The Class A Western League had folded during the
Great Depression in 1937, but with the boom in baseball attendance following World War II, it was revived in 1947 by
U.S. Senator Edwin C. Johnson of
Colorado. Lincoln was one of six cities represented in the 1947 Western League as the ''A's'', reflecting its affiliation with the
Philadelphia Athletics. The Lincoln A's moved into a new ballpark, Sherman Field, named for franchise owner
Charles "Cy" Sherman, and played for six seasons (1947–52), making the playoffs twice.
Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman Nellie Fox batted .311 for the 1948 Lincoln A's in his last season as a minor leaguer. However, in 1953 the Athletics abandoned Lincoln and were replaced by the
Milwaukee Braves, who fielded a club identified by its final nickname, the
Lincoln Chiefs. The Chiefs struggled on the field for their first three seasons, but in 1956, in the team's second year as an affiliate of the
Pittsburgh Pirates, they won the Western League's first half and playoff championships. The 1956 Chiefs, managed by
Larry Shepard, were paced by two standout performances.
First baseman Dick Stuart clubbed 66
home runs — still the fourth-most in minor league history — and also led the league with 158
runs batted in.
Pitcher Bennie Daniels, meanwhile, compiled a 15–3
win–loss record. The 1957 Chiefs repeated as Western League champions, edging out the
Amarillo Gold Sox by a single game. But the Western League was in its twilight years; plagued by declining attendance and the defection of teams such as the
Omaha Cardinals and
Denver Bears to higher-level circuits, it folded after the 1958 campaign, one in which the Chiefs placed third in the league and in home attendance. ==A Nebraska team in the Three-I League==