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Tulsa Drillers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tulsa Drillers | ||
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| League | Texas League | |
| Division | North Division | |
| Year founded | 1977 | |
| Major League affiliation | Colorado Rockies | |
| Home ballpark | Drillers Stadium | |
| Previous home ballparks | Oiler Park | |
| City | Tulsa, Oklahoma | |
| Current uniform colors | graphite, slate blue, black, copper | |
| Previous uniform colors | blue, red | |
| Logo design | An oiler working a drill into a baseball centered inside the "Tulsa Drillers" wordmark in graphite with black and slate blue outline. | |
| Division titles | 1999, 2002, 2006 (1st half) | |
| League titles | 1982, 1988, 1998 | |
| Manager | Stu Cole | |
| Owner | ||
The Tulsa Drillers are a minor league baseball team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies major-league club. The Drillers play in Drillers Stadium, located at 15th and Yale in midtown Tulsa.
The Drillers came into being in 1977, when a Lafayette, Louisiana team was transferred to Tulsa. Before that time, the Triple-A Tulsa Oilers had been the city's only minor league club, but owner A. Ray Smith moved the team to New Orleans, Louisiana due to concerns over the dilapidated condition of Oiler Park. Tulsa County completed 8,000 seat Robert B. Sutton Stadium in 1981, naming it for its chief benefactor, a local oil executive. Sutton, however, was convicted in 1982 of fraud, and as a result the County renamed the park Tulsa County Stadium. In 1989, Drillers Stadium received its current name. The stadium now seats 10,997.
From 1976 to 2002, the Drillers were the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. In 2002, Rangers owner Tom Hicks purchased the Shreveport, Louisiana Texas League franchise with the intention of moving the team to Frisco, Texas, a suburban city north of Dallas, Texas. At the time, the Shreveport Swamp Dragons were affiliated with the San Francisco Giants; Hicks cast aside this association and bought out the remaining two years of Tulsa's Player Development Contract. The Drillers then signed a two-year agreement with the Colorado Rockies.
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The Drillers have been Texas League champions three times: 1982, 1988, and 1998. As well as Eastern Division Champions in 1999, and 2002. The Drillers also appeared in the Texas League playoffs during the 2004, 2005 and 2006 seasons.
ESPN Sportscenter anchor John Anderson has often alluded to team alumni as "former Driller(s)" on-air. Anderson was a weekend sports anchor for Tulsa CBS affiliate KOTV before joining ESPN.
| Colorado Rockies Franchise | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| AAA | AA | A | Rookie |
| Colorado Springs Sky Sox | Tulsa Drillers |
Modesto Nuts Asheville Tourists Tri-City Dust Devils |
Casper Rockies VSL Rockies |
| Texas League | ||
| North Division | South Division | |
|---|---|---|
| Arkansas Travelers | Springfield Cardinals | Tulsa Drillers | Wichita Wranglers | Corpus Christi Hooks | Frisco RoughRiders | Midland RockHounds | San Antonio Missions | |