The Cleburne Railroaders are a professional baseball team based in

Cleburne, Texas Cleburne ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Johnson County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 31,352. The city is named in honor of Patrick Cleburne, a Confederate general. Lake Pat Cleburne, the reservoir that ...

, that plays in the

American Association of Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor ...

, an official Partner League of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. The team, which began play in 2017, plays its home games at La Moderna Field.

History

A different team known as the Cleburne Railroaders played in the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

, where they won the 1906 championship. The team won the 1911

Texas–Oklahoma League The Texas–Oklahoma League was a Minor League Baseball Class-D circuit that operated between and . The league formed twice, the first began in 1911 and finished in 1914, while the second was active in 1921 and 1922. League franchises were based ...

championship. They played their home games at Gorman's Park, now part of Hulen Park. The modern Railroaders were announced as an expansion franchise in the American Association on October 6, 2016. The team plays in the Depot, a new US$25 million stadium that was recognized as the fan-favorite independent stadium by ''Ballpark Digest'' in 2017. On June 12, 2020, it was announced that the Railroaders were one of six teams that would not be participating in the 2020 American Association season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

New ownership

The Cleburne Railroaders announced three new additions to their ownership group: Neil Leibman, Alan Miller, and

Jon Ryan Jonathan Robert Ryan (born November 26, 1981) is a Canadian former professional football player who was a punter in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and National Football League (NFL). He played university football for the Regina Rams, an ...

. Leibman is the Texas Rangers Chief Operating Officer and President of Business Operations and owns multiple professional sports teams. Miller is the owner of COLLiDE Agency and Ryan is a former NFL player and are part owners of the

Portland Pickles The Portland Pickles are a Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer baseball wooden bat team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the South Division of the West Coast League, a premier collegiate summer baseball league based in the Pacif ...

independent baseball team located in Oregon. These additions to the ownership team came about in 2021 and these three will help in preparation for the upcoming season.

New colors

The Railroaders colors have changed from orange and blue to colors that are inspired by the flag of Texas. The new colors are: caboose red, steel rail blue and whistle post white.

New uniforms

The Railroaders will have three uniforms for this upcoming 2021 season. The home uniform is a white jersey with 'Railroaders' script across the chest. The pants are white with red and navy piping, the numbers are red, and on the sleeve there are Gandy and American Association patches. The away jerseys consist of a grey jersey and grey pants with the same patches as the home uniforms on the sleeves. Lastly, there is the Heritage uniform which features a navy blue top and grey pants with stirrups mimicking the ones worn by the original Railroaders team back in 1906.

Gandy

Railroaders also introduced a new mascot to their team, known as Gandy. Gandy will join Spike, the original mascot, in representing the Railroaders and what they stand for. Gandy's background is that he was a part of the Santa Fe railroad track maintenance gang. These maintenance gangs were known as Gandy Dancers because they would sing a variety of songs while they were working on the track.

Season-by-season records

Roster

Notable alumni

Mitch Glasser Mitchell Emri Glasser (; born October 15, 1989) is an American-Israeli former professional baseball player. He also plays for the Israel National Baseball Team. In high school, Glasser was Illinois Independent School League MVP as a senior. A ...

(2017) * Shawn Zarraga (2017) * Winston Abreu (2017) * Preston Palmeiro (2018) * Ryan Brett (2019) * Nefi Ogando (2019) * Daniel Robertson (2019) *

Bubby Rossman Charles Irvin "Bubby" Rossman (born June 29, 1992) is an American-Israeli professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He played college baseball for Cerritos College and California State University, Dominguez Hills. He was selected in the ...

(2019) * Ozzie Martínez (2021) * Logan Verrett (2021) * Jacob Rhame (2021) * D. J. Peterson (2021) * Michael Mariot (2021, 2023) *

Nick Gardewine Nick Gardewine (born August 15, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Dorados de Chihuahua of the Mexican League. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers. Amateur career Gardewine atte ...

(2021–2023) * Nick Shumpert (2022) * Héctor Sánchez (2022) * Hunter Cervenka (2022) *

Kevin McCarthy Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician who served as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 55th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from January until he was Remova ...

(2022) *

Josh Lucas Joshua Lucas Easy Dent Maurer (born June 20, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in various films, including ''American Psycho'' (2000), '' A Beautiful Mind'' (2001), '' Sweet Home Alabama'' (2002), '' Wonderland'' (2003), ...

(2022) * Zac Reininger (2022) * Wyatt Mathisen (2022) *

Riley Smith Riley Smith (born April 12, 1978) is an American actor. He is known for his roles on television, such as recurring roles in the series '' 24'', ''Joan of Arcadia'', '' 90210'', ''True Blood'' and '' The Messengers'', and starring roles on the ...

(2023) * Delino DeShields Jr. (2023) * Bret Boswell (2023–present) *

Chris Muller Christiaan Hendrik Muller (Chris, "Ou Raaltjie", January 4, 1865 – January 14, 1945) was a Boer general during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). He succeeded General Ben Viljoen as the sole leader of the Boer forces in the Eastern Transvaal after ...

(2024–present) * Brian O'Grady (2024–present) *

Thomas Dillard Thomas Dillard (born August 28, 1997) is an American former professional baseball first baseman. Amateur career Dillard began his high school career at Briarcrest Christian School in Eads, Tennessee, before transferring to Oxford High School ...

(2024–present) * Shed Long Jr. (2024–present) * Trent Giambrone (2024) *

Seth Romero Seth Daniel Romero (born April 19, 1996) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He played for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball (MLB) during the 2020 season. He played college baseball for the Universit ...

(2024) *

Beau Burrows Beau Van Burrows (born September 18, 1996) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins. Amateur career Bu ...

(2024–present) * Caleb Smith (2024–present)

References

External links

* {{Texas sports Cleburne, Texas American Association of Professional Baseball teams Tourist attractions in Johnson County, Texas Professional baseball teams in Texas 2016 establishments in Texas Baseball teams established in 2016 Texas–Oklahoma League teams Defunct South Central League teams