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.