South Atlantic League
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| South Atlantic League | |
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| Sport | Baseball |
| Founded | 1980 |
| No. of teams | 16 |
| Country |  United States |
| Current champions | Lakewood BlueClaws |
| Official website | Official Website |
The South Atlantic League, or "Sally League," is a minor league baseball league which operates mostly in the southeastern United States, although it now has teams in New Jersey and Ohio. It is a Class A league that plays a full season; its players are typically a mixture of newly-signed draftees (especially late in the season) and players promoted from rookie leagues.
There have been different South Atlantic Leagues in the history of minor league baseball, spanning from 1904 to the present with a few breaks. The Sally ran from 1904-1917 as a class C league, then started up again in 1919, also class C. This time it ran from 1919-1930, moving up to class B beginning in 1921. William Bramham became league president in mid 1924, and served until 1930. The Sally league was re-started again as a class B from 1936-1942, shut down for the war and returned in 1946 as a class A league. The AA Southern Association (which never integrated) died after the 1961 season and so the SAL was promoted to AA in 1963 to take its place; a year later the name was changed to the Southern League. Out of the 51 seasons of operation, Augusta, GA competed in 46, Macon, GA was around for 46, and Columbia, SC was in 45. Charleston, SC, Jacksonville, FL, Savannah, GA, and Columbus, GA each competed for at least 29 years also, making for a relatively stable line-up.
The South Atlantic League name went unused for 16 years - in 1980 the Western Carolinas League brought back the name when it sought to change its identity. Currently, the league has sixteen teams, divided into two divisions of eight clubs.
The SAL had the highest attendance in 101 years with over 3,541,992 fans. In fact, minor league baseball set a second straight attendance record in 2005 with 41,333,279 fans.
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[edit] Current teams
The league is divided into a Northern Division and a Southern Division. Current member teams and stadiums are:
[edit] Heritage: The Former 'Sally League'
The current Class A South Atlantic League came into being in 1980 as the successor to the former Western Carolinas League.
The original SAL - often called the "Sally League" - was a higher-classification circuit that played from 1904-17, 1919-30, 1936-42 and 1946-63. The old Sally League grew from Class C status to class B (through 1942), then Class A (until 1962). In its final season, it was elevated to AA. The Sally League then morphed into the current AA Southern League in 1964 and the South Atlantic League name disappeared from the minor league baseball rolls through the end of the 1979 season.
[edit] Western Carolinas League / South Atlantic League teams
Since 1960:
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[edit] Notable alumni
- Hank Aaron
- Walter Alston
- Sparky Anderson
- Steve Carlton
- Roger Clemens
- Ty Cobb
- Carlos Delgado
- Bob Gibson
- Vladimir Guerrero
- Ryan Howard
- Tommy Lasorda
- Eddie Murray
- Phil Niekro
- Mariano Rivera
- Frank Robinson
- Nolan Ryan
- C.C. Sabathia
- Enos Slaughter
- Willie Stargell
[edit] External links
| South Atlantic League | ||
| Northern Division | Southern Division | |
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| Delmarva Shorebirds | Hagerstown Suns | Hickory Crawdads | Kannapolis Intimidators | Lake County Captains | Lakewood BlueClaws | Lexington Legends | West Virginia Power | Asheville Tourists | Augusta GreenJackets |Charleston RiverDogs | Columbus Catfish | Greensboro Grasshoppers | Greenville Drive | Rome Braves | Savannah Sand Gnats | |
