Amarillo Thunderheads

History

In 2010, businessman Quint Studer sold his American Association team, the Pensacola Pelicans, to a group from Amarillo. This sale was part of a larger plan to bring an affiliated Double-A club to Pensacola. The new Amarillo franchise took over the lease at Amarillo National Bank Stadium, replacing the Amarillo Dillas of United League Baseball, who had been evicted for missing lease payments. Mark Lee, a former Amarillo Gold Sox and San Diego Padres pitcher, served as the team’s general manager from 2006 through 2014. The franchise initially planned to call itself the Amarillo Gold Sox, reviving the name of a minor league team that played from the late 1930s until 1982. However, a trademark conflict with the Marysville Gold Sox, a collegiate woodbat team in California, forced the team to drop that name. Lee instead chose the name Amarillo Sox, unveiling the logo and name at a press conference on January 5, 2011. He also named John Harris, a former California Angels player, as field manager. After the 2014 season, the Sox were rebranded as the Amarillo Thunderheads. On November 19, 2015, American Association commissioner Miles Wolff announced the end of interleague play between the AA and the Can-Am League, which he also oversaw. For the 2016 season, the Thunderheads and the Grand Prairie AirHogs operated as a combined team, splitting 50 games evenly between Amarillo and Grand Prairie to create a 12-team league. After that season, the team announced it would not return to Amarillo, playing all its 2017 games in Grand Prairie.