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American Association of Professional Baseball
Baseball league From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by organized baseball (Major League Baseball teams or their minor league affiliates). The league's level of play is comparable to High-A in organized baseball.[2] League offices are located in Moorhead, Minnesota, and Joshua Schaub is the current league commissioner. Though a separate legal entity, the league shared a commissioner and director of umpires with the Can-Am League during the latter league's existence. The American Association of Professional Baseball has 501(c)(6) tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service.[3] In 2020, as part of MLB's reorganization of the minor leagues, the American Association, Atlantic League, and Frontier League became official MLB Partner Leagues, joining MLB in promoting the sport across North America, particularly in areas not served by organized baseball.[4]
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History
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The American Association (AA) was founded in October 2005 when the St. Paul Saints, Lincoln Saltdogs, Sioux City Explorers, and Sioux Falls Canaries announced they were leaving the Northern League. Around the same time, the Central Baseball League announced it was disbanding after four seasons; the league's Fort Worth Cats, Shreveport-Bossier Sports, Pensacola Pelicans, Coastal Bend Aviators, and El Paso Diablos joined the four former Northern League teams and the expansion St. Joe Blacksnakes to form the AA as a ten-team league. The new league began play in 2006, with a 96-game schedule, since expanded to 100 games.
2008 saw the AA lose the Blacksnakes and Aviators, with the Grand Prairie AirHogs and Wichita Wingnuts joining in their place. Following the 2010 season, four more Northern League franchises (the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, Gary SouthShore RailCats, Kansas City T-Bones, and Winnipeg Goldeyes) left the Northern League as its stability came into question and joined the AA. In 2011 and 2012 the league went through a significant shift. Fort Worth had its membership revoked and moved to the North American League, while Shreveport and Pensacola both relocated. The Pelicans moved to Amarillo, Texas, and became the Amarillo Sox (later the Amarillo Thunderheads) while Shreveport, who had changed their name to the Shreveport-Bossier Captains, moved to Laredo, Texas and became the Laredo Lemurs. The AA also reorganized into North, Central, and South Divisions; Fargo-Moorhead, Sioux Falls, St. Paul, and Winnipeg comprised the North, Gary SouthShore, Kansas City, Lincoln, Sioux City, and Wichita the Central, and Amarillo, El Paso, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, and Shreveport the South Division. The top finishers in each of the three divisions earned automatic playoff berths, with the team with the next-best record that was not a division winner receiving a wild card spot.
For the 2012 season, the AA began interleague play with the Can-Am League.[5] The two leagues were both headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, and both had Miles Wolff as their commissioner. This was similar to interleague play in MLB, but the AA and Can-Am League were separate legal entities and had separate playoffs and championships.
At the end of the 2013 season, due to the Tucson Padres relocating to El Paso, the Diablos suspended operations. The team was eventually revived and relocated, operating as the Joplin Blasters in the South Division. The Blasters ceased operations after the conclusion of the 2016 season.
On November 19, 2015, Miles Wolff announced that there would no longer be interleague play. It also was announced that the AA would become a 12-team league, with the Amarillo Thunderheads and Grand Prairie AirHogs operating as a joint team called the Texas AirHogs, playing 25 games in Amarillo and 25 games in Grand Prairie [6][7] Shortly before the 2017 season, the Laredo Lemurs withdrew from the league.[8] They were temporarily replaced by the Salina Stockade from the Pecos League for the season. The AirHogs played in Grand Prairie full-time in 2017, and the Cleburne Railroaders joined the league the same season.
The Chicago Dogs joined the league in 2018 [9] The league, now composed of twelve teams, again realigned, with Chicago, Fargo-Moorhead, Gary SouthShore, Sioux Falls, St. Paul, and Winnipeg in the North Division, and Cleburne, Kansas City, Lincoln, Sioux City, Texas, and Wichita in the South Division. The Milwaukee Milkmen joined for 2019, replacing the Wichita Wingnuts, which folded in large part due to the demolition of Lawrence-Dumont Stadium and their eventual replacement by the affiliated Wichita Wind Surge.
In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league announced that 6 of its 12 clubs would play an abbreviated 60-game season beginning on July 3, 2020.[10] Five stadiums were used for gameplay: Sioux Falls Stadium (hosting the Sioux Falls Canaries and St. Paul Saints during July), Newman Outdoor Field (hosting the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks and Winnipeg Goldeyes), Franklin Field (hosting the Milwaukee Milkmen), Impact Field (hosting the Chicago Dogs), and CHS Field (hosting the St. Paul Saints beginning in August). Players from non-participating teams had the opportunity to be drafted by one of the six active clubs. A limited number of fans were allowed to attend games, in accordance with local government guidelines and restrictions.
