American Association of Independent Professional Baseball

This article is about the modern American Association founded in 2005. For other uses, see American Association.

American Association

American Association logo
Sport	Baseball
Founded	2005
No. of teams	13
Countries	United States Canada
Most recent champion(s)	Laredo Lemurs
Most titles	Fort Worth Cats (2)
Official website	Official website

The American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, based in Durham, North Carolina, is a professional baseball league founded in 2005 and independent of Major League Baseball (MLB). It operates in the states of Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas, along with the Canadian province of Manitoba, mostly in cities not served by MLB teams or their minor league affiliates. Miles Wolff is the league's commissioner.

History

The American Association was founded in October 2005 when the St. Paul Saints, Lincoln Saltdogs, Sioux City Explorers, and Sioux Falls Canaries announced they were leaving the Northern League. Around the same time, the Central Baseball League announced it was disbanding after four seasons. The Fort Worth Cats, Shreveport-Bossier Sports, Pensacola Pelicans, Coastal Bend Aviators, and El Paso Diablos joined the four Northern League teams and the expansion St. Joe Blacksnakes to complete a ten-team league. The new league began play in 2006, with a 96-game schedule. The Fort Worth Cats defeated the St. Paul Saints 3 games to 2, to win the first league championship. The same two teams met for the 2007 title, with exactly the same result.

2008 saw the league lose the Blacksnakes and Aviators, with the Grand Prairie AirHogs and Wichita Wingnuts joining in their place. In 2011 and 2012 the league went through a significant shift. Fort Worth left the league to join United League Baseball, while Shreveport and Pensacola both relocated. The Pelicans moved to Amarillo, Texas and became the Amarillo Sox (now the Amarillo Thunderheads) while Shreveport, who had changed their name to the Shreveport-Bossier Captains, moved to Laredo, Texas and became the Laredo Lemurs. In addition, four more Northern League franchises joined the American Association as that league's stability came into question; the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks, Gary SouthShore RailCats, Kansas City T-Bones, and Winnipeg Goldeyes became part of the AA. Since then, the league has held pat with one exception. At the end of the 2013 season, due to the Tucson Padres relocating to their city, the El Paso Diablos suspended operations. The team was eventually revived and relocated, and currently operates as the Joplin Blasters.

For the 2012 season, the American Association began interleague play with the Can-Am League. The two leagues are both headquartered in Durham, North Carolina and both have Miles Wolff as their commissioner. This is similar to interleague play in Major League Baseball, but American Association and Can-Am League are "separate" legal entities and have separate playoffs/championships.

On November 19, 2015, Miles Wolff announced that there would no longer be interleague play and that for the 2016 season the Amarillo Thunderheads and the Grand Prairie AirHogs would operate as a joint team with 25 games in Amarillo and 25 games in Grand Prairie to make a 12 team league, while the league searches for a 14th team.

Current franchises

American Association of Independent Professional Baseball
Division	Team	Founded	City	Stadium	Capacity
North
	Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks	1996	Fargo, North Dakota	Newman Outdoor Field	4,513
	Sioux Falls Canaries	1993	Sioux Falls, South Dakota	Sioux Falls Stadium	4,500
	St. Paul Saints	1993	Saint Paul, Minnesota	CHS Field	7,210
	Winnipeg Goldeyes	1994	Winnipeg, Manitoba	Shaw Park	7,481
Central
	Gary SouthShore RailCats	2001	Gary, Indiana	U.S. Steel Yard	6,139
	Kansas City T-Bones	2003	Kansas City, Kansas	CommunityAmerica Ballpark	6,537
	Lincoln Saltdogs	2001	Lincoln, Nebraska	Haymarket Park	8,000
	Sioux City Explorers	1993	Sioux City, Iowa	Lewis and Clark Park	3,631
South
	Laredo Lemurs	2012	Laredo, Texas	Uni-Trade Stadium	6,000
	Joplin Blasters	2015	Joplin, Missouri	Joe Becker Stadium	4,200
	Wichita Wingnuts	2008	Wichita, Kansas	Lawrence-Dumont Stadium	6,400
	Texas	2016	Amarillo Grand Prairie	Potter County Memorial Stadium QuikTrip Park	8,500 5,445

