Minor Leagues in the Seventies

[GOMETS]

Any good resources for Minor Leagues?

I am trying to set up 1977 season and looking for Minor League Info.

I noticed in my 1977 Quickstart, the Toronto Bluejays only have be assigned 1 low ball A team. The rest of the league has all levels.

I went to a few Toronto Bluejay fansites...learned somethings (which always good), but not any about the 1977 minor league set up.

Is it possible that they only had 1 team during that year?

[rogmax11]

An invaluable resource: "The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball" edited by Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, published by Baseball America, Inc.

I have the first edition, in paperback, which extends only through 1993. Subsequent editions may exist, and be more current.

[GOMETS]

Thanks for the info...

Any online resources too?

[No Pepper]

In 1977, the Blue Jays' affiliations were (or could be):

Rookie: Medicine Hat Blue Jays (Pioneer League, 1978)
Short A: Utica Blue Jays (NYPenn league)
A: Kinston Eagles (1979-81, Carolina League); Florence Blue Jays (1981-85, South Atlantic League)
AA: Knoxville Smokies (1980, Southern League)
AAA: Syracuse Chiefs (1979, International League)

Toronto Blue Jays - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by rogmax11

An invaluable resource: "The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball" edited by Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, published by Baseball America, Inc.

I have the first edition, in paperback, which extends only through 1993. Subsequent editions may exist, and be more current.

The third edition was released late last year if I recall correctly. You can purchase it from this page of the Baseball America web site. I've been thinking about picking up a copy myself... I really want to see those team attendance figures, especially for the years before WWII.

Originally Posted by GOMETS

Any online resources too?

Try this site:

Mike McCann's page of Minor League History

It's very good.

[spark240]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

The third edition was released late last year if I recall correctly. You can purchase it from this page of the Baseball America web site. I've been thinking about picking up a copy myself...

Oh, get it. I have the hardcover, and I am very very glad... one of my favorite reference books. Covers 1876-2006.

BTW, to clarify, in fact only Utica was active as a Blue Jays affiliate for the 1977 season; the other teams were enrolled in following years. For some, assigning them to Toronto for '77 would mean taking them away from the organizations they really belonged to at the time.

By contrast, Arizona and Tampa Bay each had three minor affiliates established on their behalf two years before the major league teams themselves began play...

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by spark240

Oh, get it. I have the hardcover, and I am very very glad... one of my favorite reference books. Covers 1876-2006.

Ah, you have the third edition? Then please let me ask a couple of quick questions about it.

First, in regards to the team attendance figures, how complete are those for each team and league, especially for the earlier years? Second, does it just list the final standings for the league, or does it include any leage statistical totals as well?

[Gambo]

Both Toronto and Seattle only had one minor league affiliate in 1977.

[Carplos]

The Baseball Reference Bullpen (and Wikipedia itself) are also good.

You'll be amazed at what you find with a mere Google search as well. Google books can be fun... and the Google news archive is addicting. I've spent far too much time reading 1800/early 1900 Cal League and PCL news... and that's without paying for any of the combined archives available.

[Larsen]

Go here .... Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Baseball Statistics and History
and you'll find a link for "teams".
There you'll find something like this ... Atlanta Braves Minor League Affiliates - BR Bullpen
... BR Bullpen: Minor League Affiliates. It will be sorted by year.
Good luck.

[spark240]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

Ah, you have the third edition? Then please let me ask a couple of quick questions about it.

First, in regards to the team attendance figures, how complete are those for each team and league, especially for the earlier years? Second, does it just list the final standings for the league, or does it include any leage statistical totals as well?

Attendance figures are very limited in the earliest years, sometimes not even available for all the major league teams. In 1897, you get full figures for the NL and the Ban Johnson WL, but nothing for anybody else. As you go on, you start seeing more data for the high minor leagues, and occasionally for some lower levels, but it's still spotty. In 1930, you get full figures for the AL, NL, AA, IL, PCL, SA, TL and the Class D Mississippi Valley League, plus fragmentary information on the EL and NYPL, and nothing for a bunch of other leagues. After WW2, it's almost complete.

For each season of each league, you get standings and playoff results and usually the league leaders in basic hitting and pitching categories, and some other notes. Alas, there are no statistical totals for the overall "shape" of the leagues.

[Le Grande Orange]

Thanks for the info, spark240.


