The Tucson Toros were a professional baseball team based in Tucson, Arizona, in the United States.
The original Toros were a Triple-A minor league baseball team in the Pacific Coast League from 1969 to 1997, where they won the PCL Championship in 1991 and 1993. They were affiliated with several Major League Baseball teams over the years, most notably with the Houston Astros.
The most-recent Toros were created as a new team in the independent Golden Baseball League on September 1, 2008. They were originally the Mesa Miners (2005) and Reno Silver Sox (2006–2008) before being purchased by Tucson Baseball LLC and relocating to Tucson. The new Toros played their home games at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, home of the original Toros team, starting May 21, 2009, at the start of the league's fifth anniversary, and ran until 2011. They played in the South Division in the GBL along with the Long Beach Armada, Orange County Flyers, St. George RoadRunners and Yuma Scorpions. (The expansion Tijuana Potros were supposed to play in the same division, but their season was postponed until 2010 due to the swine flu outbreak in Mexico.)
History
Early days
Tucson had a number of baseball teams between 1915 and 1958, including the Tucson Old Pueblos, the Tucson Waddies, the Tucson Cowboys (several teams), the Tucson Missions and the Tucson Lizards. None of these were part of the Pacific Coast League. When the last iteration of the Cowboys folded in 1958, Tucson was left with no professional baseball until the advent of the Toros.
Pacific Coast League era begins
Hiram "Hi" Corbett, a former Arizona state senator, helped to bring the Pacific Coast League to Tucson, in recognition of which the 1937 ballpark in midtown Tucson's Reid Park was eventually renamed Hi Corbett Field. The Tucson Toros, a AAA team in the league's southern division, began play in 1969. The name Toros was suggested by name-the-team contest winner Clarence Dupnik, who went on to become the Sheriff of Pima County, Arizona.
From 1969 through 1972, the Tucson Toros were the AAA affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. During this period, the team managed no better than a fourth-place finish for the season. The Toros did better as the AAA team of the Oakland Athletics (1973–1976), winning the PCL Eastern Division title in 1973 and finishing in second place in 1975. As the Texas Rangers farm team (1977–1979) they finished in third and fourth place, but with outstanding individual performances by outfielder Billy Sample (AAA Minor League Player of the Year, 1978) and others.
The Astros era
In 1980 the Toros began a long association with the Houston Astros. Following the lead of the parent club (which was widely criticized for its 1980s uniforms), the Toros introduced what some consider the ugliest uniform in the history of organized baseball: orange pants with yellow and red stripes, and a jersey with a turquoise back, yellow raglan sleeves, and a front resplendent in yellow, avocado, red, orange, and lime green stripes of various widths. The look in 1981, an all-orange uniform with red and yellow trim, was similarly ill-received.
In their first year of affiliation with the Astros, the Toros won the first half Southern Division title, but were quickly eliminated by the Albuquerque Dukes in the second half playoffs. The team spent most of the rest of the decade in third place for the season. In 1989, under new team owner Rick Holtzman, Mike Feder became the Toros' general manager, a post he would hold through the end of the Toros era of Tucson AAA baseball. His family-friendly promotions brought immediate results. The club was named Promotional Club of the Year in 1990, and had its highest season attendance to date.
The following season, 1991, was the Toros' first championship season. The team overcame a series deficit of 0–2 to sweep the Calgary Cannons in the remaining games of the best of five series. Third year Toros manager Bob Skinner was named PCL Manager of the Year, while series MVP Kenny Lofton led all of professional baseball with 17 triples for the season.
After a second-place finish in 1992, the Toros had their second and final championship season in 1993 under new manager Rick Sweet, winning both halves of the season. First baseman Jim Lindeman led the league with a .362 batting average. Second baseman James Mouton, in his first season above the single-A level, was the PCL MVP with 92 RBI and 40 stolen bases.