The Pauls Valley Raiders were a

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

team based in

Pauls Valley, Oklahoma Pauls Valley is a city in and the county seat of Garvin County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 5,992 at the 2020 census, a decline of 3.2 percent from the figure of 6,187 in 2010. It was settled by and named for Smith Paul, a North ...

. From 1948 to 1954, the Valley Raiders played exclusively as members of the Class D level

Sooner State League The Sooner State League was a Class D level minor league baseball league that operated from 1947 through 1957. The league owners kept it alive in 1958, anticipating a return to play in 1959. However, when only Ardmore and Paris, Texas, were able t ...

, winning the 1949 pennant. The Raiders hosted home games at Wacker Park. The Pauls Valley Raiders were a minor league affiliate of the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

in 1952 and 1953.

History

Minor league baseball began in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma when the 1948 Pauls Valley "Raiders" became members of the

. In the league's second year of play, the league expanded from six–teams in 1947, to eight–teams in 1948. The Pauls Valley Raiders and Chickasha Chiefs were the 1948 expansion teams. The other six Sooner State League teams in 1948 were the Ada Herefords, Ardmore Indians, Duncan Cementers, Lawton Giants, McAlester Rockets and Seminole Oilers. In their first season of play, the Pauls Valley Raiders finished with a 56–81 record to place seventh in 1948. The season home attendance was 27,671, an average of 404 per game. Pauls Valley native and former

MLB 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 ...

player

Jennings Poindexter Chester Jennings Poindexter 'Jinx''(September 30, 1910 – March 3, 1983) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Red Sox (1936) and Philadelphia Phillies (1939). Listed at , , Poindexter batted and threw left-handed. He ...

managed the Raiders for part of the 1948 season. The 1949 Pauls Valley Raiders captured the Sooner State League pennant. The Raiders finished the regular season in first place with an 88–52 record. In the playoffs, the Pauls Valley Raiders defeated the Ada Herefords 3 games to 2, In the Finals, the Lawton Giants defeated Pauls Valley 4 games to 1. Home attendance was 61,085, an average of 873. In 1950, Pauls Valley finished with a 68–72 record to place fifth and did not quality for the playoffs. The team drew 25,848 for the season. The 1951 Pauls Valley Raiders won 90 games and were 40 games above .500, but still finished fourth in the league standings. The Ardmore Indians (99–40),

Shawnee Hawks The Shawnee Hawks were a minor league baseball team that played in the Sooner State League. The team began as an unaffiliated team based in Duncan, Oklahoma in 1947. The original team was named the Duncan Cementers. After two seasons, the team n ...

(96–44) and McAlester Rockets (91–48) finished ahead of the Pauls Valley Raiders (90–50). In the playoffs, the Ardmore Indians swept Pauls Valley Raiders in 3 games. Pauls Valley drew 27,580. The franchise became an affiliate of the

in 1952 and Pauls Valley advanced to the Sooner State League finals. The Raiders finished 80–59 (2nd) in the regular season, 6.5 games behind the McAlester Rockets. In the playoffs, Pauls Valley defeated the Chickasha Chiefs 3 games to 1 in the semi-finals. In the Finals, the McAlester Rockets and Pauls Valley Raiders went 7 games, with McAlester winning the 7th game for a 4 games to 3 series win. Pauls Valley season attendance was 34,500. The Raiders missed the playoffs in 1953 and 1954. Pauls Valley finished 63–74 (fifth place) in 1953, drawing 18,453 (seventh in the league) in their final season as a New York Giants affiliate. In 1954, The Pauls Valley Raiders finished last (eighth) in their final season with a 41–99 record, finishing 51 games out of first and 20 games out of seventh. The 1954 Raiders drew 29,058 (fifth). The Pauls Valley Raiders permanently folded after the 1954 season, as did the Ada Cementers franchise. They two teams were replaced in the 1955 Sooner State League by the Paris Orioles and Muskogee Giants. Pauls Valley has not hosted another minor league team.

The ballpark

The Pauls Valley Raiders hosted home games at Wacker Park. Today, Wacker Park is still in existence as a public park and the Pauls Valley High School football team plays games at "Thompson Field", located within Wacker Park. Thompson Field hosts the annual "Watermelon Seed Spittin' World Championship" on the 4th of July.

Season–by–season

Notable alumni

Louis Brower Louis Lester Brower (July 1, 1900 – March 4, 1994) was an American Major League Baseball player. Brower was a shortstop for the Detroit Tigers in the 1931 season. He had a .161 batting average, with ten hits in 62 at bats. He played 21 games in ...

(1951–1952, MGR) * Roy Hawes (1948–1949) * Bob Johnson (1954) * Dutch McCall (1953) * Red Phillips (1949–1950, MGR) *

(1948, MGR) *

Daryl Spencer Daryl Dean Spencer (July 13, 1928 – January 2, 2017) was an American professional baseball player and infielder who played shortstop, second base and third base in Major League Baseball between and for the New York / San Francisco Giants, ...

(1949) * Bennie Warren (1954, MGR) * Dom Zanni (1952) * Pauls Valley Raiders players

References

{{reflist

External links

Pauls Valley - Baseball Reference
Defunct minor league baseball teams Sports clubs and teams in Oklahoma Garvin County, Oklahoma New York Giants minor league affiliates San Francisco Giants minor league affiliates Baseball teams established in 1948 Baseball teams disestablished in 1954 1948 establishments in Oklahoma 1954 disestablishments in Oklahoma Defunct baseball teams in Oklahoma Sooner State League teams