History
The Omaha Packers had played in the Western League from 1900 through 1936, but the club moved to Rock Island, Illinois in August 1936, and the entire league - devastated by the Great Depression - folded after the 1937 campaign.
When the Western circuit was reborn in 1947, the Cardinals placed a farm club in Omaha. The team drew over 138,000 fans and placed second in the league in attendance. It remained at or near the top in attendance and won pennants in 1950 and 1951. After the 1954 season, Omaha replaced the Columbus Red Birds as the Cardinals' affiliate in the American Association. In its first AAA season, the club, managed by Johnny Keane, drew over 316,000 fans, but by 1959 crowds had dwindled. The last Omaha Cardinals club won a division title but drew a little more than a third of 1955's total.
Amont the Omaha Cardinals who had subsequent major league careers are included MLB Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson, Curt Flood, Don Blasingame, Barney Schultz, and Johnny Kean, who managed the STL Cardinal and NY Yankees.
Omaha then dropped out of the American Association, as the league shrunk in size. The Los Angeles Dodgers operated an AAA affiliate, the Omaha Dodgers, in 1961-62. After six seasons without a professional team, the Kansas City Royals brought Triple-A baseball back to Omaha in 1969 with the Omaha Royals, who have operated continuously ever since.
Currently the Omaha Cardinals are a Youth Baseball organization for ages 9 thru 14. Their teams play high level travel baseball across the midwest and at times farther. The 2007 14u (8th grade) Cardinal team coached by Rolland Kenny finished the season 59-18 and won the league title of the Summer Freshman baseball league with a 20-3 record. www.omahacardinals.net
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