Early East Texas Baseball
Part 3 of 3
The Longview Cannibals
By Jeff Campbell
Through the years Texas has been the home to a collection of baseball teams with peculiar nicknames. Teams like the Paris Parasites, Lubbock Crickets, Abilene Prairie Dogs and Temple Boll Weevils made sure Texas was well represented in the category of odd baseball nicknames. Perhaps the oddest nickname in Texas, or all of baseball for that matter, was the one for the team from Longview, Texas. Longview's baseball was known as the Cannibals.
A.D. Parker explained the Longview Nine's acquisition of their odd nickname in the Wichita Daily Times on May 26, 1932. "The unusual name had originated forty years earlier when the Texas League's San Antonio club lost an exhibition game to a local semi-pro team during an unscheduled stop in Longview in 1895, and C.B. Cunningham, who covered San Antonio for several state newspapers, wrote, " ... Longview Cannibals ate up the San Antonio Missions here this afternoon."" In Texas Escapes Bob Bowman wrote "… The team defeated the San Antonio Missionaries, 7-0, in a hastily scheduled game when the Texas League team missed its train connection at Longview after a series of games in Shreveport." For a Semi-Pro team in East Texas it was quite a feat to beat a Texas League team. The Cannibal name remained attached to the Longview team throughout their on-again, off-again existence.
The Longview Baseball Club starting playing in 1893 As a Semi-Pro outfit and they did not officially join a professional league until 1912. That year they joined the Class D South Central League, finishing with the league's best overall record, but missed out on the championship due to the split season format that a lot of minor leagues used to maintain fan interest. Unfortunately the Cannibals would not be able to defend their title as the South Central League faced financial issues all season. Two of the leagues teams, the Tyler Elbertas and the Cleburne Railroaders, disbanded on July 17th and then the league folded after the season. It was back to the semi-pro circuit for the Cannibals where the Longview team would win the East Texas Semi-Pro Championship in 1920.
The Cannibals would not join another professional league until they entered the East Texas League in 1923. The Cannibals would traverse a number of leagues over the next seventeen years of their existence. The Cannibals played in the East Texas League from 1923 to1926, again in 1931 and in their final seasons of 1936 through 1939. The Cannibals also played individual seasons in the Lone Star League (1927), the Texas League (1932), and the Dixie League (1933). The Cannibals would spend the 1934 & 1935 seasons in the West Dixie League. The only professional Championship the Longview Cannibals would claim would be the 1926 East Texas League crown. During their short existence the Cannibals placed over sixty players into the Major Leagues.
From 1934 to 1939 the Cannibals were a farm team for the Chicago White Sox. On June 9th of 1939 the team's front office made the bold decision to change the Longview team nickname to White Sox, to better reflect the parent club in the Windy City. After the 1939 season the Longview baseball teams would go by a variety of names, first the Texans, then the Cherokees and finally the Pirates in 1953. The Cannibal nickname would never return.
To learn more about the Longview Cannibals I strongly recommend Jeff Barnhart's well researched book, "The Longview Cannibals: A Complete History of East Texas' Most Celebrated Baseball Club". ISBN-13: 978-1878096975 and published by Best of East Texas Publishers.
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References
1. Cannibals and Sports: The Texas League comes to Longview and Tyler, Texas, 1932 Larry G. Bowman East Texas Historical Journal Volume 36, Issue 1, Article 10
2. A.D. Parker, "The Lookout," in Wichita Daily TImes. May 26, 1932, p. 7.
3. http://www.texasescapes.com/BobBowman/Longview-Cannibals.htm
4. http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/South_Central_League
5. http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Longview_Cannibals
6. http://www.longviewcannibals.com/MessageCenterDetail.aspx?ContentID=2