Topeka Hawks

The Topeka Hawks, based in Topeka, Kansas, played in the Class A Western League from 1956 to 1958 as a Milwaukee Braves affiliate, then joined the Class B Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League for the 1959 season as a Cincinnati Reds affiliate. They were one chapter in a franchise that had carried professional baseball in the Kansas state capital under more than a dozen different names since 1886, shifting leagues and affiliations roughly every decade.

The Western League years were modest. The 1956 Hawks went 70-68 and finished fourth. The 1958 club dropped to 65-82, seventh in the league, with attendance of just 43,686. Moving to the Three-I in 1959 placed the Hawks in Class B competition for a single season before the franchise rechristened itself the Topeka Reds for 1960. That Reds team had considerably more success: manager Dave Bristol led the 1961 Topeka Reds to the Three-I League pennant with a 79-50 record, 6.5 games ahead of Cedar Rapids. Tommy Harper won the league MVP that year and went on to a long major league career; Tommy Helms, Art Shamsky, and Vic Davalillo were also on that 1961 roster. Bristol himself managed over 1,900 games at the big-league level.

By the time the Hawks entered the Three-I, the league had expanded well beyond its original geography. With no Illinois or Indiana teams left after 1957, clubs from Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Wisconsin filled the rosters. The Three-I League folded after the 1961 season, ending professional baseball in Topeka.