Pacific Coast League
From Free net encyclopedia
- For the high school sports league of this name, see Pacific Coast League (California).
The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a minor league baseball league operating in the West and Midwest of the United States. It is one of two leagues, along with the International League, playing at the AAA level, which is the highest level below the American major leagues.
The PCL has a long tradition on the West Coast, with teams with evocative names such as the Hollywood Stars, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Oaks, Portland Beavers, Sacramento Solons, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Seals, and Seattle Rainiers.
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History
A Near-Major League
In the early 20th century, the Pacific Coast League developed into one of the premier regional baseball leagues. With no Major League Baseball team existing west of St. Louis, the PCL was unrivalled as the vehicle for West Coast baseball. Although never recognized as a true major league, the quality of play was considered very high. Drawing from a strong pool of talent in the area, the PCL produced a number of outstanding players, including future major-league stars Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Tony Lazzeri and Rube Waddell.
While many PCL stars went on to play in the major leagues, teams in the league were often successful enough that they could offer competitive salaries to avoid being outbid for their stars' services. In addition, the mild climate of the West Coast, especially in California, allowed the league to play longer seasons, sometimes starting in late February and ending as late as the beginning of December. This let players earn an extra month or two worth of pay and reduced the need to find offseason work, something which even some major league players found necessary because of the low salaries, by today's standards, paid to many players. The longer playing season also provided room for additional games on the schedule, giving team owners a chance at generating more revenue. Teams sometimes played over 200 games in a single season. One consequence is that a number of the all-time minor league records for season statistical totals are held by players from the PCL.
In 1952, the PCL became the only minor league in history to be given the "open" classification, a step above the AAA level. This limited the rights of major league clubs to draft players from the PCL, and was seen as a step toward the circuit becoming a third major league.
Sudden Decline
The shift to the Open classification came just as minor league teams from coast to coast suffered a sharp drop in attendance, primarily due to the availability of major league games on television. The hammer blow to the PCL's major league dreams came in 1958, when the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and the New York Giants moved to San Francisco. As a result, three of the PCL's flagship teams (the Los Angeles Angels, the Hollywood Stars, and the San Francisco Seals) were immediately forced to relocate to smaller markets. Additionally, the PCL did not benefit from the comparison with the major leagues, which now occupied the same territory and drew away much of the attention of its former fans. The league never recovered from this blow. It reverted to AAA classification, and soon diminished in the public eye to nothing more than another minor league.
Of the cities represented in the PCL in its heyday, only Portland and Sacramento remain, and even these are represented by different franchises than those that had originally called these cities home. The Oakland Oaks had moved to Canada two years before the arrival of the Giants. The San Diego Padres and Seattle Rainiers were displaced by Major League teams in 1969, but by this time the PCL's decline was already far advanced.
Recent Expansion
In 1997, the Pacific Coast League agreed to take teams from the disbanding American Association, which had operated in the Midwest. The league now stretches from western Washington to Middle Tennessee. The league is divided into two conferences, the American Conference and Pacific Conference; after a realignment for 2005 necessitated by the move of the Edmonton Trappers to Round Rock, Texas, each is divided into a Northern Division and a Southern Division. The Trappers' move also ended the league's presence in Canada; as recently as 1999 the league had teams north of the border in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, but they left for Sacramento in 2000, Albuquerque in 2003 and Round Rock in 2005 respectively. In 2005, the Pacific Coast League became the first minor league ever to achieve a season attendance over 7 million.
