Oklahoma City Indians

{{Infobox Minor League Baseball

| name = Oklahoma City Indians

| firstseason = 1904

| lastseason = 1957

| allyears = 1904–1912, 1914–1942, 1946–1957

| city = Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

| logo =

| caplogo =

| class level = {{plainlist|

Double-A (1946–1957)
Class A1 (1936–1942)
Class A (1918–1935)
Class B (1911)
Class C (1905–1910)
Class D (1904, 1912, 1914–1917)

}}

| league = {{plainlist|

Texas League (1909–1911, 1933–1942, 1946–1957)
Western League (1918–1932)
Western Association (1905–1908, 1914–1917)
Oklahoma State League (1912)
Southwestern League (1904)

}}

| division =

| majorleague ={{plainlist|

Boston Red Sox (1956–1957)
Cleveland Indians (1941, 1946–1950)
New York Giants (1942)

}}

| nickname = {{plainlist|

Oklahoma City Indians (1918–1942, 1946–1957)
Oklahoma City Boosters (1917)
Oklahoma City Senators (1915–1916)
Oklahoma City Boosters (1914)
Oklahoma City Indians (1909–1912)
Oklahoma City Mets (1904–1908)

}}

| ballpark = Holland Field, Texas League Park, Western League Park

| classchamps =

| dixienum = 1

| dixiechamps = 1935

| leaguenum = 4

| leaguechamps = {{hlist|1914|1915|1923|1935}}

| conferencechamps =

| divisionchamps =

| owner = {{ubl

|Jimmie Humphries (1951–1957)

|Bill Veeck & Rudie Schaffer (1948–1951){{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59105452/humphries-swings-deal-for-ball-club/ |title=Humphries Swings Deal for Ball Club |first=Pete |last=Rice |newspaper=The Daily Oklahoman |location=Oklahoma City |page=1 |date=July 22, 1951 |access-date=September 11, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}

|Harold O. Pope (1945–1948){{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59106858/pope-buys-indian-baseball-stock-c-r/ |title=Pope Buys Indian Baseball Stock, C. R. Virtue Out |first=Don |last=Pierce |newspaper=The Daily Oklahoman |location=Oklahoma City |page=21 |date=August 26, 1945 |access-date=September 11, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}

|Harold O. Pope & C. R. Virtue (1942–1945)

|John Holland family (1918–1942){{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59107292/oil-man-buys-oklahoma-citys-baseball/ |title=Oil Man Buys Oklahoma City's Baseball Club |agency=UP |newspaper=Cushing Daily Citizen |location=Cushing, Oklahoma |page=4 |date=November 30, 1942 |access-date=September 11, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}

}}

The Oklahoma City Indians was the primary name of an American professional baseball team representing Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, from 1904 though 1957, except for 1913 and three seasons during World War II. The team played in several different minor league baseball leagues, primarily the Texas League and the Western League. The team was known as the Mets, Boosters, and Senators at different times during its early years.

History

A team representing Oklahoma City first played in the Southwestern League in 1904.{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball |edition=third |date=2007 |first1=Lloyd |last1=Johnson |first2=Miles |last2=Wolff |isbn=9781932391176 |publisher=Baseball America}} The city was represented continuously in minor league baseball through 1957, except for four seasons. Following the disbanding of the Oklahoma State League during the 1912 season, Oklahoma City did not have a professional team in 1913, although several Western League teams played exhibition games in the city.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59101416/jingle-of-coin-will-be-an-effective/ |title=Jingle of Coin will be an Effective Lobbyist |newspaper=The Daily Oklahoman |location=Oklahoma City |page=10 |date=February 23, 1913 |access-date=September 11, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}} During World War II, play was suspended for three seasons, 1943–1945, and resumed in 1946.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59101964/take-a-gander-at-tribe-park-its/ |title=Take a Gander at Tribe Park, It's Getting a Facelifting |newspaper=The Daily Oklahoman |location=Oklahoma City |page=22 |date=January 13, 1946 |access-date=September 11, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}

In addition to competing in the Southwestern League in 1904 and the Oklahoma State League in 1912, Oklahoma City teams played in the Western Association during 1905–1908 and 1914–1917; the Texas League during 1909–1911, 1933–1942 and 1946–1957; and the Western League from 1918 to 1932. Oklahoma City teams played their home games at Western League Park, Holland Field and Texas League Park.Nichols, Max, "Stadium Name Change Follows Tradition", Oklahoma City Journal Record, October 7, 2002

Minor league classifications varied somewhat during the team's lifetime, but the Western and Texas leagues of the post-World War I era—rated Class A, A1 or Double-A—were high-level circuits that usually ranked two notches below Major League Baseball calibre.

The Indians won the 1935 Texas League championship and two years later captured 101 regular-season victories, but generally struggled in the Texas League standings. Additionally, they won the 1935 Dixie Series, a postseason interleague championship between the champions of the Southern Association and the Texas League.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57139521/dixie-series-title-goes-to-oklahoma-city/|via=Newspapers.com|title=Dixie Series Title Goes to Oklahoma City|work=The Knoxville News-Sentinel|location=Knoxville|date=October 7, 1935|page=8}} In the club's last three seasons, 1955–1957, it lost 90, 106 and 88 games. The team spent the post-World War II period as the Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians, but the Oklahoma City Indians' nickname long preceded that relationship. The Indians team spent many years as an unaffiliated franchise, and in its last two seasons was a farm club of the Boston Red Sox.

Baseball Hall of Fame player Rogers Hornsby managed the Indians for part of the 1940 season, and broadcaster Curt Gowdy launched his baseball announcing career with the postwar Indians; when he left in early 1949, Gowdy's replacement was Bob Murphy.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59102534/murphy-takes-post-to-air-indians-games/ |title=Murphy Takes Post to Air Indians Games |newspaper=The Daily Oklahoman |location=Oklahoma City |page=4B |date=February 6, 1949 |access-date=September 11, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}} Both Gowdy and Murphy went on to win the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame. Former minor league player and manager Jimmie Humphries, who owned the team during the 1950s, was with the Indians in different capacities from 1919 through 1957, "one of the longest careers with a single franchise in baseball history."{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8YPvqFDj0nAC&pg=PA10 |title=Baseball in Oklahoma City |first=Bob |last=Burke |page=10 |date=2003 |isbn=1531617832 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |via=Google Books}}

The Oklahoma City Indians folded when the Texas League reorganized following the 1957 season. Five years later, the Oklahoma City 89ers, Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Colt .45s, then a major league expansion team (now known as the Houston Astros), debuted in the American Association. The Triple-A franchise has played continuously since 1962, and since 2025 has been the Oklahoma City Comets.