Minor League History: Arizona State League/ Arizona-Texas League/ Southwest International League/ Arizona-Mexico League
The Arizona State League saw the light in 1928, when it started as a four team class D league.
In 1929 two teams were added (the Globe Bears and Mesa Jewels). After the Mesa Jewels were replaced by the El Paso Texans in 1931, the league changed it’s name into Arizona-Texas League.
| 1928 Arizona State League | |||||
| President:Paul Davis | |||||
| Team Standings | W | L | PCT | GB | Managers |
| Phoenix Senators | 39 | 29 | .574 | 0 | Bert Whaling |
| Bisbee Bees | 37 | 31 | .544 | 2 | Roy Johnson |
| Miami Miners | 30 | 38 | .441 | 9 | Pete Compton |
| Tucson Cowboys | 30 | 38 | .441 | 9 | Rube Foster |
Former Red Sox player Rube Foster, who won two World Series with the team in 1915 and 1916, managed the Tucson Cowboys, but not with great succes.
| 1929 Arizona State League | |||||
| President:Fred Joyce | |||||
| Team Standings | W | L | PCT | GB | Managers |
| Bisbee Bees | 60 | 30 | .667 | 0 | Roy Johnson |
| Miami Miners | 50 | 40 | .556 | 10 | Drap Hayes |
| Globe Bears | 48 | 42 | .533 | 12 | Mickey Shader |
| Tucson Cowboys | 43 | 47 | .478 | 17 | Tom Holley / Cliff McCarl / Pug Cavet |
| Phoenix Senators | 40 | 49 | .449 | 19.5 | Ross Lyall / Burke / Gardner / Thomas |
| Mesa Jewels # | 28 | 61 | .315 | 31.5 | Bill Whittaker / Ernie Lloyd / Lee Dempsey |
After the Mesa Jewels joined the league, they lasted only until July 24, when they withdrew from the league. The other teams were given 3 wins & 1 loss for each scheduled series with the disbanded team.
As BIsbee and Miami finished one and two in the final standings, both teams played each other in a best of seven series for the championship. Miami beat Bisbee in seven.
| 1930 Arizona State League | |||||
| President:Wilford S. Sullinger | |||||
| Team Standings | W | L | PCT | GB | Managers |
| Bisbee Bees | 60 | 45 | .571 | 0 | Roy Johnson |
| El Paso Texans | 58 | 47 | .552 | 2 | Royce Washburn |
| Phoenix Senators | 58 | 47 | .552 | 2 | Louis Guisto |
| Globe Bears | 56 | 49 | .533 | 4 | Mickey Shader |
| Tucson Cowboys | 45 | 60 | .429 | 15 | Pug Cavert / Walter Rehg |
| Miami Miners | 38 | 67 | .362 | 22 | Drap Hayes / Bob Gillespie / George Cochrane |
In the best of seven championship series, Bisbee was awarded the championship when the Globe Bears refused to play in Bisbee when the series were tied at three.
What started as the Arizona State League, would change it’s name four times before folding in 1958. In the years between 1928 and 1958, the league ceased activities a couple of times. After the league renamed itself Arizona-Texas League in 1931 it lasted through 1932 before folding. But five years later the league would return and last through the 1941 season before it ceased activities again. In 1940 the league was promoted to class C status but in 1942 the league was forced to shut down due to the travel restrictions during World War II.
Even though the league had Mexican teams playing in 1931 already when the Nogales Internationals played in the league, it did not rename itself. The Indios de Ciudad Juárez played in the league for seven years in the 1940s and 1950s.
In 1932, the Phoenix Senators withdraw from the league, rather early in the season on May 9. On July 24, the league folded.
The baseball fields in the Arizona – Texas League ranged from manicured grass to plain dirt. The road trips were usually by bus over two-lane paved and gravel roads and covered several hundreds of miles.
As usual in the minors, not many players of this league made it to the Bigs. But thirteen players of the Bisbee Bees climbed up the ladder and had some fine Major League careers. The Bisbee Bees were the farm team of the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League. The Bees got the raw talent from those clubs to mold them into better players. As no night games were played in the league, it must have been very tough to play there in the summer months.
