Sports on the Move

   One of the many great things about sports is that they are constantly renewing themselves. Old leaguyes fade away, new ones are created, teams are moved and created. Although the pace is not quite what we saw in Baseball in the 19th century, teams and leagues are still changing a great rate. Today we look at changes made on January 12.
  We start back in 1908 when four baseball clubs from the Ohio-Pennsylvania League left the league to reform the Ohio State League. The four clubs were from the Ohio cities of Lancaster, Mansfield, Marion and Newark. The Ohio-Penn League then added the Canton, Ohio and Erie, Pennsylvania Clubs. The league would later add the east Liverpool, Ohio and McKeesport, Pennsylvania Clubs. The Ohio State League would operate off and on until 1951. The Ohio-Pennsylvania League would operate until 1912.
   On the very same day in the South Michigan League, the Mount Clemens, Michigan Club was transferred to Saginaw, Michigan. The South Michigan League was in a ten run that lasted until 1915.
   On January 12, 1915, in the Texas League the Austin, Texas Club was transferred back to Shreveport, Louisiana. The club had played for 4 seasons in Austin. The Texas League continues today as one of the great class AA leagues. The 2002 Texas League season saw a 35 year run in the league by the Shreveport Club come to an end, when the club was moved to Frisco, Texas. The Austin area had been represented in  the league by the Round Rock Express from 2000-04 before that club moved up to the Pacific Coast League.
    The next big move came in 1946 when the Cleveland Rams of the National Football League moved to Los Angeles. The City of Cleveland had no time to cry over the lose of the Rams as by that fall the Browns were playing the All-American Football Conference on their way to the NFL.
    Passing several smaller moves we arrive in 1954, as the International League prepared for its 70th anniversary season. In advance of the American League moving into its territory, the Baltimore franchise was transferred to Richmond, Virginia. At the very same time, the league truly went International as the Springfield, Massachusetts Club was transferred to Havana, Cuba. Havana joined the Canadian cities on Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto as a full half of the league was International. The Havan Club lasted until mid 1961 when forced to flee in mid season to Jersey City as Cuba and the Castro regime turned to communism.
   In 1967 the National Basketball Association expended to 12 clubs for the first time as San Diego, California was welcomed into the league for the first time. The Rockets however did not do well as the soon moved to Houston, Texas.
   The NBA was the only basketball league to make as move on January 12 as in 2005 the International Basketball League introduced the Stockton, California Club as its newest member. The club however never saw the court and withdrew from the league before ever playing a game. They joined a long list of ghost clubs, awarded but never played in the long history of team sports.
   Tomorrow we return to McNichols Sports arena in Denver for another historical basketball game.