The Amarillo Gold Sox was the name of an American minor league baseball franchise that represented the city of Amarillo, Texas , in the Class D West Texas–New Mexico League , the Class A Western League and the Double-A Texas League at various times between 1939 and 1982 .
15-689: Amarillo's first minor league club, the Gassers , appeared in 1923 . While the minor leagues weathered the economic troubles of the Great Depression , Amarillo was frequently unrepresented in professional baseball. But in 1939, Amarillo joined the WT-NM League as the Gold Sox when the loop expanded from six to eight clubs. The Gold Sox played in the league until the circuit suspended operations due to World War II on July 5, 1942 . In 1946 ,
30-651: Is printed at a facility in Lubbock . The current-day Globe-News is a combination of several newspapers previously published in Amarillo. One began on November 4, 1909, as a prohibition publication by the Baptist deacon Dr. Joseph Elbert Nunn (1851 – 1938). In 1916, Nunn turned the Amarillo Daily News into a general newspaper. Nunn also owned an electric company, and heavily invested in
45-737: The Amarillo Daily News and merged it with their Globe newspaper to form the Amarillo Globe-News Publishing Company. The Amarillo Times started on December 15, 1937, as an afternoon tabloid newspaper . On December 2, 1951, the Globe-News and Times were merged into one company with the majority of the stock owned by the Times' Roy Whittenburg family, being published by Samuel Benjamin Whittenburg (1914 – 1992). The Daily News continued as
60-770: The telephone company. He served on the boards of the Wayland Baptist College (now Wayland Baptist University ) in Plainview, Texas , then at Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University ). He went on to Lubbock, Texas , with the Goodnight Baptist College in the now ghost town of Goodnight in Armstrong County . The college and town were named for the legendary Texas Panhandle rancher Charles Goodnight . In 1926, Eugene A. Howe and Wilbur Clayton Hawk bought
75-619: The Amarillo newspaper of record, the Amarillo Globe-News , said, "It would be in the Amarillo team's best interest to look for another name". Notes Sources 1923 in baseball The following are the baseball events of the year 1923 throughout the world. Negro National National League Triple Crown batting winner All Negro leagues standings below are per Seamheads. †Toledo Tigers folded in July. The independent Cleveland Tate Stars returned to
90-585: The NNL as an associate member to finish the Tigers' schedule. The team was not considered a full member of the NNL. A loose confederation of teams existed that were not part of either established leagues. Amarillo Globe-News The Amarillo Globe-News is a daily newspaper in Amarillo, Texas , owned by Gannett . The newspaper is based at downtown's FirstBank Southwest Tower , but
105-887: The TL in 1965 , it was known as the Sonics from 1965–1967 and the Giants from 1968–1974. In 1975, the franchise moved to Lafayette, Louisiana , te become the Lafayette Drillers and Amarillo was again left out of the Texas League. But after only one season without professional baseball, in 1976 , the Amarillo Gold Sox returned to the circuit, as the San Diego Padres moved their Double-A farm club from Alexandria, Louisiana . In their first season back in
120-650: The Texas League admitted Amarillo as a farm system affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles . From 1960 – 1962 , the Gold Sox were the Double-A farm club of the New York Yankees , winning the 1961 regular-season title. In 1963 , the Chicago Cubs were the Gold Sox' parent team. But the Gold Sox disappeared from the baseball map when the 1964 Texas League contracted, and when Amarillo returned to
135-646: The Texas League under their old nickname, the Gold Sox won the West Division title and playoff championship, but a series of last-place teams and only one other division title followed through 1982 . The Gold Sox moved to Beaumont, Texas prior to the 1983 season and became the Beaumont Golden Gators . In 1981 the Gold Sox roster included future major leaguers Tony Gwynn , Mark Thurmond , Andy Hawkins and Dave Dravecky . In 2009, an Amarillo age-7-and-under select baseball team affiliated with
150-725: The YMCA paid homage to the former team by continuing the Gold Sox name. The team has stayed together for several seasons and is now a 12u USSSA team. On December 3, 2010, it was announced that an expansion team in the American Association would begin playing at the Potter County Memorial Stadium in Spring 2011, replacing the Amarillo Dillas of United League Baseball who were evicted from
165-632: The election of a reform slate." The company also purchased radio stations WDAG and KGRS (merging them to form KGNC in 1935), and NBC television station KGNC-TV (now KAMR ) in 1953. On September 1, 1972, Morris Communications bought the Globe-News from the Whittenburg family. In 2001, the Daily News and Globe-Times merged into one morning edition, the Globe-News . In 2017, Morris Communications sold its newspapers to GateHouse Media . The Globe-News moved in September 2018 from
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#1732791536318180-480: The morning newspaper, while the Globe-News and Times were merged into the afternoon Globe-Times . The Amarillo Globe-Times won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for exposing government corruption in Potter and Randall counties. The organization noted the paper "expos[ed] a breakdown in local law enforcement with resultant punitive action that swept lax officials from their posts and brought about
195-473: The postwar West Texas–New Mexico League was reborn as a Class C league and the Gold Sox returned to the field. In 1948 , led by skipper Buck "Leaky" Fausett , the team won its first league playoff title. (It would win the playoffs again in 1952 .) In 1953, Alvin Lakind played for the team and batted .300; his grandson Jared Lakind went on to play minor league baseball 60 years later. In 1955 , Amarillo won
210-529: The regular-season pennant and led the WT-NML in attendance, but it was a Pyrrhic victory , as the league folded for good at the close of the season. The Gold Sox, however, remained alive by moving up to the Western League as an unaffiliated club. It enjoyed success on the field, winning the 1956 regular-season title, and at the gate, leading the league in attendance in its final season, 1958 . In 1959 ,
225-535: The stadium for financial issues. Former player Mark Lee was named the team's new general manager. The team was to have been named the Gold Sox. However, on December 8, 2010, it was reported that the Amarillo team will not legally be able to use the Gold Sox name as the collegiate woodbat Marysville Gold Sox in California had trademarked the name in February 2002. On December 10, 2010, the editorial page of
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