Minor League Baseball (MiLB)
Minor League Baseball (MiLB), is the farm system for Major League Baseball (MLB). Each team in Minor League Baseball, with the exception of the Winter League teams, is affiliated with a Major League Baseball team (for example, the Pawtucket Red Sox are the Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox).
Minor League Baseball was founded in 1901 as the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL). It played its first season in 1902 with 14 leagues and 96 teams. The NAPBL formally changed its name to Minor League Baseball in 1999. Some notable milestones in MiLB history include:
- 1930 - The first night baseball game under permanent lights.
- 1933 - Joe DiMaggio had a 61 game hitting streak for San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League.
- 1946 - Jackie Robinson made his minor league debut.
- 1981 - Pawtucket and Rochester of the International League played the longest game in baseball history - a game of 33 innings.
Minor League Baseball serves several purposes:
- It is a place for Major League Teams to develop players who may eventually play in the major leagues.
- It is a place to rehabilitate Major League players coming off of the disabled list. Players can get some professional level playing time in the minors prior to rejoining their Major League team.
- It is a place for players who no longer have much of a chance of playing in Major League Baseball to finish out their careers playing the game that they love.
Minor League Baseball is organized into tiers (referred to as classes), which are:
Players move up and down the tiers depending on the fortunes of their career. Major League teams typically "call up" players from the top two tiers, Triple-A, and Double-A. They also may "send down" players from MLB to the minors to make room for other players on their roster. It is common for many players to move back and forth between the minors and the "big league" several times in a season.
There are 188 Minor League Baseball teams in North America. MiLB's all-time attendance record was set in 2004 when over 39 million people attended Minor League Baseball games. The eclipsed the record set in 1949.
Related Articles
- Eastern League Championship - Double-A Baseball's Eastern League champions since 1923.
- Governors' Cup - International League Championship - Triple-A Baseball's International League champions since 1933.
- Pacific Coast League Championship - Triple-A Baseball's Pacific Coast League champions since 1903.
Minor League Baseball News
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