Los Angeles Dodgers Lockheed L-188 Electra II

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The Lockheed L-188 Electra is an American turboprop airliner built by Lockheed. First flown in 1957, it was the first large turboprop airliner built in the United States. The airplane had airfield performance capabilities unmatched by many jet transport aircraft particularly on short runways and high field elevations. The Model 188 Electra is a low-wing cantilever monoplane powered by four wing-mounted Allison 501-D13 turboprops. It has a retractable tricycle landing gear and a conventional tail. It has a cockpit crew of three and can carry 66 to 80 passengers in a mixed-class arrangement. When jet airliners began replacing turboprops, many of the Electras were modified into freighters. To this day, there are Electras still being used in various roles well into the 21st century.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn, which in 1898 became a borough of New York City, the team joined the NL in 1890 as the Brooklyn Bridegrooms and assumed several other monikers before finally settling on the name Dodgers in 1932. After 68 seasons in Brooklyn, Dodgers owner and president Walter O’Malley relocated the franchise to Los Angeles before the 1958 season

The Albuquerque Dukes were a minor league baseball team based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Dukes returned to Albuquerque in 1960 and began playing as an affiliate for the Kansas City Athletics
In 1962 the Kansas City management decided to move the team to the Double-A Texas League, but dropped the team at the end of the season. This gave the Los Angeles Dodgers an opportunity to begin what would end becoming a 47-year relationship with the club in 1963, and changed the name to the Albuquerque Dodgers in 1965. In 1969, the team moved from Tingley Field to the Albuquerque Sports Stadium, a fully modern facility on the south edge of town, near the University of New Mexico South Campus area.

In 1972, the Dukes name was revived and the team moved up to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. The Dodgers transferred the Spokane Indians to Albuquerque after the 1971 season. With future Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda at the helm, the Dukes amassed a 92–58 record and won the PCL championship, the first of eight for the franchise which lasted until 2000. When the Dukes left Albuquerque in 2000, there was no replacement team waiting. Finally, in 2003, the Calgary Cannons were moved to Albuquerque as the Albuquerque Isotopes, as the Triple-A affiliate of the Florida Marlins. In 2009, the Isotopes then became an affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers which reunited Albuquerque’s relationship with the Dodgers. This lasted until 2014 and by the 2015 season the Isotopes were made the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.

The Albuquerque Dukes baseball team, a Triple-A farm team of the Los Angeles Dodgers, used the team’s Lockheed L-188 Electra aircraft whenever possible during the 1969 baseball season. When the Electra was not available, the Dukes had to use commercial air travel primarily on Texas International Airlines. The model kit for this Electra model was a giveaway at one of the Albuquerque Dukes home games.

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