Belton Braves

The Belton Braves became members of the Middle Texas League in 1914. The Middle Texas League began play in the 1914 season as a new Class D minor league, operating as a six–team league, hosting franchises from Bartlett, Texas (Bartlett Bearcats), Belton, Texas (Belton Braves), Brenham, Texas (Brenham Brewers), Georgetown, Texas (Georgetown Collegians), Lampasas, Texas (Lampasas Resorters) and Temple, Texas (Temple Tigers).[1][2][3][4][5][6]

The Belton Braves began play in the Middle Texas League began on May 8, 1914 and won the first of two consecutive championships. The Middle Texas League played a spit season schedule with champions during each half. In 1914, the Temple Tigers won the first half standings and the Belton Braves won the second half standings. The final overall standings featured the Temple Tigers (54–27), Georgetown Collegians (50–30), Brenham Brewers (50–34), Belton Braves (37–47), Lampasas Resorters (35–51) and Bartlett Bearcats (22–59). In the Championship playoff, the Belton Braves defeated the Temple Tigers 5 games to 1. Temple was managed by Baseball Hall of Fame member Kid Nichols. Belton was managed Leslie Mitchell, L. B. Hubbard, Bob Hart, Jack Forrester and Cal Callahan during the 1914 season, playing at Belton Base Ball Park.[7][8][9][6][10][11][2][12]

Belton folded, along with the Middle Texas League in the middle of the 1915 season. Belton was in 1st place under Manager Charles Lawson when the league folded. The Belton Braves won both half seasons of the league and no playoffs were held as the league folded. The Middle Texas League permanently folded on June 19, 1915. During the season, the Austin Reps/Representatives (2–5) had moved to become the Taylor Producers on May 1, 1915, as floods forced the team to leave their ballpark in Austin. Taylor (15–23) then moved to Brenham on June 8, 1915, becoming the second team in Brenham, after the Brenham Brewers folded the day before. The final league standings featured the Belton Braves (40–19), 8.0 games ahead of the 2nd place Temple Governors (32–27), followed by the Bartlett Bearcats (29–26) and Austin Representatives/Taylor Producers/Brenham Kaisers (21–36). The Schulenburg Giants were 23–18 and the Brenham Brewers 12–31 when they both folded on June 7, 1915. Belton has not hosted another minor league team.[13][14][15][16][17][11][6][18][19]

The Belton Braves played home games at Belton Base Ball Park. The ballpark was likely located at South Davis Street & West Avenue A in Belton, Texas.[20]

• George McAvoy (1915)

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• Baseball Reference Bullpen