Arizona – Texas League champions 1931 – 1950
1931 El Paso Texans
1937 Albuquerque Cardinals
1938 El Paso Texans
1939 Albuquerque Cardinals
1940 El Paso Texans
1941 Tucson Cowboys (no play offs were scheduled. The Cowboys won the regular season).
1947 Globe-Miami Browns
1948 Globe-Miami Browns
1949 El Paso Texans
1950 El Paso Texans
In 1951, the league would reorganize and merge with the Sunset League to return as the Southwest International League. The Sunset League had teams playing in California, Nevada and New Mexico. In 1951, the players of the Tijuana Potros went on strike for not being paid on a regular basis.
The Arizona and Texas teams would play only in the 1951 season before pulling out and reforming the Arizona – Texas League again in 1952.
| 1951 Southwest International League | |||||
| President: Les Powers | |||||
| Team Standings | W | L | PCT | GB | Managers |
| El Paso Texans | 88 | 56 | .611 | – | Art Lilly |
| Juarez Indios | 87 | 57 | .604 | 1 | Victor Manuel Canajes / Red Kress |
| Phoenix Senators | 83 | 61 | .576 | 5 | Wayne Tucker |
| Mexicali Eagles | 81 | 63 | .563 | 7 | Virgilio Arteaga / Dee Moore |
| Las Vegas Wranglers | 72 | 71 | .503 | 15.5 | Newt Kimball |
| Tucson Cowboys | 68 | 75 | .476 | 19.5 | Ken Meyers / Bud Dawson |
| Tijuana Potros | 65 | 79 | .451 | 23 | Luis Montes de Oca / Enrique Fernandez |
| Bisbee-Douglas | 64 | 80 | .444 | 24 | Syd Cohen |
| El Centro Imperials | 59 | 85 | .410 | 29 | Red Kress / Bud Beringhele |
| Yuma Panthers | 52 | 92 | .361 | 36 | Ray Viers / Don Jameson |
The Mexicali Eagles won the championshp by beating the Phoenix Senators by four games to one.
The seceded Arizona -Texas League played from 1952 through 1954 and had several Mexican teams playing in the league.
In the three year run of the seceded Arizona – Texas League, no play offs were scheduled.
| 1952 Arizona-Texas League | |||||
| President: G. R. Sloane | |||||
| Team Standings | W | L | PCT | GB | Managers |
| Juarez Indios | 84 | 55 | .604 | 0 | Manuel Fortes |
| El Paso Texans | 79 | 61 | .564 | 5.5 | Art Lilly |
| Phoenix Senators | 78 | 62 | .557 | 6.5 | Jeep Trower |
| Tucson Cowboys | 61 | 78 | .439 | 23 | Don Jameson |
| Bisbee-Douglas Copper Kings | 60 | 80 | .429 | 24.5 | Syd Cohen |
| Chihuahua Dorados | 57 | 83 | .407 | 27.5 | Domingo Santana / Marv Williams |
| 1953 Arizona-Texas League | |||||
| President: G. R. Sloane | |||||
| Team Standings | W | L | PCT | GB | Managers |
| Tucson Cowboys | 90 | 49 | .647 | 0 | Don Jameson |
| Mexicali Eagles | 77 | 62 | .554 | 13 | Art Lilly |
| Juarez Indios | 74 | 65 | .532 | 16 | Manuel Fortes /Pingua Canales |
| El Paso Texans | 60 | 80 | .429 | 30.5 | Diamond Cecil |
| Bisbee-Douglas Copper Kings | 59 | 80 | .424 | 31 | Syd Cohen |
| Phoenix Senators | 58 | 82 | .414 | 32.5 | Buck Elliott |
| 1954 Arizona-Texas League | |||||
| President E. T. “Tim” Cusick | |||||
| Team Standings | W | L | PCT | GB | Managers |
| Phoenix Stars | 93 | 47 | .664 | 0 | Jerry Gardner |
| Mexicali Eagles | 92 | 48 | .657 | 1 | Art Lilly |
| Cananea Mineros | 69 | 71 | .493 | 24 | Memo Garibay |
| El Paso Texans | 69 | 71 | .493 | 24 | Syd Cohen |
| Tucson Cowboys | 64 | 76 | .457 | 29 | Don Jameson |
| Nogales Yaquis | 61 | 79 | .436 | 32 | Manuel Fortes / Virgilio Arteaga |
| Bisbee-Douglas Copper Kings | 57 | 83 | .407 | 36 | Edwin Roberts / Ron Smith |
| Juarez Indians | 55 | 85 | .393 | 38 | Enrique Fernandez |
After the lone Texas representative, the El Paso Texans moved to the West Texas – Mexico League in 1955, the Arizona – Texas League changed it’s name for a final time. This time the league would be called the Arizona – Mexico League. The league would last for four more seasons before finally ceasing activities. Despite the fact that the 1950s were a tough decade for minor league baseball, the league drew more than 1,700,000 fans to the ballparks.
