Advertisement

Tramel's ScissorTales: Kirby Smart wants Georgia-Florida moved; OU-Texas has a better idea

Georgia football coach Kirby Smart wants the Florida-Georgia game moved from its permanent site in Jacksonville to campus sites. His reasoning is clear: recruiting.

Of course, OU-Texas has a permanent neutral site, and one reason the game is anchored in Dallas (and has been since 1929) is clear: recruiting.

I know, I know. It makes no sense. Welcome to the mind of college football coaches.

Here’s what Smart had to say during SEC Media Days last week in Atlanta.

“I'm competing against guys all across the SEC who host kids at their biggest game,” Smart told the SEC Network. "When Auburn plays Alabama, guess where the recruits are? They're at Auburn. When LSU and Alabama play, guess where the biggest recruits want to go?

ADVERTISEMENT

“It's an opportunity for us to bring these kids who fly in from all over the country. What game do they want to see? They'd like to see Georgia play Florida, but they can't do that.”

Tramel's ScissorTales: How Alston vs. NCAA ruling affects college football players in potential union talks

Fans from Georgia and Florida fill TIAA Bank Field during their 2018 game in Jacksonville. BOB SELF/Florida Times-Union
Fans from Georgia and Florida fill TIAA Bank Field during their 2018 game in Jacksonville. BOB SELF/Florida Times-Union

In the OU-Texas game, the designated home team gets to host recruits at the Cotton Bowl. But in Georgia-Florida, neither team is allowed to bring in recruits, via Southeastern Conference rules.

Seems like rather than move the game, the answer is just change the rule to the Big 12 version. If not for Florida-Georgia, then for OU-Texas. That's one of the hundreds of details that the Sooners and Longhorns must account for when they make the move to the Southeastern Conference, no later than 2025.

The Sooners and 'Horns won't be happy, won't be happy at all, if recruits are barred from the Cotton Bowl every season.

In truth, OU-Texas is a win-win for both schools, no matter the designated host, since the Sooners and Longhorns recruit many of the same players.

Of course, I’m not here to argue recruiting with Smart. He knows more about it than all the rest of us put together.

But Smart’s desire is interesting. Georgia already is killing it in recruiting. And maybe recruits want to see Georgia-Florida because it’s played in Jacksonville. I mean, the Bulldogs have more than their share of marquee games. Georgia-Auburn is must-see football. Georgia-Georgia Tech is a traditional rivalry, albeit one-sided. Plus assorted SEC games against Alabama and Louisiana State.

I know of little regret from the football side of either the Sooners or Longhorns about playing in Dallas. In fact, both programs embrace the Cotton Bowl tradition as a recruiting bonanza.

OU and Texas recruit to that game. Sign with us, they say, and you get to experience this. Playing in that atmosphere, on that stage, is something that can’t be bought by name, image and likeness money.

I would assume it’s the same for Georgia-Florida, but heck, who knows?

Jacksonville’s Florida Times-Union reported that Smart long has advocated moving the game.

Greg McGarity, chief executive of Jacksonville’s Gator Bowl game, formerly was Georgia’s athletic director and the man who hired Smart as head coach.

Tramel: Why Bob Stoops talked OU men's basketball team into visiting Normandy

“The historical nature (of Florida-Georgia) isn’t important to Kirby,” McGarity told the Times-Union. “But to those who played in it, they always remember that game. With the 50-50 split of fans at the stadium, it’s a great experience.

“Remember, if you change it, you’re changing it for good. I don’t think that’s a wise thing to do when the vast majority enjoy the experience. Plus, it’s something unique and unusual.”

OU-Texas, Georgia-Florida and Army-Navy are the sport’s three great neutral-site series. Army-Navy is in a class of its own, for reasons you either know all about or can figure out.

In Jacksonville, in both the old Gator Bowl and the Jaguars’ TIAA Bank Field, the tickets are distributed equally, same as OU-Texas.

In Dallas, the split is down the 50-yard lines. But in Jacksonville, the split is in the end zones, giving each team its own fans down the entire sidelines. In the 1980s, Jacksonville separated the Gators and Bulldogs fans every other section, making for quite the panoramic scene.

There are other differences.

