The independent Southwest League will field a club in Dallas, with the team to launch in the league’s inaugural season beginning April, 2019. The yet-to-be-named team will be backed by Reverchon Sports and Entertainment, LLC (RSE), which has secured a 30-year lease with the City of Dallas to construct a new multi-purpose venue at Reverchon Park.
In February, RSE officials answered an RFP from the Dallas Parks Department to renovate and build a new multi-purpose stadium on the site of historic Reverchon Park located in downtown Dallas. In addition to professional baseball, the new multi-purpose venue will be used by the Dallas Independent School District for high school playoff games and amateur baseball leagues in the area including the North Dallas Amateur Baseball League and the Mexican Baseball League.
“I applaud the Dallas Parks Department and Dallas City Council for having the vision to transform Reverchon Park into an entertainment destination.” said Mark Schuster, President of the Southwest League. “The Dallas franchise in the Southwest League will be the largest city that has not had professional baseball until now. Reverchon Park will truly be a unique minor league baseball experience. Fans will able to bike or walk down the Katy Trail to a minor league baseball game in the middle of downtown Dallas.”
Reverchon Park is a public park in the Oak Lawn area of Dallas. It was named for Julien Reverchon. The park lies across Turtle Creek, a tributary of the Trinity River. Its main entrance is Maple Avenue and Turtle Creek Blvd. Reverchon Park is 46 areas in area and offers leisure and recreational programs for citizens including health screenings, tutoring, athletic leagues, yoga, volleyball and afterschool programs. The park is also home to baseball fields, basketball courts and tennis courts. A playground in the park, accessible to all children of all abilities, was designed by Texas Scottish Rite Hospital, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and the City of Dallas. A section of the Katy Trail, a recreational rail trail, runs adjacent to the park. It connects to parks of the Trinity River Project.
Reverchon Park was built in 1919 and will celebrate its 100-year anniversary in 2019. The park has a rich baseball history of both amateur and professional baseball including that it served as home stadium for the SMU baseball program from 1977-1980. The park also hosted barnstorming Major Leagues back in the days of a simpler sport, including Willie Mays, Bob Feller and Bob Lemmon. The park also has played host to thousands of amateur games throughout the years.
The Southwest League will open its inaugural season with six (6) franchises. The league has already announced the Waco BlueCats, the Royse City Griffins and the Joplin (MO) Miners as members. Both the BlueCats and the Griffins will open in new ballparks in their respective cities. The Joplin Miners will play in historic Joe Becker Stadium where Mickey Mantle played his first minor league game. Joe Becker Stadium went through a $4.4M stadium renovation in 2014. The remaining two teams in the league will be announced by the end of July.
The “Name the Team” contest for the Dallas franchise will begin at 10am on July 3rd. Fans interested in submitting their team moniker for the Dallas franchise can do so by going to www.dallasprobaseball.com
The Southwest League will play a 112 –game schedule with 56 games at home and 56 games on the road.