Professional baseball came back to the city in pieces: the Hannibal Pilots (1947-48)
where it became the Thomasville Tomcats in 1952
The 1960 team went 64-74 under Andy Seminick
The Tomcats brought baseball back to the city a year later as a fresh
Austin Pioneers Hoodie - Vintage Defunct Baseball Teams - Texas Glassware Professional baseball came back toThe Austin Pioneers, based in Austin, Texas, were one of eight founding franchises of the Big State League in 1947, and their name came from a fan. Owner Edmund P. Knebel, a Seven Up bottling magnate, held a naming contest drawing nearly five hundred submissions, with fans voting "Pioneers" the winner. Knebel spent $200,000 of his own money in nine weeks to build Disch Field on a city owned tract, and the Pioneers opened on April 27, 1947, defeating