What’s wonderful about baseball is that you can find it everywhere in the country. From the southernmost point of Florida, all the way up to the Canadian border, baseball will be present.
One glance at a map of every single baseball team in North America, from Major League Baseball all the way down to collegiate summer leagues, provides an extremely clear picture of just how prevalent baseball is on this continent. It might not be as popular as it was 50 years ago, but it is certainly still very much alive and well in countless communities.
It’s astonishing just how alive it can be, even in the most unlikely of places. There are plenty of lower-level minor league teams that play in cities and towns whose populations a city slicker would scoff at. But those teams, despite the small places they play in, still remain successful and continue to beat the odds.
That is certainly true in Cleburne, Texas, a town 30 minutes south of Fort Worth with a population of just over 30,000. It doesn’t fit the archetype for a place with a professional sports team, yet the Cleburne Railroaders of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an independent baseball league that’s an MLB Partner League, still call it home.
The Railroaders, at least in their current form, have called Cleburne home since they joined the American Association as an expansion franchise in 2017. The team’s history, however, stretches back all the way to the early 20th century, when a different team known as the Cleburne Railroaders played in the Texas League and won the championship in 1906, thanks in part to the help of future Hall of Famer Tris Speaker. After winning a championship in the Texas-Oklahoma League in 1911, the team disbanded in 1912, leaving Cleburne without a professional baseball franchise for over a century.
The club that returned in 2017 would be a whole lot different from the one that left 105 years earlier. This time they’d be playing in a brand new, $25 million stadium that was then known, fittingly, as The Depot. While it’s no Yankee Stadium, the place is filled with all the fixings that a baseball fan and player could ask for, at least at the independent level.
As mentioned earlier, the Railroaders are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball. The American Association is an independent baseball league — meaning that its teams don’t have any direct affiliation with a Major League Baseball club — that has 12 franchises spanning from Manitoba all the way down to Cleburne. In fact, here’s a nice, succinct list of the 12 squads that make up the American Association:
West Division
Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (Fargo, ND)
Kansas City Monarchs (Kansas City, KS)
Lincoln Saltdogs (Lincoln, NE)
Sioux City Explorers (Sioux City, IA)
Sioux Falls Canaries (Sioux Falls, SD)
Winnipeg Goldeyes (Winnipeg, MB)
East Division
Chicago Dogs (Rosemont, IL)
Cleburne Railroaders (Cleburne, TX)
Gary SouthShore RailCats (Gary, IN)
Kane County Cougars (Geneva, IL)
Lake Country DockHounds (Oconomowoc, WI)
Milwaukee Milkmen (Franklin, WI)
From a Railroaders’ perspective, one quick glance at the team list above reveals something somewhat troubling: the closest team to Cleburne is the Kansas City Monarchs, which is still a 7-plus hour drive away. What’s even worse is that all the teams in their own division reside in either Illinois, Indiana, or Wisconsin, all of which are 15-plus hour drives away. And in a league where teams travel via bus to all their away games, that long travel distance can be a major detriment to whoever has to go the farthest distance.
But that’s just part of the independent baseball experience. Long bus rides through the night are just what players and coaches on the Railroaders, or any other team in any other independent baseball league, have to deal with on a weekly basis. Surprisingly, it doesn’t really have as much of an effect, at least on paper, as one might think it does.
A Little Team History
In the Railroaders’ brief existence, the team, despite the horrendous travel conditions and sweltering Texas heat that beats down on the field turf, has been relatively successful. The inaugural 2017 campaign went about as expected, with the team finishing below .500 at 47-53, 14.5 games behind the first place Wichita Wingnuts (who no longer exist) in the South Division.
The next season would be a low point, as the Railroaders went a measly 33-66 in their second year. Incredibly, that terrible record was not the worst in the American Association, with the defunct Texas AirHogs going an even worse 25-75. I bet a whole book could be written on that AirHogs’ season. Yikes.