While Dallas is virtually equidistance between Norman (190 miles) and Austin (195), not so for Georgia-Florida. Jacksonville is 71 miles from Gainesville, Florida, but 338 miles from Athens, Georgia.

Florida-Georgia actually went home-and-home in 1994 and 1995, when the Gator Bowl stadium was being renovated into a National Football League coliseum for the Jaguars. OU-Texas has been played at the State Fair of Texas for 91 straight years.

Some say the arrival of the Jags saved Florida-Georgia for Jacksonville, since the antiquated Gator Bowl was not going to last much longer.

She Said, He Said: Best player for OU football? Mims the word? Or it's about to go Downs?

The Fair itself creates the most unique setting for a football game in America. Florida-Georgia is known as the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party (there are indoor cocktail parties bigger?), with its massive tailgating scene surrounding the stadium parking lots hard by the St. John’s River.

But OU-Texas has the revelry of the nation’s largest state fair, with the Midway and exhibit halls and livestock shows surrounding the ancient stadium.

Georgia-Florida was played three times in Jacksonville before 1933, when it became the permanent home of the series. The series was interrupted in 1943, due to World War II.

OU-Texas was played six times in Dallas before 1929, when Fair Park became the permanent home, and it has not been interrupted since.

Georgia-Florida creates about $2 million in net revenue for each university. The OU-Texas windfall is closer to $4 million, in part because the Cotton Bowl capacity is up to 96,000 for that game, about 20,000 more than the reconfigured TIAA Bank Field.

At SEC Media Days, first-year Florida coach Billy Napier was non-committal on the issue, saying it was “above my pay grade.

“I think the big thing is I want to experience the game first. I'd like to see that game in Jacksonville, experience that game, before I have an opinion on that. There's a lot of credibility to both.

“A home-and-home obviously would be fantastic. But there's also some tradition there, a rivalry there. Time will tell.”

In fairness, there have been times throughout history when either OU or Texas seemed less than sold on keeping their game in Dallas. That has changed over the last 15 years, though. Both seem gung-ho on maintaining the State Fair tradition.

Georgia and Florida seem to feel the same, Kirby Smart a notable exception.

Tramel's ScissorTales: A 16-team College Football Playoff might be just what Big 12 needs

Ranking the SEC non-conference schedules

The SEC’s “It Just Means More” marketing campaign falls short when it comes to non-conference schedule. It means more to Georgia and Florida, who are on the forefront of better scheduling. But it means a whole lot less to the vast majority of the SEC, which schedules three cupcakes among its four non-conference games.

The SEC has the best football, no big argument, but the league’s slate of scrimmages is a shameful stain upon the league.

We conclude our series of ranking the Power Five non-conference schedules with the SEC:

1. Arkansas: Cincinnati, Missouri State, at Brigham Young, Liberty.Good for the Razorbacks, who helped pioneer weak scheduling but trot out a slate that includes future Big 12 members Cincy and BYU, plus Liberty, which has been a potent mid-major in recent years.

2. Florida: Utah, South Florida, Eastern Washington, at Florida State.The Utes and the Seminoles are a 1-2 caliber few Power Five teams try to match.

3. Georgia: Oregon in Atlanta, Samford, Kent State, Georgia Tech.Give the Bulldogs credit. They could slide by with their annual in-state Yellow Jacket series, but no.

4. Texas A&M: Sam Houston State, Appalachian State, Miami, Massachusetts.Appalachian State is a solid mid-major and gives the Aggies the jump on most of their SEC peers.

5. South Carolina: Georgia State, Charlotte, South Carolina State, at Clemson.Not much here other than Clemson, but it is Clemson.

6. Auburn: Mercer, San Jose State, Penn State, Western Kentucky.At least the Tigers’ non-conference foe is interesting. Penn State-Auburn is not your typical intersectional showdown.

7. LSU: Florida State in New Orleans, Southern U., New Mexico, Alabama-Birmingham.UAB is a decent mid-major, giving LSU a little bit of a lift.

8. Alabama: Utah State, at Texas, Louisiana-Monroe, Austin Peay. The intrigue around the Longhorns – not their gridiron performance – makes Bama-Texas enticing. The Steve Sarkisian-Nick Saban link, and UT’s move to the SEC are quite the storylines.

