Oklahoma City Tornadoes

The **Oklahoma City Tornadoes**are a professional baseball team affiliated with the Dalton Memorial Baseball League. Formerly the Little Rock Tornadoes, the franchise was founded in 1971, had a massively surprising "one-hit wonder" season in 1984 in which they lost the League Championship Series. and relocated to Oklahoma City in 1998.

## History

### Franchise Origins and Early Years

The Little Rock Tornadoes were conceived in 1968, when the D.M.B.L elected to form a team for the city. In 1971, the Tornadoes began play and performed the way most new teams do in their early years- pitifully. The Tornadoes performed normally for a new team and struggled to string together winning talent and seasons. This continued annually up until the 1984 season, where something magically clicked and the team defied expectation.

### The Miraculous 1984 Season

When the 1984 season dawned, baseball analysts once again predicted the Tornadoes to be in the bottom half of the standings for the western division. But, the Tornadoes somehow turned a team of no superstars into a surprising team that battled for first place from April to September. Clinching their first ever playoff berth, the experts were appalled at how this managed to happen.

In the postseason, the Tornadoes caught lightning in a bottle, winning their first four postseason games (including one in the 1984 League Championship Series). But, their luck would soon run out, as they would lose the next three games and the series.

Determined to prove this was not a fluke, the team invested in the top free agents available going into the 1985 season. But, the team proved that their success was indeed a fluke, as they fell back into the cellar of the western division, where they stayed.

### Final Years in Little Rock

The late 1980's and 1990's were a time of turmoil for the Tornadoes. The managerial position seemed to be a kiss of death. High profile talent refused to play for this lackluster team. Worst of all, attendance was dropping and fast. Fans preferred to attend Arkansas Razorbacks college basketball and football games than watch the lowly Tornadoes struggle. Perenially losing 100 games, rumors began to circulate in 1994 that the franchise would relocate. With a poor budget, whispers began to grow louder in 1995 and the team officially announced their plans for relocation in January of 1996.

The team would play two more years in Arkansas and fans were mostly indifferent to the situation. Those who were die hard fans compared going to Tornado games to visiting a terminally ill family member. But, they would breathe a sigh of relief when the announcement was made that they would be relocating to the close in proximity Oklahoma City.

### Relocation and Early Years in Oklahoma

Beginning in the 1998 season, the Oklahoma City Tornadoes began play. Fans in Oklahoma packed their stadium from 1998-2004 when the novelty of baseball was still fresh in the minds of fans. But, the consistently average or below average Tornadoes began to convince casual fans not to come to games, even when their were faint glimmers of hope that the team would turn the corner. Only having two winning seasons from 1998-2014, the Tornadoes' efforts of bringing in winning baseball have failed to date and are determined to treat their longtime fans with success.

In those early years in Oklahoma, the team did develop one positive thing- the franchise's first superstar. Woodrow Harris came to the team as a rookie in 2009 and has easily been their best player. Winning an MVP award in 2011 and 2014, fans were in awe of Woodrow's talents despite how poorly his team played. He has been the sole reason people discuss the team positively and has helped baseball grow in Oklahoma.

## Reputation

The Tornadoes are viewed as a pushover by the rest of baseball. Die hard baseball fans feel sympathy for fellow fans from Little Rock based on the fact that they los their team. But, to the average fan, the Tornadoes have a weak franchise that is unable to find success. Unable to replicate their 1984 season into a dynasty, baseball historians view the Tornadoes as a team that couldn't turn their cinderella season into annual winners.

## Notable Players

These are the most notable players in Tornadoes franchise history

**Woodrow Harris: Right Fielder:** The first dominant player to play for the Tornadoes, his young age did not stop him from being the clear best player in the early years of the Oklahoma City Tornadoes as he won the MVP award in 2011 and 2014 despite his teammates being less than extraordinary.

## Uniforms

The home uniform for the Tornadoes seen here being worn by Woodrow Harris (credit to Everybody Hates Chris)The road uniform for the Tornadoes resembles this Las Vegas 51's minor league baseball road uniform seen here being worn by Noah SyndergaardThis alternate uniform for the Tornadoes resembles this uniform of Korea's Nexen Heroes seen here being worn by Andy Van HekkenThis other alternate uniform for the Tornadoes resembles the 2012 MLB All-Star Game's National League uniform worn in this picture by Bryan LaHair
## Trivia

* The logo for the Tornadoes was made with http://www.clker.com/cliparts/6/4/q/T/b/H/mmm-md.png and http://theartmad.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Baseball-Clipart-3.png
* The picture with the home uniform is from "Everybody Hates Chris"