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The North American Baseball Federation emerged from various regional leagues that had become, over the years, increasingly dominated by large market teams in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Montreal and elsewhere. Leagues had tried a variety of methods to improve competitive balance, but none had worked, and by the start of the 20th century fans had begun losing interest, attendance was down, and so was team revenue for a bulk of the franchises across North America.

Finally, a consortium of small and mid-sized market teams offered a choice: either accept a radical merger and realignment, or clubs would be forced to fold and entire leagues would collapse. The result was a dramatic merging and restructuring into a Federation: four primary Divisions, each split into eastern and western Conferences, which connected to each other using promotion and relegation for the most and least successful clubs. Teams would be assigned at first based on market size, with the largest market teams occupying Division 1, and the smallest in Division 4, with the goal of promoting more even competition.

Over the summer of 2006, while regional leagues were continuing play, owners, player representatives, executives, and others came together to hammer out the details. Some of that debate focused on the team assignments themselves: in order to obtain better placements, some geographically-close teams negotiated for mergers, while others argued over the precise definitions of their media markets. The biggest of these debates centered on the Brooklyn Dodgers, who maintained that they should be credited with an equal share of the New York market with the rival Giants; in the end, league leadership agreed, allowing Brooklyn entry into Division 1. The ownership of the San Diego Padres publicly called for a merger with their southern neighbors in Tijuana, a proposal that was considered but ultimately rejected; similarly, the El Paso Sun Kings argued - in this case successfully - that the Mexican city of Juarez be considered part of their media market, allowing the Sun Kings to become Division 1 members.

The final meetings, in August 2006, revealed operational details. Divisions would share a player and draft pool, schedule length, and ruleset. At the close of each season, Conference winners would meet for the Division Championships to end the season. There would be no cross-divisional play or postseason; though larger market teams argued in favor, a majority of clubs decided to keep all play, including ultimate seasonal championships, separate. This allowed smaller market clubs to establish themselves, and to find postseason success, on their own terms: fans always saw competitive level baseball, and that mattered.

League founders also wanted a league that rewarded long-term building rather than short-term sprints to promotion, so they devised a system wherein promotion or relegation would be done every three seasons, rather than annually. Promotion and relegation would be governed by a formula. Though the formula has been adjusted over the years, the core concept has remained the same: three-year winning percentage, with the most recent season carrying the most weight; number of first and last place finishes, and number of Conference Championships. After three years, one team from each division would move up, and one from each would move down, based on the points awarded by the formula.

The result, over the 30 years of Federation history, has been an association that has seen a mix of stable dominance and dynamic movement, while providing small market teams with the chance to see seasonal and postseason success - indeed, some of the most successful teams in league history (the Baltimore Terrapins, for example, or the Columbus Red Birds) have emerged from Division 4 to climb high into the ranks of the Federation. Others have seen their fortunes fade in similar ways.

This series will serve to summarize the first 30 years (10 cycles) of NABF play in a few ways: first, an overall survey of the major trends over that period; then a ranking of all 48 teams with discussion of team histories; and finally a look at the greatest individual players the league has produced. Once complete, the series will continue as a cycle-by-cycle recap of NABF action.