What’s even more incredible about that 2018 season is that while it may be the most unsuccessful in the record books, it could also be argued that it’s the one that put the Railroaders on the map. You see, for 31 games that season, former MLB star Rafael Palmeiro played in Cleburne. It was a major news story, as the then 53-year-old was attempting to show the world that he still had it. He wasn’t entirely wrong. Over the course of 125 plate appearances and 103 at-bats, Palmeiro slashed .301/.424/.495 (.919 OPS) with six home runs and 21 RBIs. Not too bad. Besides Palmeiro, though, there wasn’t much cooking elsewhere for the 2018 iteration of the Cleburne Railroaders.
The 2019 campaign provided a glimpse at just how successful baseball in Cleburne could be, as it started a run of good form for the Railroaders that has persisted to today. Cleburne went 57-43 in its third season. It didn’t end in a championship — in the American Association, the championship team wins the Miles Wolff Cup — but it provided some hope that baseball could work south of the Metroplex.
Then 2020 and COVID happened, which put a pause on the cogs of the Railroaders’ machine. Baseball wasn’t played in Cleburne in 2020, as the league chose just six teams to play in a shortened season and the Railroaders weren’t one of them.
Heading into 2021, the brief hiatus could’ve halted all momentum that the 2019 season brought to the franchise, but it didn’t. The team was as good as ever, going 54-46 and making the playoffs for the first time in team history. Unfortunately for Cleburne, that season ended prematurely in a one-game Wild Card defeat to the Sioux City Explorers.
The 2022 and 2023 seasons took on similar vibes. In 2022, under the helm of manager Logan Watkins, who took over midway through 2021 and guided the team to its first playoff appearance in its history, the Railroaders started the season 6-24. They couldn’t hit, they couldn’t pitch, and they certainly couldn’t win at a consistent rate. It was not fun baseball to watch. Then all of a sudden, a switch seemed to flip, and the Railroaders found their mojo once again.
After that abysmal start, Cleburne managed to finish the season 50-50, squeaking into the playoffs. In their best-of-three first round matchup against the Kane County Cougars, the ‘Roaders won their first postseason series in history two games to one. Now, a three-game set against the Milwaukee Milkmen, who won the Miles Wolff Cup in 2020 in just their second season, would decide who would represent the East Division in the championship round. A 5-2 loss in Game 1, followed by a 2-1 defeat in Game 2 ended Cleburne’s magical comeback season. But just like 2019 and 2021, the 2022 campaign showed everyone involved with the franchise that winning baseball can be played in Johnson County. The Railroaders were oh, so close.
2023 represented a step backwards in a lot of unfortunate ways. On its face, the roster was stacked, with newcomers Jose Sermo and Mark Karaviotis complementing returners like Hill Alexander and team captain Zach Nehrir. It started off great too, with the team starting 8-2. But it just wasn’t meant to be, as the pitching imploded time after time, leading to a season that ended with a disappointing 46-54 record and a first round exit in the playoffs.
Finally, there’s 2024, which can only be described as the best season in team history. With a brand new coaching staff that was led by former big leaguer Pete Incaviglia, the team hit its way to a 60-40 campaign. For the first time ever, the Railroaders finished with the best regular season record in the American Association. It was truly a momentous season, that unfortunately ended short of the ultimate goal after yet another first round defeat, this time to the Chicago Dogs.
Fortunately for the Railroaders, the story is not finished, as 2025 is here and the team is pushing to win its first Miles Wolff Cup with a whole new and improved roster. It’s a roster that’s filled with a bunch of dudes who have a boatload of upper-level experience, with most of the players having at least reached the higher-levels of affiliated baseball. Those types of rosters typically fare well in the American Association, so if history proves true, then Cleburne is set up for success this season.
So, that’s the entire history of the Cleburne Railroaders. From 2017, all the way to now, the Railroaders continue to defy the odds and show that even a small team in a small town can succeed.