Map of teams

Fargo-Moorhead

Sioux Falls

St. Paul

Sioux City

Winnipeg

Gary SouthShore

Kansas City

Lincoln

Amarillo

Grand Prairie

Laredo

Wichita

Joplin

Current AA team locations (North Division teams in red; Central Division teams in white; Southern Division teams in blue)

League timeline

League members Former Team

Alumni reaching the major leagues

• RHP Angel Castro (Lincoln 2010)
• RHP Aaron Crow (Fort Worth 2008-09)
• RHP Dane De La Rosa (El Paso 2009)
• RHP Junior Guerra (Wichita 2011, 2013)
• RHP Luke Hochevar (Fort Worth 2006)
• RHP John Holdzkom (Sioux City 2013, Amarillo 2013-14)
• RHP Chris Jakubauskas (Lincoln 2007)
• LHP Kris Johnson (Kansas City 2011)
• RHP Brandon Kintzler (St. Paul 2009)
• RHP Chris Martin (Grand Prairie 2010)
• LHP James Paxton (Grand Prairie 2010)
• OF David Peralta (Wichita 2012, Amarillo 2013)
• C Eddy Rodriguez (El Paso 2009, Sioux Falls 2010)
• RHP Chaz Roe (Laredo 2012)
• RHP Tanner Scheppers (St. Paul 2009)
• RHP Max Scherzer (Fort Worth 2006)
• RHP Bo Schultz (Grand Prairie 2011)
• LHP Caleb Thielbar (St. Paul 2011)
• LHP Ian Thomas (Winnipeg 2011)

Former teams

• Shreveport-Bossier Captains - Franchise moved to Laredo, TX to become Laredo Lemurs
• Coastal Bend Aviators - founding member of league, originally from Central Baseball League, folded after 2007.
• Pensacola Pelicans - founding member of league, originally from Central Baseball League, folded in preparation for new Double-A Southern League team to begin play in 2012. Franchise sold and became the Amarillo Sox.
• St. Joe Blacksnakes - founding member of league, expansion franchise, folded after 2007.
• Fort Worth Cats - founding member of the league, had its membership revoked by the league on October 26, 2011 after failing to provide the league with a letter of credit. Moved to United League Baseball, later folded.
• El Paso Diablos - folded after the 2013 season, to make way for the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas. The team moved to Joplin, Missouri, and began play as the Joplin Blasters on May 21, 2015.

Champions

• 2006 - Fort Worth Cats
• 2007 - Fort Worth Cats
• 2008 - Sioux Falls Canaries
• 2009 - Lincoln Saltdogs
• 2010 - Shreveport-Bossier Captains
• 2011 - Grand Prairie AirHogs
• 2012 - Winnipeg Goldeyes
• 2013 - Gary SouthShore Railcats
• 2014 - Wichita Wingnuts
• 2015 - Laredo Lemurs

All-star game

The American Association hosted an annual All-Star Game from 2006 to 2010. The league's first All-Star game was played in El Paso, Texas, on July 18, 2006, which pit a team of American Association All-Stars against an All-Star team from the Can-Am League. Its current format pits the all-stars from each division against each other. There was no All-Star game in 2011, 2012, or 2013. The Winnipeg Goldeyes hosted the 2014 All-Star game.

Game results

• 2006 - AAB 5, Can-Am 3
• 2007 - South 6, North 4
• 2008 - South 11, North 4
• 2009 - North 6, South 2
• 2010 - South 12, North 3
• 2011 - No All-star game played
• 2012 - No All-star game played
• 2013 - No All-star game played
• 2014 - South 7, North 0

Most Valuable Players

• 2006 - Jake Whitesides, (St. Joe Blacksnakes)
• 2007 - Jorge Alvarez, (El Paso Diablos)
• 2008 - Brian Fryer, (Fort Worth Cats)
• 2009 - Trevor Lawhorn, (Sioux Falls Canaries)
• 2010 - Chris Garcia, (Shreveport-Bossier Captains)
• 2011 - Lee Cruz, (Amarillo Sox)
• 2012 - Nic Jackson, (Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks)
• 2013 - C.J. Ziegler, (Wichita Wingnuts)
• 2014 - Devin Goodwin, (Laredo Lemurs)

See also

• Baseball awards#U.S. independent professional leagues

External links

• American Association of Independent Professional Baseball official website
• aabfan.com - American Association Baseball Fan's Guide