Canadian Minor League Baseball

During 75 seasons of baseball (1946–2020), 71 teams in 21 minor leagues represented 35 Canadian cities, playing either under the aegis of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (called Minor League Baseball since 1999) or independently. Sixteen teams operated for less than a year, including the eight teams of the Canadian Baseball League of 2003. Another 14 lasted three seasons or less. Seven have played continuously for 20 years or more, among them the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the independent Northern League and American Association, with 27 consecutive seasons since 1994. Chronicling their year-by-year fortunes, this history includes accounts of individual award winners, former Negro League players and future Hall-of-Famers, and traces of the rise and fall of independent league teams and the exodus of Canadian teams to the U.S.

Jon C. Stott, a professor emeritus at the University of Alberta, has previously published works on independent baseball and the beer industry. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Jon C. Stott

Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 242
Bibliographic Info: 25 photos, appendix, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2022
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6992-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4500-1
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vii
Preface 1
Introduction 5

Part I. 1946–1951: The Minors Expand and Contract in Canada 9
1. From Jackie Robinson to Jack Kent Cooke: The International League 10
2. Canada’s Border Leagues Teams: PONY League, Border League, Western International League, Canadian-American League 22
3. Mexican Jumping Beans, Hockey Players, and Negro Leaguers: Quebec’s Provincial League 43

Part II. 1952–1977: The Lean Years 51
4. International League Departures 53
5. Vancouver’s Pacific Coast League Mounties Come and Go … and Come and Go 69
6. Canada’s Border League Teams Go South: Western International League, Provincial League, PONY League, Northern League 78
7. Struggling to Survive in the ’70s: Northern League, International League, Eastern League, Northwest League, Pioneer League 96

Part III. 1978–2020: Boom and Bust II—Independence and Survival 107
8. Another Minor League Boom in Canada, 1978–1990: Pacific Coast League, Northwest League, Pioneer League, New York–Pennsylvania League, Eastern League 110
9. Canada’s Minor League Teams Go South Again, 1991–2007: New York­–Pennsylvania League, Eastern League, International League, Pioneer League, Pacific Coast League 127
10. On Their Own: Canadian Teams in the Independent Leagues 153
11. Thriving in the ­Twenty-First Century: Vancouver Canadians, les Capitales de Quebec, Winnipeg Goldeyes 176

Conclusion 207
Appendix. Directory of Canadian Minor League and Independent League Teams by Year: 1946-2020 211
Bibliographical Essay 223
Index 229