams with new franchises in Memphis, Tennessee and San Antonio, as the Missions name was revived as a Cubs affiliate. Upon changing affiliation to the Milwaukee Brewers for the 1972 season, the franchise took the Brewers nickname, which it kept despite changes in affiliation to the Cleveland Indians (1973-1975) and Texas Rangers (1976). The team became the San Antonio Dodgers with a change in affiliation to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977.
While the franchise kept the "Dodger" moniker for eleven seasons (1977-1987), locals still referred to them occasionally as the Missions. The Dodgers responded by officially changing their nickname back to "Missions" for the 1988 season.
The Missions were the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers until 2000, when the Dodgers ended their affiliation with the 66ers (then the San Bernardino Stampede), causing the owners to seek a change for both the Missions and the Stampede.
From 2001 until 2006 the Seattle Mariners had a player development contract with the team.
[edit] Seattle Mariners
The seven year developmental contract with the Mariners ended after the 2006 season but during that time the team was the 2002 and 2003 Texas League Champions.
The 2006 Missions struggled to score runs and finished 60-77 overall. (27-41, 33-37). The Missions were plagued by high player turnover and featured 52 different players over the course of the season.
[edit] Padres become Parent club
On September 28, 2006, the San Diego Padres announced a two-year player development contract with the San Antonio Missions.
[edit] Notable Former San Antonio minor leaguers
- Dizzy Dean
- Dennis Eckersley
- Orel Hershiser
- Eric Karros
- Pedro Martinez
- Joe Morgan
- Brooks Robinson
- Fernando Valenzuela
- John Wetteland
- Paul Konerko
- Mike Piazza
- Ramon Martinez
[edit] Trivia
In 2004 EA Sports placed the Missions as a playable team in MVP Baseball 2004 as well as other minor league teams.
[edit] External links
- San Antonio Missions official website
- San Antonio Missions Roster, Splits, and Situational Stats
- MySA.com New article about the affiliate change
| San Diego Padres Franchise | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| AAA | AA | A | Rookie |
| Portland Beavers | San Antonio Missions |
Lake Elsinore Storm Fort Wayne Wizards Eugene Emeralds |
Peoria Padres VSL Padres |
| Texas League | ||
| North Division | South Division | |
|---|---|---|
| Arkansas Travelers | Springfield Cardinals | Tulsa Drillers | Wichita Wranglers | Corpus Christi Hooks | Frisco RoughRiders | Midland RockHounds | San Antonio Missions | |
