A Look At The Florida State League
ALSO: CELEBRATING BABE RUTH'S BIRTHDAY
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know ...
Marcell Ozuna’s new five-year pact with Atlanta has a maximum guarantee of $80 million, assuming the club exercises its option for 2025, and an annual average of $16 million, lower than the $18 million he played for last season . . .
The ability of the St. Louis Cardinals to acquire star third baseman Nolan Arenado from the Colorado Rockies parallels their pickup of slugging first baseman Paul Goldschmidt from the Arizona Diamondbacks on Dec. 5, 2018 . . .
Happy retirement to Daniel Murphy, who owns the record for homering in the most consecutive postseason games (6) . . .
When Bert Campaneris became the first man to play nine positions in a game, he had to leave in the ninth after a home-plate collision with incoming baserunner Ed Kirkpatrick . . .
When Larry MacPhail, Dan Topping, and Del Webb bought the Yankees on Jan. 25, 1945, the purchase price — for the entire team — was $2.8 million.
Leading Off
A Historical Perspective on the Florida State League
By Brian Koss
The Florida State League will start the 2021 season as a Low-A ball league with 10 franchises.
While the league might have lost two teams ( Charlotte Stone Crabs and Florida Fire Frogs) and changed from A-Advanced to Low-A over the off-season, change has been a major part of FSL history.
In 2000, the Florida State League included teams like the Vero Beach Dodgers, Kissimmee Cobras and Brevard County Manatees. In 1990, there were 14 teams and three divisions, with teams like the Miami Miracle, Baseball City Royals and West Palm Beach Expos.
The Yankees were training in Ft. Lauderdale and the Red Sox were in Winter Haven. The Rangers, White Sox, Royals and Dodgers were all still hosting spring training in Florida and had FSL affiliates.
That was before there were any MLB franchises (Marlins - 1993 and Rays - 1998) in the state of Florida. The original Miami Marlins played in the FSL from 1962-70 and 1980-88, as an affiliate of the Phillies and the Orioles.
Early Days
The Florida State League dates back all the way to the 1919 season. The "Original Six" teams included the Bartow Polkers, Bradenton Growers, Lakeland Highlanders, Orlando Caps, Sanford Celeryfeds and Tampa Smokers. These teams were concentrated in Central Florida, along what today would be the I-4 Corridor (I-4 wasn't built until 1959).
Sanford won the league's first title. The FSL would add the St. Petersburg Saints and Daytona Beach Islanders in 1920. Throughout the 1920s, teams like the Miami Hustlers, Sarasota Gulls, West Palm Beach Sheriffs and Fort Myers Palms would join the league. However, the FSL would be dismantled in 1928, only to restart in 1936.
The league's relaunch in 1936 would include a brand-new set of host cities, save Daytona Beach and Sanford. The Deland Reds, Gainesville G-Men, Palatka Azaleas and St. Augustine Saints reoriented the league’s geography. The FSL added the Orlando Gulls and Leesburg Gondoliers in 1937. Orlando would soon change its nickname to the Senators and Leesburg to the Anglers.
Throughout the 1940s and '50s, the league remained roughly the same. The big change would occur in 1962, when Minor League Baseball decided to restructure.
The Modern Era
The early Florida State League was considered a Class D league — the equivalent of a Rookie League. Further restructuring of Minor League Baseball took place following the 1962 season.
Beginning with the 1963 season, the Florida State League became a "Single-A" league. Then, in 1990, the FSL became an A-Advanced or High-A league.
Even though the FSL’s status has been changed in 2021, there's been a remarkable amount of stability for the league over the course of nearly a century.
The strategic importance of the Florida State League has likely been the reason. Despite the shuffling of teams around the state, the FSL franchises are also exclusively affiliated to teams that host Spring Training in Florida. The only current exception to that rule is the Daytona Tortugas (Reds).
Franchises invest in the facilities and keep some important front office staff working at their Florida location. These investments greatly benefit the players and teams alike.
They also keep the franchises tied to the communities in which they train, although those relationships are often temporary. One exception to that rule is the relationship between the city of Lakeland and the Detroit Tigers.
The longest-standing partnership between an MLB franchise and a minor-league affiliate is the Tigers in Lakeland (1967). Lakeland has remained the Spring Training home for the franchise (consecutively) since 1966. Their association predates that by a few years.
While most Grapefruit League teams have moved their Spring Training locations (and FSL affiliates) to the Gulf Coast or Southeast part of the state, Lakeland remains the only interior city still hosting spring training and an FSL affiliate.
2021 and Beyond
As the Florida State League enters the 2021 season, many changes have swept across Minor League Baseball. The loss of two franchises and downgrading from Advanced-A will impact the FSL in certain ways. Most prospects will debut for their affiliate clubs in the FSL and the top prospects will depart by mid-season (if not sooner).
