Minor League History/Stats?

[Classic]

Wondering if anyone knew of a comprehensive encyclopedia of the minor leagues?

Something that would have annual standings, leaders, team rosters, etc. like the old "Big Mac" or TB for the major leagues?

[trosmok]

The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, edited by Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff is about the most complete I've seen. The first edition came out in '93, second in '97, but I don't know if a third edition is out yet. Bill James publishes STATS Minor League Handbook, on an annual basis. The only real problem with either of these is they are short on history and individual players, primarily because over a quarter of a million players have been on the diamonds of some two hundred different teams over the last hundred and ten years.

Each league publishes a record book that is more complete on the player bios and league histories, but they vary widely in their scope. The now defunct American Association and the Pacific Coast League had the best record keeping, and the Caribbean leagues are getting a lot better. The Negro Leagues history and stats are still being compiled; often one must sift through the local African-American newspapers' archives from Kansas City, Chicago, New York, etc. to get a box score, league standings, individual stats for any given week in the past.

Hope this helps a little, Chancellor

[Frank_reilly]

according to Lloyd Johnston edition 3 is out on May 1

[Brian McKenna]

according to Lloyd Johnston edition 3 is out on May 1

is it expanded in any way or just made up-to-date

[Frank_reilly]

was told it has expanded

[Old Mike]

You should check out Marshall Wright's books my McFarland. He/they have put out statistical histories of the International League, American Association, Texas League and Association.

There is not text other than a small recap of the season, and the books are done in the fashion of the Neft-Coehn encyclopedias of baseball. Wright gathered his information from the old Spalding and Reach Baseball Guides.

This information in this format is an incredible sourch for reseachers.

Carlos Bauer has done several similar books on the statistical history of the PCL.

[TonyK]

The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, edited by Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff is about the most complete I've seen. The first edition came out in '93, second in '97, but I don't know if a third edition is out yet. Bill James publishes STATS Minor League Handbook, on an annual basis. The only real problem with either of these is they are short on history and individual players, primarily because over a quarter of a million players have been on the diamonds of some two hundred different teams over the last hundred and ten years.

Each league publishes a record book that is more complete on the player bios and league histories, but they vary widely in their scope. The now defunct American Association and the Pacific Coast League had the best record keeping, and the Caribbean leagues are getting a lot better. The Negro Leagues history and stats are still being compiled; often one must sift through the local African-American newspapers' archives from Kansas City, Chicago, New York, etc. to get a box score, league standings, individual stats for any given week in the past.

Hope this helps a little, Chancellor

I would be surprised if there have been only 200 minor league teams over the past one hundred and ten years. In some years, there were over 30 minor leagues alone. There are quite a few defunct minor leagues which had many teams over the years. The total could even be as high as 1,000 teams.

[Mischa]

I would be surprised if there have been only 200 minor league teams over the past one hundred and ten years. In some years, there were over 30 minor leagues alone. There are quite a few defunct minor leagues which had many teams over the years. The total could even be as high as 1,000 teams.

Over at Baseball-Reference.com's Bullpen wiki, we're up to 1,302 entries on minor league teams and most of the 3,074 "wanted pages" are also for minor league teams. I'm guessing there are at least 3,500 teams.

[redbuck]

http://sports-wired.com has minor league stats dating only back to 2002 but comprehensive since then for all teams.

[RuthMayBond]

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/ or
http://www.milb.com/
might help?

[redbuck]

thebaseballcube.com is the same site as sports-wired.com

Milb has good current stuff.

[Frank_reilly]

check out "minor leagues before 1910" here at baseball fever. i have found a list of leagues that either played or planned to played. cant find any one to let me know if these leagues played