The 2021 season saw the league lose both the AirHogs, who dropped out of the league,[11] and the Saints, who moved to affiliated ball as the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.[12] Joining the league in 2021 were the Kane County Cougars, who were dropped from affiliated ball during the 2021 minor league reorganization,[13] as well as the Houston Apollos, who were a traveling team for the 2021 campaign.[14]
In May 2021, the league announced the approval of Lake Country Baseball, based in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, as a new member of the league starting in 2022. Construction commenced later that summer on a new stadium and multi-use indoor sports facility, which opened for play on May 20, 2022, as Wisconsin Brewing Company Park.[15] The team selected the name Lake Country DockHounds, after hosting an online name the team contest.[16]
With the DockHounds joining the league for the 2022 season, the AA again realigned its divisions. Going away from the prior North/South divisions, the league decided to go with East/West divisions. The league placed Chicago, Cleburne, Gary SouthShore, Kane County, Lake Country, and Milwaukee in the East Division; and Fargo-Moorhead, Kansas City, Lincoln, Sioux City, Sioux Falls, and Winnipeg in the West Division. The league also changed the playoff format. The top four teams in each division make the playoffs, and the team in each division with the best record is allowed to choose their first-round opponent from the remaining three division teams.[17]
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Business model
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The AA typically recruits college and former major and minor league players. Some former college players who join the AA chose not to enter or were not picked in the MLB draft, but want to continue to play professionally, be seen by major league scouts, and possibly get signed by MLB organizations. Former affiliated-league players that played at all levels of organized baseball sometimes join the AA after being released, injured, or having other circumstances as a way to be seen by scouts from MLB organizations and potentially be re-signed. For example, David Peralta was signed in 2004 as a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, but suffered injuries and was released in 2009. He resurrected his career as an outfielder with teams such as the AA's Wichita Wingnuts and Amarillo Sox in 2012 and 2013, then became a starting outfielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Other former MLB players join the AA to stay involved in baseball after their MLB career, often as coaches and managers.
Players
Rosters are limited to 25 players. A maximum of six may be veterans, and minimum of five must be rookies or LS-1. Of the remaining players, a maximum of six may be LS-4, and up to two of the LS-4 players may have LS-5 status.[18]
Rookie: A player with less than one year of service.
LS-1: A player with fewer than two years of service.
LS-2: A player with fewer than three years of service.
LS-3: A player with fewer than four years of service.
LS-4: A player with fewer than five years of service.
LS-5: A player with less than 6 years of service.
Veteran: A player with six or more years of service. If a player has six or more years of service but has not reached the age of 26 by September 1 of that season, he will be considered an LS-4, while if he has not reached the age of 24 by September 1 of that season, he will be considered an LS-3.[19]
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Teams
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Map of teams
Current teams
League timeline
League members Former Team Other League
Former teams
- Amarillo Thunderheads – originally called the Amarillo Sox; merged with the Grand Prairie AirHogs prior to the 2016 season and changed name to Texas AirHogs
- Coastal Bend Aviators – founding member of the league, originally from Central Baseball League; folded after 2007
- El Paso Diablos – suspended operations after the 2013 season to make way for the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas; tesumed operations in 2015 as the Joplin Blasters
- Fort Worth Cats – founding member of the league; its membership was revoked on October 26, 2011, after it failed to provide the league with a letter of credit[20] Moved to the North American League, then United League Baseball, then later folded
- Houston Apollos - travelling team from the Pecos League brought in for the 2021 season
- Joplin Blasters – folded following the 2016 season
- Laredo Lemurs – folded following the 2016 season
- Pensacola Pelicans – founding member of league originally from Central Baseball League; later became the Amarillo Sox
- St. Joe Blacksnakes – founding member of league; folded after 2007
- St. Paul Saints – founding member of the league; became the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins following the 2020 season, joining the International League
- Salina Stockade – moved to the Can-Am League as a partial-schedule traveling team following the 2017 season
- Shreveport-Bossier Captains – moved to Laredo, Texas, to become Laredo Lemurs
- Texas AirHogs – did not play the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic; folded after the season
- Wichita Wingnuts – suspended operations following the 2018 season as their ballpark was to be demolished to make way for a new ballpark and the Double-A Wichita Wind Surge; many players and staff members were transferred to the pre-existing Cleburne Railroaders for the 2019 season and beyond
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Champions
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All-Star Game
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The AA hosted an annual All-Star Game from 2006 to 2010 and has continued to do so intermittently since then. The league's first All-Star game was played in El Paso, Texas, on July 18, 2006, which pitted a team of AA 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, except for the 2017 edition, which featured another tilt against the Can-Am League. There was no All-Star game held in 2011-2013, 2015, 2018, 2020, or 2021.
Game results
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Player of the Year
- 2006 – Pichi Balet, (Lincoln Saltdogs)
- 2007 – Jorge Alvarez, (El Paso Diablos)
- 2008 – Beau Torbert, (Sioux Falls Canaries)
- 2009 – Greg Porter, (Wichita Wingnuts)
- 2010 – Beau Torbert, (Sioux Falls Canaries)
- 2011 – Lee Cruz, (Amarillo Sox)
- 2012 – Nic Jackson, (Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks)
- 2013 – C. J. Ziegler, (Wichita Wingnuts)
- 2014 – Brent Clevlen, (Wichita Wingnuts)
- 2015 – Vinny DiFazio, (St. Paul Saints)
- 2016 – Nate Samson, (Sioux City Explorers)
- 2017 – Josh Romanski, (Winnipeg Goldeyes)
- 2018 – Jose Sermo, (Sioux City Explorers)
- 2019 – Keon Barnum, (Chicago Dogs)
- 2020 – Adam Brett Walker II, (Milwaukee Milkmen)
- 2021 – Adam Brett Walker II, (Milwaukee Milkmen)
- 2022 – Max Murphy, (Winnipeg Goldeyes)
- 2023 – Chris Herrmann, (Kansas City Monarchs)
- 2024 – Jacob Teter (Chicago Dogs)
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League attendance
*Limited attendance due to COVID-19 pandemic. **60 game schedule with 6 teams due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Attendance records
Season: 413,482, St. Paul, 2016
Game: 13,406, El Paso, July 4, 2011[19]
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See also
References
External links
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