The All-American Association was an independent minor league that existed in the southern United States in 2001. Total attendance in 2001 was 200,970. The league folded after the end of the season and four of the league's six teams joined other leagues. The Fort Worth Cats and Tyler Roughnecks joined the Central Baseball League (Tyler relocated to Jackson, Mississippi in January 2002 and became the Jackson Senators ). The Baton Rouge Blue Marlins (renamed " River Bats ") and Montgomery Wings joined the Southeastern League .
16-741: Semifinals (best-of-3) 2001 All-American Association Championship Series (best-of-5) Independent baseball This article related to a baseball league, competition or tournament is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Independent baseball An independent baseball league is a professional baseball league in the United States or Canada that is not overseen by Major League Baseball or its affiliated Minor League Baseball system (historically referred to as organized baseball ). Independent leagues have flourished in northeastern states, where dense populations can often support multiple franchises . Because they are not subject to
32-590: A level considered major league from 1914 to 1915. Few independent leagues existed between 1915 and 1993. Major exceptions included the Carolina League and the Quebec -based Provincial League . The Carolina League, based in the North Carolina Piedmont region, gained a reputation as a notorious "outlaw league" during its existence from 1936 to 1938. The Provincial League fielded six teams across Quebec and
48-529: A variety of independent semi-professional leagues consisting of industrial teams , where the players are regular employees of the company that own the team and are additionally paid to play baseball for the company on the side. South Korea also has series of small independent leagues. Additionally, as of 2024, two Japanese teams without affiliation to NPB teams play within NPB's minor leagues (the Eastern League and
64-749: The MLB Draft League , which operates as an amateur collegiate summer baseball league in the first half of each season and a professional league outside of the structure of Minor League Baseball for the remainder. Independent baseball leagues and teams exist outside of North America, though rarer. In Japan, the Japan Independent Baseball League Organization, which consists of the Shikoku Island League Plus and Baseball Challenge League , operates independently from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Japan also has
80-519: The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum , Tim Raines and Rickey Henderson . Gary Carter , another Hall of Famer, managed in the league. The Atlantic League has had many notable managers and coaches, including Wally Backman , Frank Viola , Tommy John , Sparky Lyle , and Bud Harrelson . The Northern League alumni include Leon "Bull" Durham , J. D. Drew , and Darryl Strawberry . Independent leagues are those professional leagues in
96-549: The Western League ). Similarly, within KBO Futures League , the minor league of Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), there is an unaffiliated team that consists only of South Korean military personnel . A select number of Japanese independent teams also participate in the off-season Miyazaki Phoenix League alongside Japanese and Korean minor league teams. Carolina League (1936%E2%80%9338) The Carolina League
112-708: The Carolina League while on hiatus from Major League Baseball . In addition, the NAPBL combatted the insurgent influence of the Carolina League by installing an eight-team class-D league, the North Carolina State League in towns near Carolina League teams. The league folded in 1938 due to pressure from "organized" baseball, and many of the league's players went on to play in NABPL leagues, with some, such as Dick Culler and Grey Clarke going on to achieve prominence in
128-716: The National Association after one season of independence. Notable exceptions were the California League , which was independent in 1902 and from 1907 to 1909; the United States Baseball League , which folded during its independent 1912 season; and the Colonial League, a National Association Member that went independent in 1915 and then folded. Another independent league, the Federal League , played at
144-522: The Northern League's success paved the way for other independent leagues like the Texas-Louisiana League and Northeast League . Over the next eight years, at least 16 independent leagues formed, of which six existed in 2002. As of the 2024 season, there are seven active leagues, with four of them acting as MLB Partner Leagues . Additionally, Major League Baseball co-operatively operates
160-459: The United States and Canada not under the purview of organized Minor League Baseball and the Commissioner of Baseball. Independent baseball existed in the early 20th century and has become prominent again since 1993. Leagues operated mostly autonomously before 1902, when the majority joined the NAPBL. From then until 1915, a total of eight new and existing leagues remained independent. Most joined
176-491: The short-lived 1935 Carolina Textile League . The league's independent status led to the league being branded as an "outlaw" league by supporters of the NAPBL, and the league's practice of allowing players to freely leave their contracts to play for teams in other leagues, was unorthodox at the time. Additionally, players on various teams were often given year-round no-show jobs in the team owners' various mills with salaries that supplemented their earnings from baseball. There
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#1733086222760192-645: The territorial limitations imposed on affiliated minor-league teams, independent clubs can relocate as close to affiliated teams (and one another) as they choose to. For example, the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania , cannot have an affiliated team because of its proximity to the Harrisburg Senators and Reading Fightin Phils , leaving the Atlantic League to place a team—the Lancaster Barnstormers —to fill
208-714: The void. Another example is the greater New York City metropolitan area, where there are many independent teams: the Long Island Ducks , Staten Island FerryHawks , New Jersey Jackals , New York Boulders , and Sussex County Miners . The Atlantic League considered as the top level of competition among the independent leagues, and has had more marquee players than any other independent league, including Jose Canseco , Mat Latos , Steve Lombardozzi Jr. , Francisco Rodríguez , Chien-Ming Wang , Roger Clemens , Rich Hill , Scott Kazmir , Juan González , John Rocker , and Dontrelle Willis . Two former Atlantic League players are in
224-511: Was an "outlaw" professional baseball league in the Piedmont region of North Carolina . Drawing from the textile mills and milling towns in that region, the league was independent, meaning that it was not a part of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues , the body that governed minor-league baseball during the league's lifetime. The Carolina League was the successor to
240-425: Was independent from 1948 to 1949. Similarly to early 20th-century independent leagues, it joined the National Association in 1950, playing for six more years. Independent leagues saw new growth after 1992, after the new Professional Baseball Agreement in organized baseball instituted more stringent revenue and stadium requirements on members. The Northern League and Frontier League both started play in 1993, and
256-583: Was no cap to salaries for Carolina League players, and there were no limits to how many players with professional experience could play on any given team, a sharp difference from previous "mill leagues". This added incentive caused several players in NABPL leagues to moonlight as Carolina League players, often under assumed names. When caught by NABPL officials, moonlighting players were often banned from play in NAPBL leagues, effectively putting on hold or ending their professional careers. Professional players such as Fred Archer and Vince Barton did stints with
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