9. Missouri: Louisiana Tech, at Kansas State, Abilene Christian, New Mexico State.Mizzou at K-State is Old School, but other than that, not much going on.

10. Tennessee: Ball State, at Pittsburgh, Akron, Tennessee-Martin.Tennessee-Pitt is the Johnny Majors Bowl. That’s about all you can say here.

11. Vanderbilt: at Hawaii, Elon, Wake Forest, at Northern Illinois. Good thing Wake is undergoing a revival, or Vandy might rank last.

12. Kentucky: Miami-Ohio, Youngstown State, Northern Illinois, Louisville. I wonder how rabid is the UK-’Ville football rivalry? Not sure I know.

13. Mississippi State: Memphis, at Arizona, Bowling Green, East Tennessee State.Egads. With ‘Zona down, this is a zero.

14. Ole Miss: Troy, Central Arkansas, at Georgia Tech, Tulsa.The Rebels should do better.

Games against Power Five opponents: 15 of 56 (26.8 percent; 30.4 percent if you count games against Brigham Young and Cincinnati, which enter the Big 12 in 2023).

Home games: 44 of 56 (78.6 percent; 82.1 percent if you count a Georgia game in Atlanta and an LSU game in New Orleans).

Games against Division I-AA opponents: 14 of 56 (25.0 percent).

Percentage of guarantee games (no home-and-home): 16 of 56 (28.6 percent)

Tramel's ScissorTales: Which Big 12 football team has best nonconference schedule in 2022?

Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen during the trophy presentation after defeating Auburn in the Birmingham Bowl at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Ala., on Tuesday December 28, 2021.
Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen during the trophy presentation after defeating Auburn in the Birmingham Bowl at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Ala., on Tuesday December 28, 2021.

The List: American Conference preseason poll

When the Big 12 plucked Cincinnati, Houston and Central Florida from the American Conference for 2023 expansion, most thought the Big 12 had obtained the cream of the American crop.

Most were right, if the 2022 American preseason poll is any indication. Here is how media projects the last American race before the conference undergoes a major transition, with first-place votes and total points:

1. Houston (7) 243: Dana Holgorsen’s team won 11 straight last season after a season-opening loss to Texas Tech, then played Cincinnati reasonably tough in the American championship game before losing 35-20.

2. Cincinnati (10) 242: Bearcats have won 18 straight American games, counting two championship affairs. UC’s only losses the last two years came to Georgia at the buzzer and a respectable loss to Alabama in the national semifinals.

3. Central Florida (7) 225: UCF has gone 5-3 in conference each of the last two seasons, so its adjustment to the Big 12 seems likely to be steeper than UofH or Cincinnati.

4. Southern Methodist 187: SMU is poised to be the American kingpin once realignment occurs, but the Mustangs are retooling with new coach Rhett Lashlee, Sonny Dykes having crossed town to Texas Christian.

5. Memphis 162: Disappointing 2021 for the Tigers, who lost to Tulane, Tulsa and East Carolina, finishing 6-6 overall.

6. East Carolina 157: The Pirates last season went 7-5, their first winning record since 2014.

7. Tulane 115: Anyone watching the Sooners struggle with the Green Wave on Owen Field last September walked away convinced Tulane would be an American force. But the Wave went 2-10. Remember, though, Tulane that day was working on adrenaline after another New Orleans flood displaced the football team, and the Green Wave soon crashed.

8. Tulsa 93: Golden Hurricane rallied to finish 7-6 a year ago and is 11-4 in the American the last two seasons. Keep that momentum going, and TU could make an impact on the new-look American starting in 2023.

9. South Florida 71: What happened to the Bulls? USF once was in the Big East, playing West Virginia and Louisville, Pittsburgh and Syracuse. Now South Florida is an also-ran in the staggered American.

10. Navy 61: The Midshipmen have won no more than four games in three of the last four years.

11. Temple 28: Matt Rhule, the Owls miss you.

Tramel: BYU joining the Big 12 Conference the hard way, through independence

Mailbag: BYU’s 1984 national title

My three-column series on Brigham Young joining the Big 12 ran this week, and a reader noticed an oversight.

Del: Heckuva an article about BYU. But why no mention of their 1984 mythical national championship? Thought that would be in your lede.

