Defunct League Bags
Description: Minor league baseball teams were based in Leavenworth, Kansas in various seasons between 1886 and 1949. Leavenworth teams played as members of the Western League (1886–1888), Kansas State League (1895), Missouri Valley League (1903–1904) and Western Association (1905–1907, 1946–1949). Leavenworth played in the 1907 Western Association as the Leavenworth Convicts. The moniker corresponds to Leavenworth being home of the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, which opened in 1903. The 1907 Leavenworth Convicts finished 29–108, placing a distant eighth in the Western Association, 71.0 games out of first place. The team folded following the 1907 season.
Description: The Miami Beach Flamingos were a professional minor league baseball team based in Miami Beach, Florida periodically from 1940 until 1954. The team played its home games at Flamingo Field and was a member of the Class D Florida East Coast League as the Miami Beach Tigers in 1940. The following season they changed their nickname to the Flamingos and won the league's championship. The FECL the then folded in May 1942 due to World War II. After the War, the Flamingos joined the new Class C Florida International League in 1946. The league became Class-B in 1949. The Flamingos played the 1952 season, sat-out 1953, and rejoined in 1954 only to move across Biscayne Bay and relocate to Miami as the Miami Beach Flamingos/Greater Miami Flamingos.
Description: Celebrate the rich legacy of the Eastern Colored League (ECL) with a design that honors early Black baseball history. Founded in 1923, the ECL was one of the two major Negro leagues of the 1920s, featuring legendary teams like the Hilldale Club, Brooklyn Royal Giants, and Baltimore Black Sox. It was home to pioneers like Biz Mackey, Judy Johnson, and Oscar Charleston, and played a vital role in organizing the first Negro League World Series.
Description: The Giants began as the second baseball club founded by millionaire tobacconist John B. Day and veteran amateur baseball player Jim Mutrie. The Gothams, as the Giants were originally known, entered the National League seven years after its 1876 formation, in 1883, while their other club, the Metropolitans played in the rival American Association. Nearly half of the original Gothams players were members of the disbanded Troy Trojans in upstate New York, whose place in the National League the Gothams inherited. While the Metropolitans were initially the more successful club, after they won the 1884 AA championship, Day and Mutrie began moving star players to the NL Gothams, whose fortunes improved while the Metropolitans' afterwards slumped.
Description: The Idaho Falls Spuds were the first minor league baseball team based in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Playing from 1926 to 1928, the Spuds played as members of the Class C level Utah-Idaho League, winning league championships in 1926 and 1927 and hosting home games at Highland Park. The Idaho Falls Spuds were followed by the Idaho Falls Russets, who joined the Pioneer League in 1940. Today, the Idaho Falls Chukars franchise continues play in the Pioneer League.
Description: The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they played for 52 years as the St. Louis Browns. After the 1953 season, the team moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where it became the Baltimore Orioles. As of April 2023, there are only three living former St. Louis Browns players: Billy Hunter, Ed Mickelson, and Frank Saucier.
Description: The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they played for 52 years as the St. Louis Browns. After the 1953 season, the team moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where it became the Baltimore Orioles. As of April 2023, there are only three living former St. Louis Browns players: Billy Hunter, Ed Mickelson, and Frank Saucier.
Description: The Hawaii Islanders were a minor league baseball team based in Honolulu, Hawaii, that played in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League for 27 seasons from 1961 through 1987. Originally an affiliate of the Kansas City Athletics, the Islanders played their home games at Honolulu Stadium, Aloha Stadium and Les Murakami Stadium. After being one of the most successful minor league teams, the Islanders faltered and ultimately moved to the mainland as the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in 1988.
Description: The Oil City Cubs were a minor league baseball team based in Oil City, Pennsylvania. From 1906 1908, Oil City teams played as members of the Class D level Interstate League, winning the 1907 league championship. The 1906 team played as the "Oil City-Jamestown Oseejays." Oil City hosted home minor league games at the Sedwick Grounds. The 1898 and 1941 Oil City Oilers teams preceded and succeeded the Interstate League Oil City teams.
Description: The Colorado Rockies were an American professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) that played in Denver from 1976 to 1982. They were founded as the Kansas City Scouts, an expansion team that began play in the NHL in the 1974–75 season. The Scouts moved from Kansas City, Missouri, to Denver for the 1976–77 season. The franchise moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey, for the 1982–83 season and was renamed as the New Jersey Devils. Denver went without an NHL team until the Quebec Nordiques relocated to become the Colorado Avalanche following the 1994–95 season. The Rockies name itself would be applied to the Major League Baseball expansion team that began play in 1993.
Description: The Tucson Toros were a professional baseball team based in Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. The original Toros were a Triple-A minor league baseball team in the Pacific Coast League from 1969 to 1997, where they won the PCL Championship in 1991 and 1993. They were affiliated with several Major League Baseball teams over the years, most notably with the Houston Astros.
