by Mike Magers

2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Albuquerque Dukes baseball team, though the team has not been continuously in operation since 1915.  The team got its mascot’s name from from the nickname for Albuquerque, the Duke City, which in turn is derived from the early days of the city, dating back to when it was first founded by King Phillip of Spain.  Over the years, the baseball club has operated in the Class D, C and B minor league level as well as the Class A, AA and AAA level with affiliations in the Rio Grande, West Texas – New Mexico, Western Sophomore , Texas and Pacific Coast leagues and has had Major League affiliations with the New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Athletics and Los Angeles Dodgers.  The team generally enjoyed strong support once it reached A, AA and AAA levels.

A number of well known players from the big leagues have suited up for the Dukes over the years, including Burt Hooton, Candy Maldonado, Davey Lopes, Mike Marshall, Mike Piazza, Pedro Martinez, Charley Hough, Tom Paciorek, Von Joshua, Ron Cey, John Wetteland, Raul Mondesi, Paul Konerko, Orel Hershiser, Erik Karros, Mike Maddux, Chan Ho Park, Dave Stewart, Mike Scioscia, Rick Sutcliffe, Fernando Valenzuela, Jose Vizcaino, Sid Bream, Rick Rhoden, Steve Sax, Greg Gagne, Eric Young, Jose Offerman, Todd Hollandsworth, Paul Lo Duca and Larry Hisle.  Many other big league players have played with the club during rehab assignments as they were recovering from injuries.

Likewise, a number of big league skippers have managed the Dukes including Mike Scioscia, Terry Collins, Rick Dempsey, Kevin Kennedy, Bill Russell, Del Crandall and Tommy Lasorda.

The club played its first games at the State Fairgrounds.  Later they moved on to Tingley Field (10 Atlantic Ave SW) and finally in 1969 to to the newly constructed Albuquerque Sports Stadium (demolished in 2001, but formerly located on Avenida Cesar Chavez).  They remained there until the team’s final season in 2000 after which the club was sold to owners who moved it to Portland, Oregon.  The rights to the club were sold to a party who still markets logo material.  A few years later, the Isotopes were relocated from Calgary, Canada and remain there today.

Below is a recap of the Dukes’ records each year they were in Albuquerque, courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

Year	Won	Lost	Finish	Manager	Playoffs
1915	32	25	3rd	George Reed	League disbanded July 6
1942	25	30	—	Dixie Howell	(None, team withdrew June 23)
1946	55	85	6th	Jimmy Zinn
1947	74	64	3rd	Buck Fausett	Lost in 1st round
1948	88	52	1st	Hersh Martin	Lost in 1st round
1949	83	56	1st	Hersh Martin	League Champs
1950	89	58	2nd	Hersh Martin	League Champs
1951	82	60	2nd	Hersh Martin	Lost in 1st round
1952	77	65	2nd	Buck Fausett	Lost in 1st round
1953	87	55	1st	Tom Jordan	League Champs
1954	62	74	5th	Tom Jordan
1955	79	60	2nd	Eddie Bockman	Lost in 1st round
1956	59	81	7th	Bob Swift
1957	66	88	6th (t)	Nick Cullop (38-50) / Ron Shoop (2-3) / Hal Toso (26-23)
1958	71	75	5th	Jimmy Brown
1960	57	72	5th	Bert Thiel
1961	64	63	3rd	Grady Wilson	Lost League Finals
1962	70	70	3rd	Bobby Hofman	Lost in 1st round
1963	67	73	5th	Clay Bryant
1964	75	65	3rd	Clay Bryant	Lost in 1st round
1972	92	56	1st	Tommy Lasorda	League Champs
1973	62	82	8th	Stan Wasiak
1974	76	66	2nd	Stan Wasiak	Lost League Finals
1975	71	73	5th	Stan Wasiak
1976	66	78	6th	Stan Wasiak
1977	60	78	8th	James B. Williams
1978	78	62	2nd	Del Crandall	Co-Champs
1979	86	62	1st	Del Crandall	Lost in 1st round
1980	85	62	2nd	Del Crandall	League Champs
1981	94	38	1st	Del Crandall	League Champs
1982	85	58	1st	Del Crandall	League Champs
1983	85	58	2nd	Del Crandall (43-32) / Terry Collins (42-26)	Lost League Finals
1984	62	81	10th	Terry Collins
1985	67	76	6th	Terry Collins
1986	54	88	10th	Terry Collins
1987	77	65	3rd	Terry Collins	League Champs
1988	86	56	1st	Terry Collins	Lost in 1st round
1989	80	62	1st	Kevin Kennedy	Lost League Finals
1990	91	51	1st	Kevin Kennedy	League Champs
1991	80	58	1st	Kevin Kennedy
1992	65	78	8th	Bill Russell
1993	71	72	5th	Bill Russell
1994	83	56	1st	Rick Dempsey	League Champs
1995	75	69	5th	Rick Dempsey
1996	67	76	9th	Phil Regan
1997	62	79	8th	Glenn Hoffman
1998	61	82	13th	Glenn Hoffman (27-41) / Jon Debus (1-4) / Ron Roenicke (33-37)
1999	65	74	11th (t)	Mike Scioscia
2000	86	58	3rd	Tom Gamboa	Lost in 1st round