The American Association (AA) was a Minor League Baseball league that operated primarily in the Midwestern and South Central United States from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997. It was classified as a Triple-A league, which is one grade below Major League Baseball, for most of its existence.
A league champion was determined at the end of every season. The Louisville Colonels won 15 American Association titles, the most in the league's history, followed by the Indianapolis Indians (12) and the Columbus Red Birds (10).
Intermittently throughout its history, the American Association champion competed against the champion of the International League, which operated in the Eastern U.S., to determine an overall Triple-A champion. On rare occasions, the champion of the West Coast-based Pacific Coast League also participated. The first such meetings were called the Little World Series. Later, the teams would also compete in the Junior World Series, Triple-A World Series, and Triple-A Classic. Additional interleague play consisted of the regular season's Triple-A Alliance and Triple-A All-Star Game.
History
First run (1902–1962)
The American Association was formed in the fall of 1901 by Thomas J. Hickey, who had recently been appointed president of the Western League and was a founder of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues. Hickey resigned from the Western League to lead the new American Association, which elected not to join the National Association, thus becoming an "outlaw" league. The eight-team circuit fielded clubs in Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Kansas City, Missouri; Louisville, Kentucky; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Saint Paul, Minnesota; and Toledo, Ohio. The league's inaugural 140-game schedule was to be played from late April to late September 1902. At the end of that season, the first American Association championship was won by the Indianapolis Indians.
The American Association became members of the National Association after two seasons and was then classified as a Class A circuit. In 1912, it was reclassified as a Double-A league. Through the first 12 years of play, the AA established itself as one of the premier minor leagues in the country. Its teams, featuring former major league players and top minor leaguers, were both competitive and profitable.
In 1914, the newly-formed Federal League placed teams in Indianapolis and Kansas City as well as other locals near American Association teams. One of only a few franchise shifts in the first incarnation of the AA occurred in 1914 when the Toledo Mud Hens moved to Cleveland, Ohio, as the Cleveland Bearcats. Looking to keep the Federal League out of Cleveland, which would have been in direct competition with his American League franchise, owner Charles Somers brought in his Toledo team to share League Park with the Cleveland Naps. The club returned to Toledo two seasons later after the dissolution of the Federal League. The outbreak of World War I brought further difficulties. A 1917 44-game interleague schedule with the International League was called off before Opening Day. In 1918, following a federal government mandate that men of draft age, such as the AA's players, would be eligible for the draft, the league cancelled the rest of the season on July 21. The league resumed play after the war, in 1919, and continued to be a successful venture despite the decade's problems.
Much like other professional sports at the time, the 1920s were a golden age for the American Association. The league drew record crowds that witnessed fast-paced games usually dominated by offence. This success, as well as its forthcoming innovations, positioned the AA to fare well during the Great Depression. On June 9, 1930, the league's first night game was played in Indianapolis as the Indians defeated the St. Paul Saints, 1–0, at Washington Park. Its first All-Star Game was played in 1934. The Minneapolis Millers, who were in first place at midseason, beat the league's stars, 13–6.