Description: The Colt .45s started their inaugural season on April 10, 1962, against the Chicago Cubs with Harry Craft as the Colt .45s' manager. Bob Aspromonte scored the first run for the Colt .45s on an Al Spangler triple in the first inning. They started the season with a three-game sweep of the Cubs but eventually finished eighth among the National League's ten teams. The team's best pitcher, Richard "Turk" Farrell, lost 20 games despite an ERA of 3.02. A starter for the Colt .45s, Farrell was primarily a relief pitcher prior to playing for Houston. He was selected to both All-Star Games in 1962.
Description: The Peoria Distillers were a minor league baseball team that existed on-and-off from 1894 to 1917. They played in the Western Association from 1894 to 1896; the Central League in 1900, 1904 and 1917; the Western League from 1902 to 1903; and the Three-I League from 1905 to 1917. Under managers David Drohan and Charley Stis, they won their first League Championship in 1911. In 1916, they won their second and final League Championship under the guidance of William Jackson.
Description: There have been three Minor League Baseball clubs named Alacranes de Durango (Durango Scorpions) in Mexican Baseball History. In all its incarnations, the Alacranes have represented the city of Durango, the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Durango. Since classification of the minor leagues began, they have been labeled as classes C, A and AAA in a span of 12 seasons from 1956 to 1979. The name is traditional for all sports teams from Durango, as its association football club is also called the Alacranes. Besides, Durango is known nationally and even internationally as the Land of the Scorpions (Tierra de los Alacranes), due to abundant species of scorpions on its territory, especially in the colonial areas.
Description: The Colt .45s started their inaugural season on April 10, 1962, against the Chicago Cubs with Harry Craft as the Colt .45s' manager. Bob Aspromonte scored the first run for the Colt .45s on an Al Spangler triple in the first inning. They started the season with a three-game sweep of the Cubs but eventually finished eighth among the National League's ten teams. The team's best pitcher, Richard "Turk" Farrell, lost 20 games despite an ERA of 3.02. A starter for the Colt .45s, Farrell was primarily a relief pitcher prior to playing for Houston. He was selected to both All-Star Games in 1962.
Description: The Jersey City Skeeters were a minor league baseball team which operated in Jersey City, New Jersey. The club started in the 1860s and by 1870 joined the National Association of Base Ball Players. By 1885, Jersey City had joined the Eastern League, but they dropped out before the end of the season. The team rejoined the league the following year, finishing in second place. In 1887, a Jersey City Skeeters team was playing in the International League, but in 1888, they were in the Central League, a much lower league, competition-wise.
Description: The Edmonton Trappers were a minor league baseball team in Edmonton, Alberta. They were a part of the Triple-A level in the Pacific Coast League, from 1981 to 2004. In 1984, the Trappers (then the Triple-A affiliate of the California Angels) became the first Canadian franchise to win a championship. They were also the only team to win a PCL championship, and first to win any championship, under affiliation with the Angels. Home games were played at Telus Field in downtown Edmonton.
Description: The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League. The team played first in Athletic Park and later Nicollet Park.
Description: The earliest Imperial Records was a short-lived United States-based company of the 1900s (decade), producing single-sided lateral cut gramophone records. Issues included ragtime banjo music, operatic solos, and Hebrew songs. As the name implies, they seem to have been destined at least in part for the British market. The back of the records carried a paper label printed with a copyright statement.
Description: The Shenandoah Huns were a minor league baseball club, based in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania in 1894 and 1895. The team was formed when the Scranton Miners jumped from the Pennsylvania State League to the Eastern League on July 26, 1894. A week later the Huns were formed to replace Scranton in the league on August 2. The team continued to play in the Pennsylvania State League the following year, but disbanded during the season on May 20, 1895.
Description: The Phoenix Firebirds were a Minor League Baseball team that played in Phoenix, Arizona, from 1958 to 1959, and from 1966 to 1997. Before 1986, the team was known as the Phoenix Giants. The franchise was a member of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League (PCL), and were the top minor league affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. The Firebirds were forced to leave Phoenix following the 1997 season, as the new National League expansion team, the Arizona Diamondbacks would begin play in Phoenix the following year. In a complicated series of events, the owners of the Firebirds moved their team to Tucson, Arizona, and became the Tucson Sidewinders, dropping their affiliation with the Giants in favor of the expansion Diamondbacks.
Description: The Seattle Pilots were an American professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington during the 1969 Major League Baseball season. During their single-season existence, the Pilots played their home games at Sick's Stadium and were a member of the West Division of Major League Baseball's American League. On April 1, 1970, the franchise moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and became the Milwaukee Brewers.
