Lamar Hunt and baseball

Lamar Hunt, the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, died late last week. He had a lot to do with establishing the SUPER BOWL and making it the event that it is. He also was involved in tennis, soccer, basketball, and hockey.

MILB.com points out that he also had a tie to minor league baseball:
Sports impresario Lamar Hunt dies at 74
Once owned Dallas-Fort Worth Minor League team

Hunt, along with business partner Tommy Mercer, served as the owner of the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs, a Texas League franchise that operated from 1965-1971. The club played at Turnpike Stadium, a 10,500-seat venue that was expanded and renamed Arlington Stadium to house the Major League Texas Rangers in 1972.

The Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs arose out of a tumultuous time in Texas baseball history. Mark Presswood, author of Baseball in Dallas, TX, and Baseball in Fort Worth, helped sort out the details.

Initally, Dallas and Fort Worth each had its own separate Minor League franchises. The clubs merged after the 1960 season as the Dallas-Fort Worth area prepared for entry into the Continental League, a proposed third Major League that was the brainchild of New York businessman (and eventual stadium namesake) William Shea and legendary baseball executive Branch Rickey.

The Continental League never got off the ground, as many of the league's proposed locations were soon awarded expansion franchises by Major League Baseball. The Dallas-Forth Worth Minor League franchise carried on, however, in various incarnations.

After several years of play in the American Association and, later, the Pacific Coast League, the team was bought by Hunt and Mercer in 1964. The franchise began play in the Texas League the following season, as the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs.
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Over their seven-year existence, the Spurs served as an affiliate of the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, and finally, the Baltimore Orioles. While a Baltimore affiliate, eventual big league skippers Joe Altobelli and Cal Ripken Sr. both spent time managing the club.

Hunt, always a big thinker, had hoped his co-ownership of the Spurs would lead to him being able to land a Major League franchise.

"I was involved with an attempt to bring Major League Baseball to the area," said [former Star front office member Joe] Macko. "Representing Mr. Hunt and Mr. Mercer, I went to visit Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. He thought I was coming with a big check, in order to buy the Seattle Pilots franchise. Well, I did go up there prepared to make it happen, but we didn't succeed. The Pilots ended up re-locating to Milwaukee instead."