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Originally Posted by chimanbj
I'm toying with the idea of trying to introduce minor leagues according to when they actually showed up. Now, you can go through the trouble of putting in EVERY minor/independent league that existed, but I find it much more manageable to put in today's leagues, from when they actually were founded.
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I've thought about trying to write up a guideline for something like that in terms of which leagues started when, but it's a bit daunting because some league switched classification levels and most of the currently existing minors only appeared after WWII. Then you have to deal with long-time leagues which existed but then eventually folded (the American Association and the Southern Association being the most notable).
Quote:
Originally Posted by chimanbj
And according to the MILB website, leagues weren't affiliated until 1921. And St. Louis was the team that really exploited the use of the minors early on. I haven't dug deep enough to know exactly how that is quantified, but I want to find out.
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The evolution of the relationship between the majors and minors is a long and often complicated one. I'm still trying to find out info on what changes happened when, and it's not easy. You really need the help of knowledgeable folks like those involved with SABR.
The very simple version goes like this:
Originally, ALL minor leagues were independent operations. They sold their best players to the highest bidding major league club. However, there was the forerunner of the Rule 5 draft in place which allowed some additional movement of players.
Later on, some major league clubs began buying outright minor league teams in order to get complete access to all the players being developed; of course, this meant the major league team was now fully responsible for the finances of that minor league club. Others major league teams formed working agreements which saw the major league club pay the minor league club in exhange for exclusive access to the players being developed by the minor league team.
Eventually, all the players on minor league clubs became members of the major league team affiliated with that minor league team. In effect minor league teams owned little more than their club name and stadium; all the players actually belonged to the major league club.