Tramel: Very good question. I don't know. Didn't seem terribly relevant. It was almost 40 years ago, won in a dubious process, and around here, it's quite germane to OU fans but not OSU fans, and OU won't be a rival going forward.

I love me some BYU, but that 1984 title was dubious. The Cougars went 13-0 overall, 8-0 in the Western Athletic Conference.

That BYU team opened with a bang, winning 20-14 at third-ranked Pittsburgh. That jumped the Cougars from unranked to No. 13 in The Associated Press poll.

But OU beat Pitt 42-10 the next week in Pittsburgh, and the Panthers collapsed to a 3-7-1 record, beginning a long slide for the Pitt program.

BYU’s second game was a 47-13 thrashing of Baylor, and while Grant Teaff’s Bears weren’t bad, they were mostly mediocre. Finished 5-6 overall, 4-4 in the Southwest Conference. OU beat that Baylor team 34-15.

Funny how OU and BYU shared two common non-conference opponents in the same year, then ended up in a public political campaign for the No. 1 ranking.

Anyway, BYU reached its WAC schedule and went unbeaten. Hawaii finished second in the WAC, 7-4 overall. Air Force was third in the WAC, 4-3. No WAC team other than BYU spent a day in the AP top 20.

But the Cougars had some close calls: 18-13 at Hawaii, 41-38 over Wyoming, 30-25 at Air Force. BYU won 24-14 at Utah on November 17 and two days later ascended to No. 1.

Barry Switzer waged a PR campaign for his Sooners, who had lost at Kansas when quarterback Danny Bradley was injured, backup Mike Clopton was ineligible and true freshman Troy Aikman had to play. OU also had tied Texas 15-15 after Keith Stanberry’s interception was incorrectly ruled incomplete on the penultimate play, allowing the Longhorns to kick the tying field goal.

As the WAC champ, BYU was sent to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, against the Big Ten’s 6-5 Michigan.

The Wolverines played tough, but BYU prevailed in the December 21 game, then waited out the OU-Washington Orange Bowl.

OU, 9-1-1, was No. 2. Florida, 9-1-1, was No. 3. Washington, 10-1, was No. 4.

The Huskies dominated OU 28-17. In the final AP poll, BYU got 38 first-place votes, Washington 16 and Florida six. The Cougars finished No. 1 by the smallish margin of 20 points.

I would have voted Washington No. 1. The Huskies won 20-11 at Michigan early in the season (man, BYU’s scheduling connection with fellow title contenders is amazing), then went 6-1 in the Pac-10, losing only to Southern Cal 16-7, and USC went to the Rose Bowl via a 7-1 conference record.

UW also beat Houston of the Southwest Conference and Northwestern of the Big Ten (before the Gary Barnett renaissance in Evanston), as well as Miami-Ohio.

So BYU finished 13-0, Washington 11-1, and the schedule difference between the Cougars and the Huskies seems a lot more than the 1½ -game difference.

Tramel: BYU hopes it's more alike than different from new Big 12 schoolmates

Transcript: History of OKC baseball

I spoke Thursday night at Castle Falls Events Center as part of the Historically Local Speakers Series hosted by the WesTen District.

The series focuses on the history of West OKC, but my friends Amy Rollins and Robin Jones gave me latitude to stretch the boundaries and speak of baseball history in OKC, which goes extensively into western Oklahoma City but doesn’t cross Interstate 44, where WesTen District’s interests lie.

After I promoted the talk, I got a great email from reader John Allen.

“I heard you say on the radio that you’re going to deliver a talk on the history of baseball in Oklahoma. My parents, just married after WWII, used to go to Oklahoma City Indians games for some inexpensive entertainment. And my dad saw Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig’s barnstorming teams when he was a kid. I’d love to hear your lecture, but I can’t make it this time. Is it going to be recorded or made available as a transcript?”

So far as I know, it wasn’t recorded. But I did type out my presentation before hand and largely stuck to it. I mean, I threw in a bunch of stuff that I didn’t type out, because I’m sort of an off-the-cuff speaker. But I did have that handy outline.

In honor of John’s parents and the great generation that came right after World War II, I’m sharing it here in ScissorTales:

To jump into the history of baseball in West Oklahoma City and Oklahoma itself, we have to go back aways. Across the globe and across the centuries.

