Civil Rights
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
q2K BHP
Black History Portal
THE BHP WIRE —
HIDDEN TRUTHS
What's New!
Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.
Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
Wilmington, North Carolina once had a thriving Black middle class and an elected interracial government. In 1898 white supremacists used violence to overthrow that government, kill Black residents and drive many others from the city.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| Tulsa Drillers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
| |||||
| Minor league affiliations | |||||
| Class | Double-A (1977–present) | ||||
| League | Texas League (1977–present) | ||||
| Division | North Division | ||||
| Major league affiliations | |||||
| Team | Los Angeles Dodgers (2015–present) | ||||
| Previous teams |
| ||||
| Minor league titles | |||||
| League titles (4) |
| ||||
| Division titles (9) |
| ||||
| First-half titles (10) |
| ||||
| Second-half titles (10) |
| ||||
| Wild card berths (2) |
| ||||
| Team data | |||||
| Name | Tulsa Drillers (1977–present) Lafayette Drillers (1975–1976) | ||||
| Ballpark | ONEOK Field (2010–present) | ||||
Previous parks | Drillers Stadium (1981–2009) Oiler Park (1977–1980) | ||||
Owner(s)/ Operator(s) | Diamond Baseball Holdings (majority) Dale & Jeff Hubbard, Arlo DeKraai (minority) | ||||
| General manager | Mike Melega | ||||
| Manager | Eric Wedge | ||||
| Website | milb.com/tulsa | ||||
The Tulsa Drillers are a minor league baseball team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers major-league club.
The Drillers play at ONEOK Field (pronounced "one-oak"), in downtown Tulsa's Greenwood district. The team previously played at Drillers Stadium on the Tulsa County Fairgrounds at 15th and Yale in midtown Tulsa. The Drillers held their first home opener at ONEOK Field on April 8, 2010, losing 7–0 to the Corpus Christi Hooks in front of an over-capacity crowd of 8,665.[1] In their first season in the new ballpark, the Drillers drew total attendance of 408,183, the highest season figure in the history of Tulsa professional baseball.[2]
The Drillers came into being in 1977, when the two-year-old Lafayette Drillers were moved to Tulsa from Louisiana. Before that time, the Triple-A Tulsa Oilers had been the city's minor league club, but owner A. Ray Smith moved that team to New Orleans due to concerns over the dilapidated condition of Oiler Park. The new team opted to carry over the Drillers from Lafayette, given the longstanding importance of oil in Tulsa's economy. Apart from World War II, professional baseball has been played in Tulsa continuously since 1932.
The Drillers set up shop at Oiler Park, which was renamed Driller Park. However, it was obvious that the old stadium was at the end of its useful life, and plans were already underway for a replacement. Tulsa County completed 8,000 seat Robert B. Sutton Stadium in 1981, naming it for its chief benefactor, a local oil executive. Sutton, however, was convicted in 1982 of fraud, and as a result the County renamed the park Tulsa County Stadium, and renamed it Drillers Stadium in 1989.
From 1977 to 2002, the Drillers were the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. In 2002, Rangers owner Tom Hicks purchased the Shreveport, Louisiana Texas League franchise with the intention of moving the team to Frisco, Texas, a suburban city north of Dallas, Texas. At the time, the Shreveport Swamp Dragons were affiliated with the San Francisco Giants; Hicks cast aside this association and bought out the remaining two years of Tulsa's Player Development Contract. The Drillers then signed a two-year agreement with the Colorado Rockies. After the 2014 season they signed an affiliation agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Batting coach Mike Coolbaugh was killed in a freak accident on July 22, 2007. While standing in the first base coach box, he was hit in the head by a line drive.[3] Although CPR was administered at the scene, he died less than an hour later. The Drillers and Travelers suspended their game, which the Travelers had been leading, 7–3, in the ninth inning. The Drillers also postponed their game the following night.[4] The coroner concluded that Coolbaugh was actually hit in the neck with the line drive instead of the head, which ruptured an artery in his neck, killing him.[5] As a result of this event, Major League Baseball began making helmets for base coaches mandatory in 2008.[6]
In conjunction with Major League Baseball's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Drillers were organized into the Double-A Central.[7] In 2022, the Double-A Central became known as the Texas League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization.[8]
On October 3, 2023, the club announced that it had sold majority ownership to Diamond Baseball Holdings.[9]
The Drillers were Texas League champions four times: in 1982, 1988, 1998, and 2018. They won the Eastern Division championship in 1999 and 2002. The Drillers also appeared in the Texas League playoffs during the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2017, 2025, and 2026 seasons.
