Picking up where I left off yesterday, I am continuing to highlight some of my recent baseball and cultural experiences on a recent trip to Harlingen, Texas. Quick side note, I had never heard of Harlingen before about 3 weeks ago. I knew of cities like McAllen and Laredo which border the Mexican/United States border from my gym equipment days. Harlingen and the Rio Grande Valley area were all new to me and I was so excited to learn more about the baseball history of the area and dive into some of its other cool attractions. Let’s kick off today’s with a stop at Harlingen Field.

According to most news accounts online, Harlingen Field was the premier baseball facility for decades in the Rio Grande Valley area. According to a few sources online, Harlingen was home to professional baseball from about 1931 to roughly 2014. Major League Baseball affiliates for the Detroit Tigers and the San Francisco Giants had teams in Harlingen who played briefly at Harlingen Field. AKA names for the field include Giants Field and Lon C. Hill Field. The Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings, an Independent Baseball League team, called Harlingen Field home from about 1994 to 2014. Harlingen Field, the structure, remains today and I visited it on Thursday morning. Although the field was locked and unavailable to see up close, I got a few photos of the exterior and surrounding areas of the field.

I may have mentioned the Harlingen Public Library because I had that on my radar for Thursday morning. However, the library did not open until 10am, so I had time to visit another local baseball field. So, I set my GPS for another massive recreational sports park in Harlingen called Tom Wilson Youth Sports Complex.

Tom Wilson Youth Sports Complex was gigantic. It looked like it took up the space of a small to medium size airport runway. Fields on the right for softball, fields on the left for baseball, crazy amount of acreage devoted to sports teams in the Harlingen area. I found parking in front of the baseball fields and started my journey up and into the baseball portion of Tom Wilson, home of the Harlingen National Bronco Baseball and Softball Leagues.

I walked around just about half of the eight baseball fields at Tom Wilson. All of the fields were in ready to play condition and I stopped into the press box areas of a few of them. As the sun was coming up, I grabbed a few photos of the fields. All of the baseball fields were set up for youth baseball level play. This area of the complex had a concession stand, plenty of covered bleacher seating, and tons of shade for fans to get out of the hot South Texas sun, if they so chose to. It was a beautiful sunny morning in Harlingen, so I took my time walking around the fields and just imagined them on a busy Saturday morning during league play.

After returning to my rental and realizing I still had time for a quick bite, I stopped back at my hotel for a coffee and a snack before heading over to the Harlingen Public Library. When I finally made it to the library, the gates were wide open and I walked into a beautiful courtyard with some really cool bronze statues, reading benches, and draped lights on trees lining the area. Wow, what a cool first impression.

Inside the library, I found a resource desk and asked for the Texas history section. “Right up the stairs there,” as the attendant pointed to a set up stairs leading to the second floor. From there, I found the Texas sports history section and grabbed a few choice books to peruse through. There were some comfy chairs in the hallways of the second floor, so I sat for a moment and leafed through a few books that caught my eye.

I learned a ton about the baseball world as it related to the Rio Grande Valley area and South Texas in general. It was interesting leafing through “The Greatest Texas Sports Stories You’ve Never Heard” and learning about home run legend Joe Bauman, who hit 72 home runs in the minor leagues in 1954 for the Roswell Rockets. According to the book, it was the highest total for a professional baseball player in one season until Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001. Apparently, Bauman was quite the home run hitter, slugging 50 or more in several seasons for several different clubs. Bauman did not play a game in the Major Leagues and retired at age 34 in 1956. The Joe Bauman Home Run Award is given out each year to the Minor Leaguer who hits the most regular season home runs, named after the HR slugger himself. Bauman also has a field named after him in Roswell, New Mexico – Joe Bauman Baseball Stadium. Pretty cool knowledge!!!

From the Texas Sports History section, I moved over to the Sports Non-Fiction section of the library. This section was loaded with books I had never seen nor heard of. So, I took the opportunity to snap a few photos of some books that I will be looking for at my local bookstores and area libraries in VA Beach when I return home. Tops on my list would be “Sons of Baseball” and the Lou Piniella autobiography. I actually looked through the “Coaching Tee Ball” book just for sh#ts and giggles, because coaching tee ball is like catching a knuckleball – Hard!!! Wow, what an amazing selection of baseball books there at the Harlingen Public Library.

I checked my time and realized that I was nearing my time to go into my work for my final day in Harlingen (ABF Freight). So, I thanked the resource desk attendants who helped me and headed back out to my rental car. One last look at the courtyard and some of the cool statues they had in it. Very cool to see Samuel Clemens sitting so casually on a bench in Harlingen.

From Harlingen Field to Tom Wilson Sports Complex to the Harlingen Public Library, I had a full day of baseball and cultural experiences on Thursday morning. I was so psyched to visit Harlingen Field, despite it being closed and locked up. Baseball history was made there and I was just so excited to walk the perimeter and get a glimpse of the field. Tom Wilson Complex, home of the Harlingen Bronco National Baseball and Softball Leagues was amazing. So many great baseball fields, so many great memories to be had. And to finish off my Harlingen experiences with a stop at the Harlingen Public Library for some knowledge, that was truly incredible and far surpassed my expectations. Overall, it was an awesome two days of baseball and cultural experiences in beautiful, sunny Harlingen, Texas.