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This article refers to the modern Northern League. For the original incarnations of the Northern League, which operated between 1902 and 1971, see Northern League (baseball, 1902-71) more...

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The Northern League, based in Chicago, is an independent baseball league which operates in the Northern United States and the Canadian province of Manitoba. It operates in cities not served by Major or Minor League Baseball teams and is not affiliated with either.

The Northern League exists so that professional baseball players who are not signed by a Major or Minor League organization could have another chance at playing at a higher level. Although the level of Northern League play can be categorized as between A and AA, players in independent baseball are usually not scouted heavily by Major League teams. Many Major League alumni have called Northern League teams home in an effort get back to the Majors. The league also caters to players who are not quite talented enough to play at a higher level.

History

The current incarnation was created in 1993 through the efforts of the first commissioner Miles Wolff. Wolff started the league after many midwestern cities contacted him (through his affiliation with Baseball America) asking how they could get a minor league team. After visiting some of them, most notably Wade Stadium in Duluth, he started contacting potential owners to start the league.

The league started in 1993 with 6 teams: Duluth-Superior Dukes (Duluth, Superior WI), Rochester Aces (Rochester, Minnesota), St. Paul Saints (St. Paul, Minnesota), Sioux Falls Canaries (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), Sioux City Explorers (Sioux City, Iowa) and Thunder Bay Whiskey Jacks (Thunder Bay, Ontario). The prospects for the league were originally "cloudy." Many forecasted an early demise especially in St. Paul where competition with the Minnesota Twins led many local sportswriters to consider it a "beer league."

In fact the league was, overall, quite a success with only one franchise, Rochester, failing to attract significant crowds. The ailing Aces franchise was sold to an owner in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Sam Katz) and renamed the Winnipeg Goldeyes.

Part of the success of the league is the structure of the teams with both salary caps and roster rules. Teams are permitted no more than 4 veterans (5+ years professional experience) and required to have at least as many rookies. The rest of the rosters are made up of players with various years of experience (listed as LS-1 to LS-5 for "limited service).

The league expanded from six to eight teams in 1996 with the addition of franchises of the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (Fargo, North Dakota) and Madison Black Wolf (Madison, Wisconsin). After the 1998 season the Whiskey Jacks, originally with the second best attendance in the league, was sold and became the Schaumburg Flyers (Schaumburg, Illinois) in 1999.

Read more at Wikipedia.org