Blair Henley, Have a Day
If you read my post from yesterday, then you know that my plan for this summer is to fill it to the brim with baseball, baseball, and even more baseball. It’s going to be a baseball extravaganza. Just in case you didn’t get a chance to catch that, here’s a little excerpt from the piece that briefly explains what exactly this baseball summer entails for me and this Substack:
From now until Labor Day, my goal is to go to as many baseball games and visit as many ballparks as I can. I want to pack this summer full of baseball. The plan includes road trips, a couple of flights, and stops at some familiar places that hold a special place in my heart. It’s shaping up to be a grand adventure.
Along the way, I want to bring you all along for the ride. After each stop, I’ll be writing something to capture the experience. What that looks like exactly, I’m not sure yet. But you can count on something hitting your inbox not long after each visit.
Where else could I have started this journey but down in Cleburne with the Railroaders? If you’re at all familiar with me, then you know that the Railroaders hold a special place in my heart. From 2022 to 2023, I sat in the broadcast booth alongside Brad Allred and called Railroaders games. It was an experience that I’m extremely grateful for and will never forget for as long as I live.
My trip down to Cleburne yesterday was the first time that I’d stepped foot in that ballpark — which is now known as La Moderna Field1 — since the end of the 2023 season. A lot has changed since my time there, as evidenced by the regime change with the coaching staff and the good run of play from last season. But an ownership transition has also made the experience different, as REV Entertainment — the entertainment branch of the Texas Rangers — acquired the team midway through 2023.
But all those changes don’t make the experience all that different for the average fan who’s just there to watch a ball game. Yes, there’s probably a lot of things behind the scenes that are different, but if you’re sitting in the seating bowl, none of that is visible, and honestly, doesn’t matter.
That’s where I found myself yesterday at 11:05 AM. It was STEM Day2, which meant that hundreds of loud, rambunctious school children, who were just happy to be anywhere but a classroom, filled the seating bowl, ready to answer math questions and watch the Railroaders take on the Kane County Cougars.
Cleburne and Kane County entered the contest on totally different ends of the spectrum. The Cougars, who won the Miles Wolff Cup last season, were not in a good spot with a 3-7 record to start 2025. Cleburne, on the other hand, had come out of the gate with a fury at 8-3. It was going to be an interesting matchup, one that I couldn’t wait to see play out.
Blair Henley got the start for Cleburne on the mound. Henley, a graduate from Texas who appeared in one MLB game with the Houston Astros last season, had made two starts for the Railroaders prior to Wednesday afternoon. He’d been a reliable arm thus far, allowing just six runs over 11 1/3 innings of work through his two times out on the hill. His having a good, lengthy performance was going to be paramount for Cleburne, as the Railroaders had been forced to throw a bullpen game the day before and were a little limited in terms of available arms.
That quest got off to a shaky start in the top of the first, as Henley allowed the first two Kane County hitters to reach, with one of them scoring on an RBI single by Robby Martin Jr. Henley was able to bounce back and get out of the inning without allowing any further damage thanks to a 5-4-3 double play, but the Railroaders would be playing from behind early regardless.
Luckily for Henley, his teammates had his back. Cleburne struck for two runs in the home half of the first thanks to a steal of home by Shed Long and a sacrifice fly by Steven Rivas. It would be a lead that the Railroaders would never relinquish, thanks to some amazing pitching by Henley.
Throughout the rest of the contest, Henley efficiently worked through the Cougars’ lineup. Through seven innings of work, he’d just allowed two runs and his pitch count was extremely manageable. He was using all his pitches well, keeping Kane County off balance.
With the Railroaders up 3-2, there’d be a bit of resistance that Henley would have to face from the Cougars in the top of the eighth inning. After he struck out Oscar Santos on four pitches, Henley allowed a first-pitch single to Thomas Jones. That brought Galli Cribbs Jr. to the plate for Kane County.
