Eastern League (baseball, 1916–32)

The Eastern League of 1916 through the mid-season of 1932 was an American minor baseball league and the third of four circuits to use the Eastern League name since the 19th century. The successor to an early 20th-century edition of the New England League, it is not related to the current Eastern League, which formed in 1938 from the former New York-Pennsylvania League, or the current International League, which was known as the Eastern League from 1892 through 1911.

The Eastern League of 1916–1932 was a mid- to higher classification league, beginning in 1916 as a Class B circuit and upgraded to Class A in 1919. Its president, Tim Murnane, a former sportswriter, and many of its original member clubs were inherited from the New England League, which ceased operation in 1915. While most of its teams were centered in New England and upstate New York, in its later years the Eastern League admitted teams from Pennsylvania and Virginia. The league consisted of eight teams annually during its existence. The New Haven franchise, owned and operated by George Weiss from 1919–1929, won four of its 17 championships — though under multiple nicknames. Weiss would go on to a Baseball Hall of Fame career as a top executive with the New York Yankees.

This edition of the Eastern League collapsed during the nadir of the Great Depression on July 17, 1932.

Member teams

  • Albany Empires
  • Albany Senators (Champions, 1927, 29)
  • Allentown Buffaloes
  • Allentown Dukes (Champions, 1930)
  • Bridgeport Americans
  • Bridgeport Bears
  • Bridgeport Hustlers
  • Fitchburg Foxes
  • Fitchburg-Worcester Boosters
  • Hartford Senators (Champions, 1923, 31)
  • Haverhill Orphans
  • Lawrence Barristers
  • Lewiston Red Sox
  • Lewiston-Auburn Twins

References