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Burnett Believed 'Play Ball!' Included Everyone
By Van Craddock
When it came to promoting baseball, there was nothing minor league about R.W. "Dick" Burnett.
The Gladewater oilman owned the Dallas Eagles ball club and opened the door for African Americans to play in the Texas League.
Burnett owned the Eagles for eight years and perhaps is best remembered for a 1950 promotion that attracted a minor-league record 53,579 fans to the Cotton Bowl. He also installed the Texas League's first ballpark organ.
Burnett grew up poor in Gladewater, tried his hand at several businesses, then made a fortune when he struck oil in Arkansas. That allowed him to indulge in his life-long passion of baseball.
In 1935 he was part of a group that bought and moved the Shreveport, La., professional team to Gladewater. During the next decade he acquired several other minor league teams.
In 1948 he purchased the Texas League team in Dallas, but his real desire was to bring a major league team to the Metroplex. Burnett spent big bucks to remodel a newly acquired stadium (renamed Burnett Field) and brought in the best baseball talent. By 1952 he'd won his first Texas League title and was drawing large crowds thanks to his promotions that included musical and variety acts as well as entertainment celebrities.
In 1950 he rented the Cotton Bowl for Dallas' season opener against Tulsa. Making special appearances in the Eagles' lineup were famed major leaguers Dizzy Dean, Mickey Cochrane, Charlie Grimm, Charlie Gehringer, Tris Speaker, "Home Run" Baker and Ty Cobb. (All are now in the Baseball Hall of Fame.)
Tulsa won 10-3 but the score didn't matter. Thrilled with the record-setting 53,579 folks who showed up, Burnett said, "This is an indication that Dallas is ready for big-league baseball. I am ready to take the risk of getting the first franchise available and moving it into Texas for our fans."
For the 1952 season Burnett raised more eyebrows by signing Dave Hoskins, an African-American pitcher. (Hoskins later played in the major leagues for the Cleveland Indians.)
That move, only five years after the major leagues had integrated, finally opened the way for blacks to play in the Texas League. Dallas was thought to be the first club in the South to have a black player in its lineup.
Burnett was vilified by many who thought the league should remain lily white. Praised by some who applauded his courageous move, Burnett said, "It doesn't take courage to do what you feel is right."
The following year, the Sporting News named Burnett the minor-league executive of 1953 because of the contributions of "his time, energy and money to what he considered the betterment of the game, as a whole."
Burnett died suddenly June 1, 1955, while in Shreveport to watch his Dallas Eagles play. Two days later, hundreds crowded into a Gladewater chapel to pay their final respects to the East Texan. His players (dressed in their white home uniforms) served as pallbearers as "Miss Inez" Teddlie, the team's organist, provided music for the funeral service.
"Dick" Burnett didn't realize his dream of bringing a major league team to Texas. (Houston finally got a team in 1962; the Texas Rangers came to Arlington a decade later.) But as one speaker noted at Burnett's Gladewater service, "So long as there is oil in East Texas and baseball is played, his contributions will be remembered."