American Association of Independent Professional Baseball

American Association

American Association logo
Sport Baseball
Founded 2006
No. of teams 14
Country(ies) United States
Canada
Most recent champion(s) Grand Prairie AirHogs
Most titles Fort Worth Cats (2)
Official website Official website

The American Association of Independent Professional Baseball,[1] based in Durham, North Carolina, is a professional baseball league founded in 2005 and independent of Major League Baseball (MLB). It operates in the Northern, Midwestern and Southeastern United States and the Canadian province of Manitoba, mostly in cities not served by MLB teams or their minor league affiliates.

Miles Wolff is the league's commissioner.

Contents

History

The American Association was founded in October 2005 when Northern League teams left that league. Following the folding of the Central Baseball League, five teams from that league joined with the four former Northern League franchises, and to even things out an expansion team was placed in St. Joseph, Missouri. The league began play in 2006, with a 96-game schedule. The Fort Worth Cats defeated the St. Paul Saints 3 games to 2, to win the first league championship. The same two teams met for the 2007 title, with exactly the same result. In 2008, the Sioux Falls Canaries won the league championship series 3 games to 1 over the Grand Prairie AirHogs.

Current franchises

American Association of Independent Professional Baseball
Division Team Founded City Stadium Capacity
North
Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks 1996 Fargo, North Dakota Newman Outdoor Field 4,513
St. Paul Saints 1993 Saint Paul, Minnesota Midway Stadium 6,069
Sioux Falls Pheasants 1993 Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls Stadium 4,500
Winnipeg Goldeyes 1994 Winnipeg, Manitoba Shaw Park 7,481
Division Team Founded City Stadium Capacity
Central Gary SouthShore RailCats 2002 Gary, Indiana U.S. Steel Yard 6,139
Kansas City T-Bones 2003 Kansas City, Kansas CommunityAmerica Ballpark 6,537
Lincoln Saltdogs 2001 Lincoln, Nebraska Haymarket Park 8,000
Sioux City Explorers 1993 Sioux City, Iowa Lewis and Clark Park 3,631
Wichita Wingnuts 2008 Wichita, Kansas Lawrence-Dumont Stadium 6,400
Division Team Founded City Stadium Capacity
South Amarillo Sox 2010 Amarillo, Texas Amarillo National Bank Sox Stadium 8,500
El Paso Diablos 2005 El Paso, Texas Cohen Stadium 9,725
Grand Prairie AirHogs 2007 Grand Prairie, Texas QuikTrip Park 5,445
Laredo Lemurs 2012 Laredo, Texas Uni-Trade Stadium 6,000
Shreveport-Bossier Captains 2003 Shreveport, Louisiana Fair Grounds Field 4,300

Former teams

Champions

All-star game

The American Association has hosted an annual All-Star Game since its inception. The venue changes annually. The league's first All-Star game was played in El Paso, Texas on July 18, 2006, which pit a team of American Association All-Stars against an All-Star team from the Can-Am League. Its current format pits the all-stars from each division against each other. There was no All Star game in 2011.

Game results
Most Valuable Players

See also

References

  1. ^ "League History". American Association of Independent Professional Baseball official website. http://www.americanassociationbaseball.com/office-history.php. Retrieved 2011-11-23. 
  2. ^ http://www.americanassociationbaseball.com/cgi-bin/dist/news_new.cgi?id=1319646773

External links

American Association of Independent Professional Baseball
Annual events: All-Star Game · Championship