The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 92, July 1988 - April, 1989 Page: 612

                                
Southwestern Historzcal Quarterly

and franchises folded or shifted locations. Yet the Texas League sur-
vived the economic tailspin and began a significant comeback in the late
1970s. While the Texas League may never achieve its former glory, it
has provided thrills, spectacular feats, superstars, and even enduring
terminology to the national game. Probably the best known is the
"Texas Leaguer," a pop-up or short fly ball that drops in for a hit be-
tween the infield and outfield. The term originated because of the spa-
cious dimensions of some Texas League parks. At the old Magnolia
Field at Beaumont, for example, the left-field fence was more than five
hundred feet from home plate. This allowed plenty of space for short
fly balls to drop in for hits between the outfield and infield on a regular
basis."
In recent decades the tradition of Texas baseball has remained
strong. Beginning in 1962, major league baseball came to Texas with
the expansion of the Houston Colt 45's, later the Astros. Texas added
a new dimension to baseball with the inauguration of indoor play at
the Astrodome, the "eighth wonder of the world." In 1972 the Texas
Rangers began play in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to give Texas fans a
choice of major league teams from the rival leagues. While it is not en-
tirely certain where and how baseball under the New York rules began
in Texas, it is clear that Texas has had a long and exciting tradition of
baseball.
'100'Neal, The Texas League, 104-171, Ben Woodhead, Beaumonter at Large From an Ex-
Reporter's Reseroor of Random Remzntscences (Beaumont, 'Tex - n.p., 1968), 153-
Opposite page: This detail of a photograph of a University of Texas at Austin
baseball game in the 1920s captures a Texas player breaking for home. We can
assume that the expectant catcher did not get the ball in time to make the tag
because someone wrote on the back of the photograph: "Another score by
squeeze play." Courtesy Barker Texas Hzstory Center, Universzty of Texas at Austzn.

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