Current member teams
(2006 MLB affiliates in parentheses)
American Conference
Northern Division
- Iowa Cubs (Image:ChicagoCubs 100.png)
- Memphis Redbirds (Image:StLouisCardinals 100.png)
- Nashville Sounds (Image:MilwaukeeBrewers 100.png)
- Omaha Royals (Image:KansasCityRoyals 100.png)
Southern Division
- Albuquerque Isotopes (Image:Floridamarlins.gif)
- New Orleans Zephyrs (Image:Nationals 133x100.png)
- Oklahoma RedHawks (Image:TexasRangers 100.png)
- Round Rock Express (Image:HoustonAstros 100.png)
Pacific Conference
Northern Division
- Colorado Springs Sky Sox (Image:ColoradoRockies 100.png)
- Portland Beavers (Image:SanDiegoPadres 100.png)
- Salt Lake Bees (Image:Los Angeles Angles 100.gif)
- Tacoma Rainiers (Image:SeattleMariners 100.png)
Southern Division
- Fresno Grizzlies (Image:SanFranciscoGiants 100.png)
- Las Vegas 51s (Image:LosAngelesDodgers 100.png)
- Sacramento River Cats (Image:OaklandAthletics 100.png)
- Tucson Sidewinders (Image:ArizonaDiamondbacks 100.png)
2006 Standings
As of April 14
American Conference
| Northern Division | W | L | Win % | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image:OmahaRoyals 100.png | Omaha Royals | 6 | 3 | .667 | --- |
| Image:IowaCubs 100.png | Iowa Cubs | 5 | 4 | .556 | 1 |
| Image:Nashville sounds.jpg | Nashville Sounds | 4 | 5 | .444 | 2 |
| Image:MemphisRedbirds 100.png | Memphis Redbirds | 0 | 9 | .000 | 6 |
| Southern Division | W | L | Win % | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image:NewOrleansZephyrs 2005.gif | New Orleans Zephyrs | 7 | 2 | .778 | --- |
| Image:OklahomaRedHawks 100.png | Oklahoma Redhawks | 6 | 3 | 1.000 | 1 |
| Image:AlbuquerqueIsotopes 100.png | Albuquerque Isotopes | 4 | 5 | .444 | 3 |
| Image:RoundRockExpress 100.png | Round Rock Express | 4 | 5 | .444 | 3 |
Pacific Conference
| Northern Division | W | L | Win % | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image:TacomaRainiers 100.png | Tacoma Rainiers | 4 | 3 | .571 | --- |
| Image:T561 logo lg.gif | Salt Lake Bees | 5 | 4 | .556 | --- |
| Image:PortlandBeavers 100.png | Portland Beavers | 4 | 5 | .444 | 1 |
| Image:ColoradoSpringsSkySox 100.png | Colorado Springs Sky Sox | 3 | 6 | .333 | 2 |
| Southern Division | W | L | Win % | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image:LasVegas51s 100.png | Las Vegas 51s | 7 | 2 | .778 | --- |
| Image:SacramentoRiverCats 100.png | Sacramento River Cats | 5 | 3 | .625 | 1.5 |
| Image:Grizzlies new.png | Fresno Grizzlies | 3 | 5 | .375 | 3.5 |
| Image:TucsonSidewinders 100.png | Tucson Sidewinders | 3 | 6 | .333 | 4 |
1903-1957 Teams
- Fresno Raisin Eaters (1906) moved from Sacramento, moved back to Sacramento 1907
- Hollywood Stars (1926-1935) moved from Salt Lake, moved to San Diego 1936, team also known as Hollywood Bees in 1926
- Hollywood Stars (1938-1957) moved from Mission, moved to Salt Lake 1958
- Los Angeles Angels (1903-1957) moved to Spokane 1958
- Mission Reds (1926-1937) moved from Vernon, moved to Hollywood 1938, team also known as Mission Bells or Missions
- Oakland Oaks (1903-1955) moved to Vancouver 1956, team also known as Oakland Acorns
- Portland Beavers (1903-1917, 1919-1972) played in Pacific Coast International League 1918, moved to Spokane 1973
- Sacramento Solons (1903, 1905, 1909-1914) moved to Tacoma 1904, returned 1905, moved to Fresno 1906, returned 1907 but played in California League 1907-1908, moved to San Francisco 1914, team also known as Sacramento Sacts
- Sacramento Solons (1918-1960) moved to Honolulu 1961, team known as Sacramento Senators 1918-1934
- Salt Lake Bees (1915-1925) moved from San Francisco, moved to Hollywood 1926
- San Diego Padres (1936-1968) moved from Hollywood
- San Francisco Missions (1914) moved from Sacramento, moved to Salt Lake 1915
- San Francisco Seals (1903-1957) moved to Phoenix 1958
- Seattle Rainiers (1903-1906, 1919-1968) played in Northwest League 1907-1918, team known as Seattle Indians 1903-1937
- Tacoma Tigers (1904-1905) moved from Sacramento, moved back to Sacramento 1905
- Vancouver Mounties (1956-1962), moved from Oakland
- Venice Tigers (1913-1914) moved from Vernon, moved back to Vernon 1915
- Vernon Tigers (1909-1912, 1915-1925) moved to Venice 1913, returned 1915, moved to Mission 1926
Presidents of the PCL
- 1903-1906 Eugene F. Bert
- 1907-1909 J. Cal Ewing
- 1910-1911 Judge Thomas F. Graham
- 1912-1919 Allan T. Baum
- 1920-1923 William H. McCarthy
- 1924-1931 Harry A. Williams
- 1932-1935 Hyland H. Baggerly
- 1936-1943 William C. Tuttle
- 1944-1954 Clarence H. Rowland
- 1955-1955 Claire V. Goodwin
- 1956-1959 Leslie M. O’ Connor
- 1960-1968 Dewey Soriano
- 1968-1973 William B. McKechnie, Jr.
- 1974-1978 Roy Jackson
- 1979-1997 William S. Cutler
- 1998-Present Branch B. Rickey