Albuquerque Dukes

The Albuquerque Dukes were a minor league baseball team based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The first Dukes team was formed in 1915 as part of the Class-D Rio Grande Association. The team finished in third place with a 32-25 record. Frank Huelman was the league leader in home runs, hitting 10 dingers for the season. These Dukes folded that same year.

Albuquerque was host to two other Class-D minor-league teams (the Dons and the Cardinals, the latter for which Tingley Field was built) before the Dukes returned in 1942, this time with the Class-D West Texas-New Mexico League. The Dukes went 24-30, but withdrew from competition in June of that year. The league was silent from 1943 to 1945 due to World War II, but play resumed in 1946 with the Dukes returning to the league, which was reclassified as Class-C. In 1955 the West Texas-New Mexico League stepped up one more level, to Class-B.

In 1956 the Dukes began play in the Class-A Western League as an affiliate of the New York Giants (now San Francisco). In 1958 they switched to being the Cincinnati Reds affiliate, but the Western League folded at the end of the season.

The Dukes returned to Albuquerque in 1960, playing as an affiliate for the Kansas City A's (now Oakland) in the Class-D Sophomore League. In 1962 Kansas City management moved the team to the Double-A Texas League, but dropped the team at the end of the season. The Los Angeles Dodgers took over as the Dukes' parent organization, allowing the team to stay in the Texas League. In 1969, the Dukes moved from Tingley Field to the Albuquerque Sports Stadium, a fully-modern facility on the south edge of town in the University of New Mexico area.

In 1972, the Dukes moved up one more rung on the minor-league ladder, this time to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. With future Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda at the helm, the Dukes amassed a 92-58 record and won the PCL championship, the first of eight for the franchise.

The Dukes stayed comfortably in their role for the next 28 years. In 2000, however, the team was sold to an interest group in Portland, Oregon. Following that season, the Dukes were moved and renamed the Portland Beavers. The Dodgers traded Triple-A franchises with the San Diego Padres, who had the Las Vegas Stars franchise as an affiliate, but who had a history in Portland. San Diego took over the Beavers/Dukes, and Los Angeles took Las Vegas, the renamed team being known as the Las Vegas 51s for the famed alleged UFO spaceport, Area 51, near Sin City.

Famous figures to have served with the Dukes include Mike Piazza, Pedro Martinez, Orel Hershiser, Kirk Gibson, Eric Karros, Mike Maddux, Raúl Mondesí, Chan Ho Park, Mike Scioscia, Dave Stewart, Rick Sutcliffe, Fernando Valenzuela, Jose Vizcaino, Rick Rhoden, Dave Sax, Greg Gagne, Mickey Hatcher, Tim Wallach, Steve Yeager, Eric Gagne, Todd Hollandsworth and Paul LoDuca. The most popular player in Dukes history was Brian Traxler, who only played 14 games in the major leagues.

Currently, Albuquerque's baseball team is the Albuquerque Isotopes.