Western League (1900–1958): Difference between revisions

The league's longest-serving franchise was located in [[Des Moines, Iowa]], which joined the WL in 1900 and played continuously through 1937, when the league shut down during the [[Great Depression]]. Des Moines then rejoined the reborn Western circuit when [[Colorado]] [[United States Senator|Senator]] [[Edwin C. Johnson]] from [[Colorado]] founded it in 1947; this team, a [[Chicago Cubs]] affiliate called the ''[[Des Moines Bruins]]'', then played for the final 12 years of the league's

Minor Leagueleague baseball went unclassified through 1901. From 1902 until 1911, Class A was the highest level in the minor leagues. In 1912, a new top tier, Class AA, was created; in 1936, a second tier, Class A1, came into being. One year later, the existing Western League disbanded after it ended the 1937 season with only five teams, the [[Rock Island Islanders]], disbanded on July 7. Then, in 1946, the Class AA leagues were renamed AAA, and the A1 loops were renamed AA. Thus the Western League – whose clubs were actually located in the Great Plains, Rocky Mountain States, the Upper Midwest and the Upper Southwest – was a top-level minor league until 1911, then two levels below [[Major League Baseball]] through 1935, and three steps removed in 1936–37 and when it was revived in [[1947 in sports|1947]] during the post-war minor league baseball boom. For several years in the 1910s, the Western League champion played a postseason series against the champion of the Class AA American Association for supremacy of the central states.

*[[Council Bluffs Rails]] {{small|(1935)}}

The new Western League formed as a Class B league in 1900. Charter teams were the: [[Denver Grizzlies (baseball)|Denver Grizzlies]], [[Des Moines Hawkeyes]], [[Omaha Omahogs]], [[Pueblo Indians (baseball)|Pueblo Indians]], [[Sioux City Cornhuskers]] and [[St. Joseph Saints]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/league.cgi?id=bc55b9c1|title=1900 Western League|website=Baseball-Reference.com}}</ref>

The League did not operate from 1942 - 1946. It returned in 1947 and regained its Class A Status.<ref name="encyc">{{cite book |title=The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball |otherseditor1-first=Lloyd |editor1-last=Johnson & |editor2-first=Miles |editor2-last=Wolff, editors |edition=Third |publisher=[[Baseball America]] |date=2007 |isbn=978-1932391176}}</ref>

|[[Sioux City Soos]]||63||76||.453||11.5||125,356||[[Don Ramsay (baseball)|Don Ramsay]]

|} No Playoffs held.