The quaint notion that Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown, New York, while in the U.S. military in 1839, has been quite sufficiently debunked. By 1839, baseball already was well down the road to becoming the sport we know today.

Cricket is a game first played in England in the mid-1500s, and rounders descended from cricket and became quite the popular game in the 1700s, and immigrants brought rounders to America by the early 1800s.

Cricket and rounders were two-base games. But in the urban areas, notably New York City, a game developed from rounders called TownBall, which consisted of four bases. Organized teams played it quite frequently, and in 1845, a young man named Alexander Cartwright, part of the New York Knickerbockers Base Ball Club, designed the diamond we know today, on Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey.

In 1837, a 13-year-old boy named Henry Chadwick, who had grown up in England playing cricket and rounders, came to America. By the 1850s, he was writing about TownBall or Base Ball for New York newspapers and originated the first scoring system and compiled the first rulebook for the game.

So baseball was spreading, into the western cities like Pittsburgh and Cincinnati and Chicago, and then the Civil War comes along. Lots of northeastern Americans spread the game to their fellow soldiers, and there are even reports that the game spread to the Confederacy, perhaps through prisoners of war. There are examples of games being played between the two sides in the prison camps.

The war ends, everyone goes home and takes with them a slice of the game commonly known as baseball.

Some fairly competitive, even semi-professional organizations sprang up. In 1867, the Washington Nationals headed West to defend the honor of the Eastern Seabord, which took umbrage that some of the Western outposts believed they had big-time baseball. Turns out provincialism was in vogue even then.

George Wright, perhaps baseball's first superstar, joined the Nationals for the trip, which included a stop in Cincinnati to play the Red Stockings, who employed Harry Wright, George's brother. The Nationals smoked the Red Stockings 53-10.

Then it was on to Chicago, where two teams, the Excelsiors and the Atlantics, ruled. They had just finished 1-2 in the Illinois state championships, dispatching a team from Rockford to third place. But that Rockford team, the Forest Citys, was called on to play an exhibition against the Nationals. The Forest Citys had a 16-year-old pitcher named Al Spaulding who was quite the prospect, and on July 24, 1867, 155 years ago this week, Spaulding beat the Nationals. Rockford sprang a huge upset, beating Washington 29-23.

Word spread of the upset, sportswriters began writing about baseball even more and what we call the Midwest became a baseball hotbed, too.

In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings embarked on a 12,000-mile tour and played in front of 200,000 fans, renowned as the first full-time professional team, though it really wasn't.

Leagues developed. By 1876, the National League was formed. The same National League playing today. In 1889, the National League included eight teams and the American Association included eight teams. Those 16 teams were major-league franchises in every way and even staged a World Series, though some have tried to claim the World Series began in 1903.

Among those 16 teams were the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, the St. Louis Browns, the Boston Beaneaters, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the Philadelphia Quakers, the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, the Chicago White Stockings and the New York Giants. Those franchises remain in existence today, known as the Dodgers, Cardinals, Braves, Reds, Phillies, Pirates, Cubs and Giants.

Also in the American Association in 1889 was the Kansas City Cowboys, not all that far from Indian Territory or the Unassigned Lands of what became Oklahoma.

So think of who came here in 1889, when Oklahoma City was born overnight, with a population that went from zero to 10,000. Settlers from Kansas and the Midwest. Civil War veterans from places like Arkansas and Texas. Miners from Indian Territory; the first recorded baseball event in present-day Oklahoma was in 1882 in Krebs, the mining hotbed which had drawn Irish and Italian immigrants. Native Americans; the first recorded baseball game by Indians was at the Cherokee Male Seminary in Tahlequah, in 1885.

So when the Land Run arrived, baseball was not some fledgling sport. It was indeed the American pastime, played almost everywhere.

Then Oklahoma City became a somewhere. Within days of the Land Run, Oklahoma City, Guthrie, Stillwater and Kingfisher had organized teams that played on Sunday afternoons.

The archives of The Oklahoman and a fabulous book by Bob Burke, Royse Parr and Kenny A. Franks, Glory Days of Summer, fill in a bunch of gaps of history.

Oklahoma City's first baseball stadium was built in a day in autumn 1889, using beer kegs and 2x12 boards, on the sight of what now is the Municipal Building. It hosted a series of games between OKC and Guthrie.

