The Texas AirHogs were a professional baseball team based in

Grand Prairie, Texas Grand Prairie is a city in Dallas, Tarrant, and Ellis counties of Texas, in the United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It had a population of 175,396 according to the 2010 census, making it t ...

from 2008 to 2020. The AirHogs were members of the

American Association of Independent Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor lea ...

, which is not affiliated with

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. Beginning in the 2008 season as the Grand Prairie AirHogs, the team played their home games at AirHogs Stadium. The team folded after the 2020 season. The team's name was taken from a slang term used by American military pilots and referred to the city's aviation industry (

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control (MFC) is one of the four core business areas for American company Lockheed Martin. MFC provides air and missile defense systems; tactical missiles and air-to-ground precision strike weapon systems; logist ...

is headquartered in Grand Prairie, and

Vought Corporation Vought was the name of several related American aerospace firms. These have included, in the past, Lewis and Vought Corporation, Chance Vought, Vought-Sikorsky, LTV Aerospace (part of Ling-Temco-Vought), Vought Aircraft Companies, and Vought Air ...

once had a major plant in Dallas adjacent to Grand Prairie before the company was sold and the plant closed). For the 2016 season, the AirHogs merged with the

Amarillo Thunderheads The Amarillo Thunderheads, formerly known as the Amarillo Sox, were a professional minor league baseball team based in Amarillo, Texas. They were members of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, an independent baseball l ...

, taking their name and splitting games between both home ballparks; from 2017 to 2020, the team was based solely in Grand Prairie.

History

2008 season

The AirHogs were managed in their inaugural season by former major leaguer

Pete Incaviglia Peter Joseph Incaviglia (born April 2, 1964), is an American former professional baseball left fielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 12 seasons (–), for six different big league teams, also spending one year in Nippon Professi ...

. The team played their first game on May 8 against the

St. Paul Saints The St. Paul Saints are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and have played their home games at CHS Field since 2015. They prev ...

, losing the contest 10–3. Their first home game was a 4–2 loss to the

Wichita Wingnuts The Wichita Wingnuts were an independent baseball team based in Wichita, Kansas, in the United States. The Wingnuts were members of the South Division of the American Association of Professional Baseball. An expansion franchise in the 2008 seas ...

on May 16. On July 25, Scot Drucker's contract was purchased by the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

. He was the first ever Grand Prairie player to be signed by

organization. On July 28, starting pitcher Kieran Mattison's contract was purchased by the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

. He was sent to the Dodgers Double-A team, the

Jacksonville Suns The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are located in Jacksonville, Florida, and are named for shrimp caught in the area. The team pla ...

in the Southern League.

2009 All-Star Game

The AirHogs played host to the 2009 American Association All-Star Game at their home field, the Ballpark in Grand Prairie, on July 21, 2009.

2011 season

The AirHogs won their first American Association championship by winning a decisive game five in the championship series.

2015–2016

On November 19, 2015, American Association commissioner Miles Wolff announced that there would no longer be interleague play between the American Association and the

Can-Am League The Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, commonly known as the Can-Am League, was a professional, independent baseball league with teams in the Northeast United States and Eastern Canada, founded in 2005 as a reorganization ...

(for which he was also commissioner) and that for the 2016 season the

and the AirHogs would operate as a joint team with 25 games in Amarillo and 25 games in Grand Prairie to make a 12-team league. On November 27, 2015 James Frisbie was named the team's manager. Following the season the team announced that they would not be returning to Amarillo and would play all games in Grand Prairie for 2017.

2018–2020

On May 18, 2018, the American Association announced that AirHogs have developed a partnership with the Chinese Baseball Association (CBA) and Shougang Sports for the 2018 to 2020 seasons. Thirty members of the Chinese National Baseball Team (known as the Beijing Shougang Eagles) would train at AirHogs Stadium and rotate as players on the Texas AirHogs roster. New manager John McLaren served as the manager of the

China national baseball team The China national baseball team is the national representative team of China. Results and fixtures The following is a list of professional baseball match results currently active in the latest version of the WBSC World Rankings, as well as any ...

. Tyler Matzek pitched for the team in 2018. On June 12, 2020, it was announced that the AirHogs were one of six teams that would not be participating in the 2020 American Association season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On October 23, 2020, the AirHogs terminated their membership in the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball.

Season-by-season records

References

{{Reflist Defunct American Association of Professional Baseball teams Professional baseball teams in Texas Sports in Grand Prairie, Texas Baseball teams established in 2007 2007 establishments in Texas Baseball teams disestablished in 2020 2020 disestablishments in Texas