Cribbs Jr. has played in the American Association for four years, all with Kane County. Throughout his time up in Illinois, Cribbs Jr. had made his mark against Cleburne, particularly in 2023 when some of his antics resulted in a benches-clearing brawl. With him up as the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth, could he spoil Henley’s fantastic outing?
Nope.
Cribbs Jr. lined the first pitch he saw right to Railroaders’ first baseman Kyle Martin, who caught it and then stepped on the bag for an inning-ending double play. Henley was ecstatic, but the job was not finished.
In the top of the ninth, Kane County once again attempted to mount a comeback. Trendon Craig led off the inning with a single on the first pitch. With Martin Jr. at the plate, Henley attempted to pick off Craig at first, but the ball got away and bounded off the concrete barrier in foul territory all the way into right field. Craig, who is pretty fleet of foot, raced around second and was legging it towards third. With Henley’s entire performance hanging in the balance, Rivas, who was playing right field and had collected the errant baseball, fired a strike to third. Shed Long collected the throw, laid the tag on Craig, and as the umpire signaled that he was out, La Moderna Field roared.
But no one other than Henley was more excited. He pumped his fist in excitement, knowing that that play might have just saved his attempt at throwing the fifth complete game in Railroaders history.
The next two hitters went down with a whimper. Martin Jr. grounded out to second and Nick Dalesandro grounded out to shortstop. The game was over. Blair Henley had just thrown a complete game in just 88 pitches.
What do you even call that? A “Maddux” is when a pitcher throws a complete game in less than 100 pitches, but what do you call it when someone does it in less than 90? For now, let’s just call it a “Henley.” I’m sure everybody in Cleburne would be perfectly okay with that.
He was so efficient that the game concluded in just two hours and one minute, the quickest contest in Cleburne’s short history. He became the first Cleburne pitcher since Jacques Pucheau in 2024 to throw a complete game. Including Pucheau, only three other Railroaders’ pitchers have thrown a complete game: Patrick Mincey did it in back-to-back starts in 2017 and Kevin Hilton did it in 2023 against this same Kane County team. It was an amazing performance with historical consequences, and I was fortunate enough to see it with my own two eyes.
It’s players like Blair Henley that make independent baseball so special. Henley was drafted by the Astros in the 7th round of the 2019 draft and made one appearance in the big leagues last season that didn’t go well at all. He faced nine batters, only got one of them out, and allowed five runs. That ended his time with the big league club, and after a couple more weeks down in Double-A, he was released.
Independent baseball is giving Henley a second chance, one that he appears to be making the most of so far. There’s no doubt that his quest to make it back to affiliated ball will be an uphill battle, just as it is for anybody playing in indy ball. But it’s doable, and Henley is going to try and defy the odds.
What the remainder of the 100-game American Association season entails for the Railroaders, I have no clue. Baseball is a game that’s filled with ebbs and flows to such extremes that a team that starts off hot like Cleburne is right now could find itself at the bottom of the standings within a month. It’s just a crazy game.
From what I saw on Wednesday, though, I’m confident in saying that this version of the Railroaders is different — in a great way — from any other version before it. When operating at its full potential, the offense can score runs in bunches. Complement that with a pitching staff that was described to me as “the best in team history” and you have yourself a combination that could be competing for a championship.
I sure hope it happens. The people surrounding that organization deserve it more than anyone I know in professional sports. It would also just be objectively cool for a market like Cleburne to win a championship in a league that features teams in big places like Kansas City, Chicago, and Milwaukee.
I’ll end this piece about my time in Cleburne with a plea to everybody reading: If you ever get the chance, go to an independent baseball game. If that’s in Cleburne, or anywhere else in North America, I promise you that it will be worth your time.
La Moderna is a pasta company, and as such, La Moderna Field is colloquially known as the “Pasta Bowl.”
I’m not joking. In between each inning, the school children in attendance were asked to answer math equations on the video board.