In 1890, a baseball grandstand was built at Stiles Park, around Northeast 8th and Harrison, on what now is the edge of the OU Health Sciences Center.

In May 1891, the Oklahoma City Pirates were formed by brothers Walter and Harry Jennison. A local merchant put up a wooden backstop, and a park sprang up around it between Grand and California, Walker and Dewey. What now is John Rex Elementary School.

That was the edge of town and for all intents and purposes was West Oklahoma City.

Walter Jennison lured fans with free admissions and went so far as to invite ladies. He enticed them with a flier that read: "No intoxicating liquors allowed on the grounds. No profane language allowed. Betting strictly prohibited. Killing of umpires prohibited. Absolutely no prostitution on the grounds. Horses and carriages admitted free."

The Pirates whacked the Purcell Chickasaws 22-4, and OKC had its first truly organized team.

In 1896, O.L. Waner left his farm near the Crooked Oak community and became a star pitcher for the Oklahoma City Club. Waner eventually returned to his rural roots. He went out to Harrah and raised a family. His sons, Paul and Lloyd, made the Pittsburgh Pirates and today are members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

A variety of things happened in the next few years that furthered baseball's growth in OKC and showed the maturation of the city.

In 1902, Colcord Park was built next to Delmar Gardens, an rousing amusement park sitting at Western and Exchange, in the area that now houses the Farmer's Public Market. The Oklahoma City Mets became the city's first truly professional team.

The Mets debuted in 1903, and a crowd of 5,000 turned out to see the Mets play the Kansas City blues. In 1904, the Mets became members of the four-team Southwestern League.

In 1905, Gene Barnes bought the Iola, Kansas, team and moved it OKC to become a new version of the Mets, who played in the Western Association from 1905-10 and 1914-17.

Colcord Park was renamed Saratoga Park and eventually Liberty Park.

In 1918, John Holland moved his Western League team to OKC from Hutchinson, Kansas, and dubbed them the Indians. He would operate the franchise for 18 years.

Holland hired a young man named Jimmy Humphries as secretary of the Indians, and Humphries became the father of OKC baseball. Humphries would spend 38 years with the franchise.

The plight of minor league baseball, then as now, is you didn't get to keep your best players. Today, they are summoned away by major league clubs on demand. Back then, you sold the contracts to keep the cash flowing. One of OKC's early stars was George Harper, who batted .393 in 1921 and was sold to the Cincinnati Reds for $20,000. Holland's franchise had been purchased for just $18,000 in 1910.

Holland made improvements to Liberty Park, but it was destroyed by flood in 1919. So Holland built a new ballpark, at the corner of Northwest 4th and Pennsylvania, where a water treatment facility sits today.

Holland Field was constructed and opened in 1924. Holland sold multiple-season tickets for $100 each to finance the endeavor.

In 1927, Holland began loaning out his park every August to the state semi-pro championships, where teams from all over Oklahoma would come in much the same manner as the current high school basketball state tournaments.

The city rallied around what they called the Sandlot Tournament, with merchants and business sponsoring all kinds of contests.

Radio dealer Harrison Smith offered a 35 Atwater Kent radio for any pitcher who threw a no-hitter. Pink-O-Red fuel offered five gallons of gas for every home run, plus two tickets to the Express Theater. A triple brought a carton of cigarettes. A double, a pound of bacon. A stolen base, two tickets to the weekly boxing matches.

Oklahoma City businesses like Cook Lumber and Wilson Packing sponsored teams.

Progress Brewery, Oklahoma Natural Gas, Parker Brewers, Van Auto Supply, Bell Clothiers, Douglas Aircraft Sky Trains, Barbour Transit, they all sponsored baseball and became synonymous with the sport.

For 35 years, Holland Field and its later names -- Texas League Park, Tribe Park -- became a hub of Oklahoma City entertainment.

In 1930, lights came to Holland Field, and working people could go to a game under the candlelight.

In 1933, the Indians joined the Texas League and drew 60,431 for their approximately 75-game home schedule, not bad for the depths of the Depression.

In 1936, John Holland Jr. took over ownership of the team. In 1941, Holland Jr. worked out a player agreement with the Cleveland Indians. The great Rogers Hornsby managed the Indians in 1940 and 1941, before leaving when the franchise ran out of money.

