The Laredo Apaches were a minor league baseball team from

Laredo, Texas Laredo ( ; ) is a city in and the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Laredo has the distinction of flying seven flags (the flag of ...

that existed in two different incarnations: 1949-53 and again in 1995.

History

The original Apaches were one of the six charter franchises of the Class D Rio Grande Valley League in 1949, having been preceded in Laredo by the Laredo Bermudas of the Southwest Texas League (1910–1911) and the Laredo Oilers, who played as members of the

Gulf Coast League The Florida Complex League (FCL) is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in Florida, United States. Before 2021, it was known as the Gulf Coast League (GCL). Together with the Arizona Complex League (ACL), it forms the l ...

in 1926 and

Texas Valley League The Texas Valley League was a minor league baseball league that played in three different periods. The league was an Independent league from 1901 to 1908 and a Class D level league from 1927 to 1928 and in 1938. In every season of play, the Texas ...

in 1927. In 1949, Laredo finished 80–60 in second place, and were eliminated by Brownsville in the playoffs. The following year, the Apaches moved into a new stadium, West Martin Field (now

Veterans Field Veterans Field is a baseball venue in Laredo, Texas. Built in 1950, the park was formerly known as West Martin Field, but the field's name was changed to honor the men and women who have served defending America in the armed forces. Home to many ...

) and finished second again, edged out for the pennant by a single game by Harlingen; again, the Apaches were beaten in the semifinals, this time by

Corpus Christi Seahawks Corpus is Latin for "body". It may refer to: Linguistics * Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts * Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files * Corpus linguistics, a branch of linguistics Music ...

. Losing two of their eight clubs mid-season, the RGVL folded after the 1950 campaign, and four of the loop's teams moved to the Class B Gulf Coast League, Gulf Coast League (not to be confused with the current circuit of that name). In 1951, Laredo finished fourth but were eliminated by

in the post-season; in 1952, the Apaches slipped to fifth and missed the playoffs. In their final campaign in 1953, led by batting champ Juan Senties (.379), Laredo edged back up to fourth, but were again dumped in the playoffs, this time by

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Gal ...

. Both the Apaches and the GCL would fold at the end of the season.

Owls and the new Apaches

Professional baseball would not return to Laredo until 1985, when the

Mexican League The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...

club

Tecolotes de Nuevo Laredo The Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos (''Owls of the Two Laredos''), formerly known as the Tecolotes de Nuevo Laredo (''Owls of Nuevo Laredo''), are a Minor League Baseball team based in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, and Laredo, Texas in the Mexican Leagu ...

became the Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos, playing home games on both sides of the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio ...

. In 1995, however, the Owls suddenly had competition, as the

San Antonio Tejanos The San Antonio Tejanos are a now-defunct baseball team which belonged to the Texas-Louisiana Baseball League, which later became the Central League. The team lasted for one year, and in 1995 moved to Laredo, Texas, becoming the Laredo Apaches T ...

of the independent

Texas–Louisiana League The Central Baseball League, formerly the Texas–Louisiana League, was a independent baseball league whose member teams were not affiliated with any Major League Baseball (MLB) franchises. In 1991, potential owners, Dallas businessman Byron P ...

transferred to Laredo. But the new Apaches wouldn't last long; sporting the league's worst record at 17–32, and drawing only about 700 fans per game at the now-aged Veterans Field, the league decided to fold the franchise (as well as the Pueblo Bighorns) mid-season. The Tecolotes would continue to play in Laredo until 2004; in 2011, the city council voted to build a new ballpark, Uni-Trade Stadium, and the American Association granted an expansion team, the Laredo Lemurs, in time for the 2012 season. The Lemurs withdrew from the AA before the 2017 season, but the Mexican League announced that the Rojos del Águila de Veracruz club would become a new version of the Owls, and would play some of their home games at Uni-Trade Stadium, starting in 2018.

References

{{reflist

External links

San Antonio Express-News Cyber Stylebook
Defunct minor league baseball teams Defunct independent baseball league teams Sports in Laredo, Texas Defunct baseball teams in Texas Baseball teams disestablished in 1995 Professional baseball teams in Texas Baseball teams established in 1995 1995 establishments in Texas 1995 disestablishments in Texas 1949 establishments in Texas Baseball teams established in 1949 1953 disestablishments in Texas Baseball teams disestablished in 1953 Defunct Florida Complex League teams