San Antonio Missions

:"For the historic churches see: San Antonio Missions National Historical Park

MiLB infobox
name = San Antonio Missions
founded = 1968
city = San Antonio, Texas
misc =

uniform
class level = AA
past class level=
current league = Texas League
conference =
division = South Division
past league =
majorleague = San Diego Padres (2007-Present)
* Seattle Mariners (2001-2006)
* Los Angeles Dodgers (1968-2000)
pastmajorleague =
nickname = San Antonio Missions (1968-1976), (1988-present)
* San Antonio Dodgers (1977-1987)
pastnames =
ballpark = Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium
pastparks =
leaguechamps = 1897, 1903, 1908, 1933, 1950, 1961, 1964, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2007
divisionchamps =
misc6 =
owner = Elmore Sports Group
manager = Randy Ready
gm =

The San Antonio Missions are a minor league baseball team based in San Antonio, Texas. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres major-league club. The San Antonio Missions are the current Champions of the Texas League The Missions play in Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium, located in San Antonio. Opened in 1994, the park seats 6,300 fans.

The San Antonio Missions' logo features famous local attraction the Alamo, originally a Spanish mission. The team's official mascot is "Ballapeño," a baseballing jalapeño. "Henry the Puffy Taco" (a child-friendly mascot named for a local restaurant) races around the bases with children during the seventh inning.

The Missions are owned by the Elmore Sports Group, an organization which also owns the Inland Empire 66ers of the California League.

In April and May of 2006 the city was active in negotiations to relocate the troubled Florida Marlins, but the Marlins spurned a May 15th decision deadline imposed by the city, ensuring the continuation of Missions baseball for the next few years.

History

The current Missions franchise began in 1968; however, the Texas League has hosted San Antonio Missions teams as far back as 1888. When the 1932 Longview Cannibals in the St. Louis Browns organization moved to San Antonio and took the name Missions. They remained a Browns affiliate until the Texas League's temporary demise after the 1942 season due to World War II.

After the war, the Texas League and the Missions resumed play. In 1959 they left the Baltimore Orioles organization (the Browns had moved to Baltimore five years earlier) for the Chicago Cubs organization. The Cubs affiliation lasted only four years, after which the team was renamed the Bullets and joined the Houston Colt .45s organization. They would move to Amarillo in 1965. This franchise remains in the Texas League today as the Tulsa Drillers.

San Antonio was not long without Texas League baseball, however. For the 1968 season, the league expanded to eight teams with new franchises in Memphis, Tennessee and San Antonio, as the Missions name was revived as a Cubs affiliate. Upon changing affiliation to the Milwaukee Brewers for the 1972 season, the franchise took the Brewers nickname, which it kept despite changes in affiliation to the Cleveland Indians (1973-1975) and Texas Rangers (1976). The "Brewers" nickname fit the city, being the home of the Pearl Brewing Company. The team became the San Antonio Dodgers with a change in affiliation to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977.

While the franchise kept the "Dodger" moniker for eleven seasons (1977-1987), locals still referred to them occasionally as the Missions. The Dodgers responded by officially changing their nickname back to "Missions" for the 1988 season.

The Missions were the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers until 2000, when the Dodgers ended their affiliation with the 66ers (then the San Bernardino Stampede), causing the owners to seek a change for both the Missions and the Stampede.

eattle Mariners

From 2001 until 2006 the Seattle Mariners had a player development contract with the team. During the tenure with the Mariners the team won the 2002 and 2003 Texas League Championship.

The 2006 Missions struggled to score runs and finished 60-77 overall. (27-41, 33-37). The Missions were plagued by high player turnover and featured 52 different players over the course of the season.

an Diego Padres

On September 28, 2006, the San Diego Padres announced a two-year player development contract with the San Antonio Missions.

Randy Ready managed the Missions in 2007 following a promotion from Class A. The first home game as a member of the Padres organization was April 12, 2007 a 2-0 win against the Tulsa Drillers. Sean Thompson picked up the win and helped score a run.

Led by Chase Headley and Josh Geer who won player of the year and pitcher of the year honors the Missions were the 2007 Texas League Champions.

Rivalry with Hooks

Since the Corpus Christi Hooks inaugral season in 2005 they have been the chief rivals of the Missions. The most recent game of the "I-37 Series" was a 4-1 win for the Hooks. The main point of the rivalry is to determine who is the better team of South Texas. Recently the Hooks have stated on their website that they are the "Baseball Capital of South Texas"

2008 roster

Notable Former San Antonio Missions

*Dizzy Dean
*Dennis Eckersley
*Orel Hershiser
*Eric Karros
*Pedro Martínez
*Joe Morgan
*Brooks Robinson
*Fernando Valenzuela
*John Wetteland
*Paul Konerko
*Mike Piazza
*Ramón Martínez
*Paul LoDuca
*Alex Cora
*Chase Headley
*Adrián Beltré
*Félix Hernández
*Will Venable
*Nick Hundly
*Sean Kazmar

ee also

*List of baseball parks in San Antonio, Texas

External links

* [http://www.samissions.com/ San Antonio Missions official website]
* [http://www.minorleaguesplits.com/cgi-bin/tm.cgi?tm=SanTEX San Antonio Missions Roster, Splits, and Situational Stats]
* [http://www.padres.scout.com MadFriars.com]
* [http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/baseball/missions/stories/MYSA092906.05D.BBMmissions.padres.2fc87c6.html MySA.com New article about the affiliate change]
* [http://texas-league.com/records/team/]