In 1942, oilman Harold Roe bought out Holland, just in time for the Texas League to be suspended from 1943-45 because of World War II.

In 1944, Satchel Paige pitched an exhibition game at Tribe Park, with a huge crowd.

Blacks were barred from what was called organized baseball, so they formed their own teams. OKC had the Giants by 1910, and the Black Indians in 1929 were part of the Texas-Oklahoma-Louisiana League.

In 1937, the Black Indians paid $50 to rent Holland Field, and had $196 in other costs: $4 for ushers, $6 for hotel rooms for the visiting team, $12 for baseball, $1 for the batboy, $45 for their own salaries, etc.

In 1948, baseball marketing whiz Bill Veeck, who owned the Cleveland Indians, bought the OKC Indians. Veeck was always interested in making a buck, but he also was interested in the fans.

Veeck added 700 box seats to Texas League Park, and in 1949, the Indians drew 278,858. This was right before the television explosion. The war was over and people were looking for something to do. That might have been the highlight of OKC's baseball experience.

And in 1952, the Indians signed Bill Greason, a pitcher from Alabama and a World War II veteran, to break OKC's color line. Jackie Robinson had broken the major league color barrier in 1947, but a Confederate culture like Oklahoma was slow in integrating. Schools still were segregated in the early 1950s.

Greason pitched two seasons in OKC, eventually made the St. Louis Cardinals and today remains alive and relatively healthy for a man who is 97 years old.

In 2007, on a football trip, I stopped off in Birmingham, Alabama, and interviewed Greason at the Bethel Baptist Church, where he was still pastoring. From that story came an offer from the Oklahoma City RedHawks for a night in his honor, and a few years later I presented Greason for induction in the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.

Kent Meyer was an Indians batboy in 1952 and remains a working Oklahoma City lawyer and television host to this very day. Kent is a friend of mine and sent me a note after reading about Greason, saying Greason was "a true gentleman and a wonderful teammate." But while Greason said OKC treated him well, Meyers said he remembers the fans weren't always so polite, that after the beer had been flowing, Greason was called some of the most vile names. To his credit, Greason focused on the good times all those years later.

In 1951, the secretary hired so many years before, Jimmy Humphries, bought the Indians from Veeck. Humphries spent the next seven years trying to get a ballpark built, focusing on the State Fairgrounds.

It didn't happen under Humphries’ watch. In 1958, Humphries disbanded the franchise and sold the land at Northwest 4th and Penn for $200,000.

Oklahoma City was without professional baseball for four years.

But a fellow named Roy Deal helped revive the sport in OKC. Deal was a long-time Oklahoma Natural Gas executive. Decades before, he had sponsored the Oklahoma Natural Gassers, a team that was a constant in that Sandlot Tournament that lasted for decades.

Deal had three sons who were prominent ballplayers. One of those sons, Cot Deal, made the major leagues.

When the Indians folded, Deal began politicking for that new stadium Jimmy Humphries had tried to get built at the fairgrounds.

In 1961, when Houston was granted a National League franchise, the All Sports Association's Jim Roederer talked to Houston executives and persuaded them to put their top minor-league franchise in OKC.

Civic leaders like Deal promoted the new ballpark, the city council approved plans and All Sports Stadium opened in 1962. It was not a plush place. It in reality was just an add-on from an existing American Legion park.

Deal's Oklahoma City Amateur Baseball Association bought lights for the park and brought a section of bleachers from Texas League Park. The city constructed the concreate base for the majority of the seats. Companies contributed materials. Craftsmen donated their labor to get the park off the ground. Not exactly Bricktown Ballpark or Paycom Center.

The ballpark opened with a crowd of 10,012 and drew 184,808, a nice amount but nothing close to that 278,000 of 1948.

All Sports Stadium -- named for the organization that helped get it built -- would host OKC baseball for 35 years. The Big Eight Tournament became a staple at All Sports, and the likes of the Beach Boys, Jimmy Buffet and Motley Crue played concerts there.

All about a mile and a half from the waterworks, where old Texas League Park lasted about as long, serving Oklahoma City with a place to watch baseball.

Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today. 

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Kirby Smart wants Georgia-Florida moved, but OU-Texas offers solution