Strange enough, the 1956 season was the only one in which a championship series was played. In the other seasons the team that ended on top of the standings at the end of the season was declared champion.
During the final three years, several teams disbanded. In 1956 the Tijuana Potros ceased activities halfway the season. After that 1956 season, two other teams would not return as the Yuma Sun Sox and the Nogales Diablos Rojos pulled out. In 1957 the Mexicali Eagles stepped back near the end of the season, on September 6 and forfeited ten games.
| 1955 Arizona-Mexico League | |||||
| President: Tim Cusick | |||||
| Team Standings | W | L | PCT | GB | Managers |
| Cananea Mineros | 86 | 53 | .619 | 0 | Memo Garibay |
| Yuma Sun Sox | 83 | 57 | .593 | 3.5 | Whitey Wietelmann |
| Phoenix Stars | 80 | 59 | .576 | 6 | Jerry Gardner |
| Mexicali Eagles | 78 | 62 | .557 | 8.5 | Art Lilly |
| Tucson Cowboys | 66 | 74 | .471 | 20.5 | Don Jameson |
| Bisbee-Douglas Copper Kings | 63 | 77 | .450 | 23.5 | Everett Robinson |
| Globe-Miami Miners | 51 | 87 | .370 | 34.5 | Ballinger / Reddell / Campbell |
| Nogales Yaquis | 49 | 87 | .360 | 35.5 | Arteaga / Aros / Nunez / Galina |
| 1956 Arizona-Mexico League | |||||
| President: Tim Cusick | |||||
| Team Standings | W | L | PCT | GB | Managers |
| Cananea Mineros | 75 | 56 | .573 | 0 | Memo Garibay |
| Douglas Copper Kings | 73 | 58 | .557 | 2 | Jerry Gardner |
| Nogales Diablos Rojos | 71 | 59 | .546 | 3.5 | Carlos Galina |
| Phoenix Stars | 70 | 59 | .543 | 4 | Bill Capps |
| Yuma Sun Sox | 66 | 65 | .504 | 9 | Whitey Wietelmann / Bill Harris |
| Mexicali Eagles | 63 | 65 | .492 | 10.5 | Larry Barton / Artie Wilson |
| Tucson Cowboys | 57 | 71 | .445 | 16.5 | Don Jameson |
| Tijuana Potros | 17 | 59 | .224 | NA | Virgilio Arteaga |
In the championship series, the Cananea Mineros beat the Yuma Sun Sox by three games to none.
| 1957 Arizona-Mexico League | |||||
| President: Charles S. Hollinger | |||||
| Team Standings | W | L | PCT | GB | Managers |
| Phoenix Stars | 89 | 48 | .650 | 0 | Bob Hooper |
| Cananea Mineros | 76 | 56 | .576 | 10.5 | Claudio Solano / Daniel Rios |
| Douglas Copper Kings | 68 | 69 | .496 | 21 | Bob Clear |
| Las Vegas Wranglers | 62 | 74 | .456 | 26.5 | Red Marion |
| Tucson Cowboys | 62 | 77 | .446 | 28 | Don Jameson / Ernest Choukalos |
| Mexicali Eagles | 51 | 84 | .378 | 37 | Artie Wilson / Manuel Magallon |
| 1958 Arizona-Mexico League | |||||
| President: Charles S. Hollinger | |||||
| Team Standings | W | L | PCT | GB | Managers |
| Douglas Copper Kings | 68 | 52 | .567 | 0 | Bob Clear |
| Tucson Cowboys | 66 | 54 | .550 | 2 | Harry Dunlop |
| Nogales Mineros | 59 | 59 | .500 | 8 | Memo Garibay |
| Chihuahua Dorados | 56 | 62 | .475 | 11 | Leonel Aldama |
| Juarez Indios | 55 | 64 | .462 | 12.5 | Epitacio Torres / Serrell / Ramirez |
| Mexicali Eagles | 53 | 66 | .445 | 14.5 | Felipe Hernandez |