Take a trip back to the 90's with the Abilene Prairie Dogs!
Every Thursday during the season, the Abilene Flying Bison play as the Abilene Prairie Dogs as a nod to the team that came before us. Whether at home or on the road, the boys don their Prairie Dogs uniforms for Throwback Thursday and take it back to the 90’s. THURSDAYS ARE FOR THE DOGS.
You can even see one of the original Prairie Dogs mascots, Grounder, when we’re at home at the friendly confines of Crutcher Scott Field!
The original Prairie Dogs are a team that our community holds near and dear to their hearts. When the Flying Bison were first founded, we had a ‘name the team’ contest where fans could suggest possible team names. We got quite a few suggestions to call ourselves the Prairie Dogs. Although we wanted to carve our own path in Abilene’s storied baseball history, we heard what the fans were saying: that the Prairie Dogs meant something to our (future) fans and community.
From there we heard stories of nostalgia. Of fans going to Dogs games with their grandparents. Of people who still had giveaways from the 90’s nestled safely, if not a bit forgotten, in their garage. And because of that, we decided to play as the Abilene Prairie Dogs every Thursday starting during the 2025 season and continuing on to today.
Since our first Throwback Thursday as the Dogs, fans have shown up and shown out for the team that helped shape many of their childhoods and helped make many of them baseball fans. We’ve seen baseballs from the 90s, original newspaper articles, and pictures from when the Dogs were playing at Crutcher Scott Field 30 years ago. Everything has come full circle.
About the original Abilene Prairie Dogs
The original Abilene Prairie Dogs were an independent professional baseball team in the Texas–Louisiana League from 1995 to 1999, and won a championship in 1996. For those 5 years, the Dogs played at Crutcher Scott Field at Abilene Christian University.
The Prairie Dogs then returned for one season in the North American League in 2012, playing at Walt Driggers Field at McMurry University. The team hoped to return in 2014, but unfortunately did not. It was not until 2025 that the Prairie Dogs made their return.