The FSL, however, remains more intact than many other leagues. The New York-Penn League was dismantled. The Pioneer League (Rookie) went independent. The Appalachian League (Rookie) converted to a college wood-bat league.
To survive the 2020 lost season and the 2020-2021 MiLB reorganization is an accomplishment in itself.
The Florida State League is just one league within the umbrella of Minor League Baseball. But it has played such an important role in the history of MiLB and their MLB affiliates.
Each league has its own story to tell. The lost teams, ballparks and players who have passed through all have made their mark on the history of the game.
As the 2021 season approaches, it is time to discover that history and tell those stories.
If the lost season has taught us anything, it's that we shouldn't take the game for granted. In 2021, it's time to support your local team and keep the history, tradition and culture of Minor League Baseball alive for the generations to come.
Brian Koss of Horizon West, FL is a Senior Editor at LegendsOnDeck.com. Contact him at brianmkoss@gmail.com or Twitter at @kosscountry.
Cleaning Up
We’re Celebrating Babe Ruth’s Birthday Today
By Dan Schlossberg
Today’s date is February 6. No ordinary date in baseball history, mind you.
George Herman Ruth was born in Baltimore on this date in 1895. And Henry Louis Aaron was born one day earlier, in Mobile, in 1934.
Both men started and ended their careers in the same city, Ruth in Boston and Aaron in Milwaukee, and both became icons of the sports world for their achievements in baseball.
Ruth, who began as a left-handed pitcher, was the first man to hit 60 home runs in a season and 714 in his career. He held the latter record for 39 years, until Aaron passed him, and the one-year mark for 34, when Roger Maris hit one more in a year weakened by expansion pitching.
Aaron was the undisputed career leader for 33 years, though many insiders insist he still owns the crown. Barry Bonds may have hit seven more but only with the apparent help of performance-enhancing substances.
In a pandemic-plagued year when the season is likely to be impacted again, baseball fans should make it a point to peruse the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum in Baltimore.
Ruth first donned Yankee pinstripes exactly a century ago, making a pilgrimage to the museum this year even more meaningful. Only 20-40 people per day visit because of the pandemic, so it’s easy to see and savor everything, including the gift shop.
“Babe Ruth remains the ultimate icon,” says John Gibbons, the Ruth scholar who serves as president emeritus and historian for the Baltimore shrine. “He represents the significance of American sports not only in American culture but in world culture.”
Many fans have a solitary image of Ruth as the rotund slugger who batted ahead of Lou Gehrig but there’s much more to learn. Who knew that he was an accomplished pianist, for example? Somehow, it’s easier to picture Harry Truman sitting down at a piano than Babe Ruth. But he could play — on and off the diamond.
Run by people who care, the Ruth museum contains all kinds of priceless artifacts, both from his personal and professional life.
He was so revered that Hank Aaron received a torrent of hate mail from fans who didn’t want to see his record erased. The fact that Aaron was a black man going after the most hallowed white-held record in sports only made the messages more vitriolic.
It’s hard to compare Aaron and Ruth, who played in different eras. In Ruth’s day, unlike Aaron’s, there was no jet lag from coast-to-coast travel, no parade of relief pitchers, and no publicity spotlight from the constant cameras of television.
Nor was Ruth victimized by fans screaming racial epithets from the stands during games.
But Ruth’s numbers remain larger than life — especially that .342 career batting average. He saved baseball after the Black Sox Scandal almost killed it and he epitomized the Roaring '20s and beyond.
Quiet and dignified, Aaron was a worthy successor to the bombastic Ruth and a great ambassador for baseball wherever he went. That’s why the fans in Cooperstown gave him the loudest and longest ovation anyone received at the most recent induction ceremony, in 2019.
Today, on Babe Ruth’s birthday, we honor both men.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg is a national baseball writer for forbes.com and columnist for Ball Nine, Sports Collectors Digest, Latino Sports, and other outlets. His e.mail is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia
Warren Spahn, a pitcher, homered for the Braves in 17 consecutive seasons . . .
When the Seattle Mariners gave the rookie Ichiro Suzuki the same No. 51 previously worn by Randy Johnson, the Japanese outfielder promised the pitcher not to “bring shame” on the number . . .
The first man to manage the Chicago Cubs after the team went five years with a board of rotating “head coaches” was Leo Durocher . . .
Neither Walter Alston nor Tommy Lasorda had an illustrious playing career but both made the Hall of Fame as managers with a combined 43 years in that role.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Brian Harl [bchrom831@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.
Very much enjoyed the FSL recap - quite illuminating within the context of the ongoing MiLB restructuring. Great piece.