In regards to the major league attendance figures, when I was in the library the other day I thumbed through an edition of Total Baseball and it had major league attendance figures going all the way back to 1871. For some of the earliest teams the numbers were likely just estimates (the numbers were all rounded to the nearest thousand), but the data was there all the way back to the beginning. The UA and PL were included; I forgot to check if the Federal League was listed (I'll have to look for that the next time I'm there).

[munson66]

In addition to the McCann website, you might point your browser to paperofrecord.com (you'll need to register, but access is free) and search the archives of the Sporting News. In early April in the '70s, they used to print a minor league directory.

Lots of good information to be found there:
- the opening and closing dates of each league's schedule
- affiliation of each team
- divisional alignment of each league
- field managers of each minor-league team (as well as presidents and GMs)
- home city of "regional" franchises (e.g., Tidewater Tides, Peninsula Pilots)

[munson66]

Originally Posted by No Pepper

In 1977, the Blue Jays' affiliations were (or could be):

Rookie: Medicine Hat Blue Jays (Pioneer League, 1978)
Short A: Utica Blue Jays (NYPenn league)
A: Kinston Eagles (1979-81, Carolina League); Florence Blue Jays (1981-85, South Atlantic League)
AA: Knoxville Smokies (1980, Southern League)
AAA: Syracuse Chiefs (1979, International League)

Toronto Blue Jays - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nope, Utica was their only affiliate in 1977.

I recall reading in an issue of TSN from around 1977 or '78 that the minor leagues were pressuring MLB to require its clubs to sponsor affiliates at each level. But when you look at farm systems, some established teams only had four affiliates, others as many as six or seven.

I'm not sure why the Jays and Mariners each started out with only a short-season A team. Economics, perhaps? It's certainly different from the expansion that took in Tampa Bay and Arizona -- those teams began at the major league level in 1998, but their minor-league affiliates started play as early as 1996.

In 1978, the Jays added affiliates at AAA (Syracuse), A (Dunedin) and Rookie (Medicine Hat). They didn't sign a working agreement at the AA level until 1980, when they hooked up with Knoxville. (The team was known as the Blue Jays from 1980 until 1992, then became the Smokies in '93.)

The Blue Jays' lack of affiliates does not mean they lacked prospects at higher levels. They made arrangements with other organizations to take some of their AA and AAA prospects.

For instance, TSN's transactions page on April 16, 1977, shows that the Jays optioned Ernie Whitt to Charleston (the Astros' AAA affiliate), Jeff Byrd and Jim Clancy to Jersey City (Cleveland's AA team), Dave Hilton to Toledo (Cleveland's AAA), Steve Staggs to Oklahoma City (the Phillies' AAA affiliate). Rick Cerone was later sent to Charleston for an injury rehab assignment. Steve Bowling was optioned to Toledo in May, then recalled in June while Gary Woods went to the Mud Hens. Et cetera.

[rdomico]

Mike McCann's Minor League Baseball Page

I see someone already posted this... Well then I second this site.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by munson66

I'm not sure why the Jays and Mariners each started out with only a short-season A team.

I believe it was related to the Professional Baseball Rules (PBR) in effect at that time which specified how many minor league teams major league clubs were obligated to support each year, and how expansion teams were factored into that.

In the 1979 PBR, in Rule 1 (c) it says:

SUPPORT OF NATIONAL ASSOCIATION CLUBS. To assure an adequate supply of Major League players, each established Major League Club shall support, either through ownership or Player Development Contract, One (1) Class AAA Club, One (1) Class AA Club, and at least One (1) Class A Club.

Each Expansion club shall be required to support the following:

First Year of Operation: One (1) Class A Club

Second Year of Operation: One (1) Class AAA Club, One (1) Class A Club

Third Year of Operation and Thereafter: One (1) Class AAA Club, One (1) Class AA Club, One (1) Class A Club

Note that at that time there appears to have been no official separation between short season and full season Class A leagues.

Originally Posted by munson66

In addition to the McCann website, you might point your browser to paperofrecord.com (you'll need to register, but access is free) and search the archives of the Sporting News. In early April in the '70s, they used to print a minor league directory.

The TSN minor league directory was first published in the weekly editions of The Sporting News in 1954. I've already downloaded all the directories I could find, so if anyone wants to know the exact issue date and page number(s) for a particular year's TSN minor league directory, just ask.

[boilermaker]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

Try this site:

Mike McCann's page of Minor League History

It's very good.

This was seconded...I will also submit for its awesomeness as a resource.