From 1884 to 1953, the International League enjoyed a measure of stability that was the envy of many other minor leagues. With franchises located in cities along the East Coast and Canada—including Newark, Toronto, Baltimore, Montreal, and Providence—the circuit produced a brand of baseball that was only a bit below that of the majors.
This is the complete, year-by-year, team-by-team statistical history of the first 70 years of the International League, from its beginnings with the Eastern League in 1854, to 1953 when longtime member Baltimore was forced to relocate its franchise to make way for a major league team. For each season, there is a brief essay that covers the league’s highlights and its champion. Full rosters for each team are then provided, with complete statistics for all players.

Award-winning author Marshall D. Wright is a sports statistician and archivist. He lives in Quincy, Massachusetts and is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and Society International of Hockey Research.

Marshall D. Wright
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 508
Bibliographic Info: tables, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2005 [1998]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2267-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1193-8
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments     ix
Introduction     xi

Prelude: Baseball Back East     1
1884: Unstable Beginnings     3
1885: Alternate Lineage     10
1886: Northern Aid     13
1887: Consolidation     20
1888: Syracuse Stars     28
1889: Stolen Base     33
1890: The Jig is Up     38
1891: Les German     42
1892: Split and Fragmented     49
1893: Stability     57
1894: Firepower     64
1895: Springfield Ponies     70
1896: Steinert Cup     76
1897: Dan Brouthers     83
1898: War Fever     89
1899: From the Ashes     94
1900: Ball and Glove     99
1901: Charter Member     104
1902: No Games Behind     109
1903: Jersey City Skeeters     115
1904: Post Season Play     121
1905: Providence Clamdiggers     127
1906: Lowest High     133
1907: Toronto Maple Leafs     139
1908: Laying One Down     145
1909: Iron Man     151
1910: No Hits, No Walks, No Errors     157
1911: Hustlers’ Trio     163
1912: New Look     169
1913: The Golden Age     175
1914: Dismantled     181
1915: Federal Invasion     187
1916: Urban Shocker     193
1917: Farewell Tour     199
1918: Sole Survivor     205
1919: Ed Onslow     213
1920: Two Horse Race     219
1921: Baltimore Orioles     225
1922: John Ogden     233
1923: Lefty Grove     241
1924: Not Quite     248
1925: Highest Bidder     255
1926: Toppled     262
1927: Buffalo Bisons     271
1928: Feather’s Breadth     279
1929: Fifteen for Fifteen     288
1930: Rip Collins     296
1931: Rochester Red Wings     304
1932: The Colonel Steps In     312
1933: Governor’s Cup     320
1934: To the Limit     328
1935: Triple Crown     336
1936: Back to Jersey     344
1937: Newark Bears     352
1938: Ollie Carnegie     360
1939: The Final Spot     368
1940: Second Time Around     376
1941: Battle Before the War     384
1942: Dynasty     392
1943: Deadball Redux     400
1944: A Buck Short     408
1945: Gray Heads and Smooth Chins     417
1946: Barriers Broken     426
1947: Bottom to Top     436
1948: Montreal Royals     444
1949: Star in Other Fields     451
1950: Choices     459
1951: Rookie of the Year     467
1952: Come from Behind     475
1953: The Move East     483
Postlude: New Cities, New Countries     491

Selected Bibliography     493
Index     495

Winner, Sporting News–SABR Baseball Research Award
“the backbone of this book…is the annual player and team statistics, which Wright has painstakingly compiled…all libraries with serious coverage of baseball history will want it”—ARBA; “thorough index…important”—Reference Reviews; “an important supplement to the standard baseball statistical compendia”—Rettig on Reference; “seasonal recaps of every I.L. campaign, with complete individual batting and pitching totals”—USA Today Sports Weekly; “provides full rosters for each team and year, with stats for every player and a brief review of the season”—The Diamond Angle.