Tulsa businessman Bill Rollings acquired the Lafayette franchise and moved it to Tulsa in 1977.[10][11] Country music entertainer Roy Clark was a co-owner of the team for six years.[12] Went Hubbard bought the team in 1986. In March 2006, Chuck Lamson (a former Drillers pitcher and executive) bought out much of Hubbard's stock in the team; Lamson became president and majority owner of the team.[13] In December 2010, Lamson sold his stock back to Hubbard. This transaction made Hubbard the sole owner of the team; his sons, Dale and Jeff, became co-chairmen. Went and Dale Hubbard are residents of Walpole, New Hampshire; Jeff Hubbard, a former player (in 1987) and coach (in 1991) for the Drillers, lives in Durham, North Carolina.[14] Went Hubbard died in September 2012.[15]
ESPN SportsCenter anchor John Anderson has often alluded to team alumni as "former Driller(s)" on-air. Anderson was a weekend sports anchor for Tulsa CBS affiliate KOTV before joining ESPN.[16]
For 13 years the Tulsa Drillers' radio (and sometime television) announcer was Mark Neely, but in January 2009 it was announced that Neely had been hired to be the new TV play-by-play announcer for the San Diego Padres.[17] In February the Drillers announced that Neely's replacement would be Dennis Higgins, former announcer for the Wichita Wranglers.[18] Since the 2005 season, the Drillers have been broadcast on KTBZ (AM), Sports Radio 1430, "The Buzz" in Tulsa.[19]
| Players | Coaches/Other |
|---|---|
|
Pitchers
Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
|
Manager
Coaches
|
 Sports teams based in Oklahoma | ||
|---|---|---|
| Baseball |  | |
| Basketball |
| |
| Football |
| |
| Hockey | ||
| Roller derby | ||
| Soccer |
| |
| Softball |
| |
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
The Tulsa Drillers are a minor league baseball team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers major-league club.
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma. It has many diverse neighborhoods due to its size. Downtown Tulsa is an area of approximately 1.4 square miles (3.6 km2) surrounded by an inner-dispersal loop created by Interstate 244, Highway 64, and Highway 75. The area serves as Tulsa's financial and business district, and is the focus of a large initiative to draw tourism, which includes plans to capitalize on the area's historic architecture. Much of Tulsa's convention space is located in downtown, such as the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, the Tulsa Convention Center, and the BOK Center. Prominent downtown sub-districts include the "Oil Capital" District, the Blue Dome District, the Arts District, Owen Park Historical Neighborhood, and the Greenwood Historical District, the site of ONEOK Field, a baseball stadium for the Tulsa Drillers opened in 2010. The city's historical residential core lies in Midtown, just south of Downtown, containing upscale neighborhoods built in the early 20th century with architecture ranging from Art Deco to Greek Revival. The University of Tulsa, the Swan Lake neighborhood, Philbrook Museum, and the upscale shopping districts of Utica Square, Cherry Street, and Brookside are located in this region. A large portion of the city's southern half has developed since the 1970s, containing low-density housing and retail developments. This region, marked by secluded homes and suburban neighborhoods, contains Woodland Hills Mall, as well as Southern Hills Country Club, and Oral Roberts University. East of Highway 169 and north of 61st street, a diverse racial makeup marks the eastern portions of the city, with large Asian and Mexican communities and much of the city's manufacturing industry. Areas of Tulsa west of the Arkansas River are called West Tulsa, and are marked by large parks, wilderness reserves, and large oil refineries. The northern tier of the city is home to OSU-Tulsa, Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa International Airport, the Tulsa Zoo, the Tulsa Air and Space Museum, and the nation's third-largest municipal park, Mohawk Park.
The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tulsa Oilers name was shared with Tulsa's former minor-league baseball team that pre-dated the Tulsa Drillers. To reduce confusion in local news reporting, the hockey team was often called the "Ice Oilers". Formerly a member of the Central Hockey League, the Oilers are one of only two teams which played every one of the CHL's 22 seasons (the other being the Wichita Thunder). The Oilers established a winning tradition, making the playoffs in nine of their first 13 seasons. However, their performance in recent years has been less successful making the playoffs four times since 2005. Original owner Jeff Lund played an integral part in assembling the 1992–93 team, led by veteran minor league coach and former NHL ironman Garry Unger. The team, anchored by high-scoring forward Sylvain Naud and veteran goalie Tony Martino, finished the regular season in second place, right behind intrastate rival Oklahoma City Blazers. However, in the revived league's first championship series the Oilers handily defeated the Blazers, clinching the title on OKC's home ice. Lund assumed ownership of the franchise in February 1999 after being the team's general manager. On June 23, 2013, Lund sold the team to the owners of the Wichita Thunder, the Steven brothers. The Steven brothers sold the team to Andy Scurto in 2021.
Drillers Stadium was a minor league baseball stadium located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. From 1981 to 2009, Drillers Stadium was home to the Tulsa Drillers, of the Double-A Texas League. For a number of years Drillers Stadium also hosted one of the regular season baseball games played between Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma in the Bedlam Series. Drillers Stadium is located on the southwest corner of Yale Avenue and 15th Street, in the Tulsa State Fairgrounds complex that also includes Expo Square Pavilion, the QuikTrip Center and Golden Driller, a racetrack, a waterpark, and the sites of the former Bell's Amusement Park and of Oiler Park, where Tulsa's professional baseball teams had played since 1934.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968.
