Albuquerque Dukes

• Location: Albuquerque, NM

• League: Rio Grande Association 1915; West Texas-New Mexico League 1942, 1946-1955; Western League 1956-1958; Sophomore League 1960-1961; Texas League 1962-1964; Pacific Coast League 1972-2000

• Affiliation: Oakland Oaks 1953; New York Giants 1956; Cincinnati Reds 1958; Kansas City A's 1960-1962; Los Angeles Dodgers 1963-1964, 1972-2000

• Ballpark: Tingley Field 1962?-1964; Albuquerque Sports Stadium 1972-2000

There have been numerous minor league entries in Albuquerque, NM which have called themselves the Dukes. The first Albuquerque Dukes played in the short-lived class D Rio Grande Association, which only existed in 1915. The name was revived in 1942 for the Albuquerque entry in the West Texas-New Mexico League. The league was out of action from '43-'45 due to World War II but when it returned, so did the Dukes, this time for a 10-year run. When the WT-NM folded after 1955, the Dukes joined the class A Western League, which was expanding from 6 teams to 8. The team went under .500 in '56, '57 and '58. In 1959 Major League Baseball decided not to give any farm ties to the Western, which collapsed as a result.

After a year without baseball, the Dukes returned in 1960 as members of the Sophomore League, but this league folded as well after the '61 season.

An "old-time baseball" note: During the Sophomore League years, when a Dukes' player hit a home run, fans would put folded dollar bills into the screen behind home plate for the player to retrieve. On at least one occasion (probably more), a grand-slam home run moved some enthusiastic fans to stuff 4 dollar bills into the screen together!

The Dukes moved up to AA by joining the Texas League in 1962, starting a relationship that would last 10 years, tying the prior high for the Dukes. Affiliates of the Kansas City A's for a year, the Dukes switched to the Los Angeles Dodgers in '63. In 1965 the team was renamed the Albuquerque Dodgers. The team remained a Dodgers farm team when it moved to AAA in 1972, this time as the Dukes. After a long 29 years as the Dodgers' Pacific Coast League representative, the team moved north and became the Portland Beavers after the 2000 campaign.

Albuquerque home games were played in Tingley Field from at least 1962 through 1968. From 1969 on , they played at the Albuquerque Sports Stadium.

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