The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league, established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. It is a Class A league that plays a full season; its players are typically players in their second or third year of professional play.
The National Basketball League (NBL) was a professional men's basketball league in the United States established in 1937. After the 1948–49 season, its twelfth, it merged with the Basketball Association of America (BAA) to create the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The Fort Wayne TinCaps are a Class A Minor League Baseball team based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, who are affiliated with the San Diego Padres, and play in the Midwest League. They won the franchise's fourth Midwest League Championship, and first in Fort Wayne, in 2009.
The United Hockey League (UHL), originally known as the Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997 and last known as the International Hockey League from 2007 to 2010, was a low-level minor professional ice hockey league, with teams in the United States and Canada. The league was headquartered in Rochester, Michigan, and, in its last year, consisted of seven teams. It folded in 2010, with most of its teams joining the Central Hockey League. The Central Hockey League teams still operating in 2014 were then added to ECHL. The only former CoHL/UHL/IHL teams still active as of 2018 are the Fort Wayne Komets and Kalamazoo Wings.
The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This team was previously a member of the Central Hockey League, the original International Hockey League, and the second International Hockey League. They have won four post-season championship titles in the original IHL in 1963, 1965, 1973 and 1993, four in the UHL/second IHL in 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2010, and one in the CHL in 2012. In all of North American professional hockey, only the Original Six teams of the NHL and the Hershey Bears of the AHL have played continuously in the same city with the same name longer than the Komets.
Charles Herbert Klein, nicknamed the "Hoosier Hammer", was an American professional baseball outfielder. Klein played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs (1934–1936), and Pittsburgh Pirates (1939). He was one of the most prodigious National League sluggers in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and was the first All-Star Game player to be selected as a member of two different MLB teams. Klein was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980.
Jesse Joseph Haines, nicknamed "Pop", was a right-handed pitcher in for the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). After a lengthy stint in minor league baseball, he played briefly in 1918, then from 1920 to 1937. He spent nearly his entire major league career with the Cardinals. Haines pitched on three World Series championship teams. Though he had a kind personality off the field, Haines was known as a fiery competitor during games.
The Fort Wayne Fusion was a 2007 af2 expansion team in the Midwest Division of the American Conference. They played their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which was the former home of the defunct National Indoor Football League/United Indoor Football franchise, the Fort Wayne Freedom.
The Fort Wayne Mad Ants are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League, located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Allen County War Memorial Coliseum is the home venue for the team. The team is the first minor league basketball franchise to play in Fort Wayne since the Fort Wayne Fury of the Continental Basketball Association. The Mad Ants won their first D-League championship in 2014. In September 2015, the Indiana Pacers purchased the Mad Ants, which thus became the Pacers' one-to-one D-League affiliate.
George Frederick Miller was an American professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1884 through 1896 for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys / Pirates, St. Louis Browns, and Louisville Colonels. In 1894, he was player-manager for the Browns. Miller was known by the nicknames "Doggie", "Foghorn" and "Calliope", the first referring to Miller's dog breeding hobby and the latter two referring to the loud, rough voice he brought to the field.
Fred Knipscheer is a retired professional ice hockey player who played 28 games in the National Hockey League. He played with the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues.
Pierre-Claude Drouin is a former Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played for the Boston Bruins, various teams in Europe, and the Fort Wayne Komets of the Central Hockey League.
The Central League was a minor league baseball league that operated sporadically from 1903–1917, 1920–1922, 1926, 1928–1930, 1934, and 1948–1951. In 1926, the league merged mid-season with the Michigan State League and played under that name for the remainder of the season. The Central League later reformed in 1928.
The Bowling Green Hot Rods are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the Class A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and play their home games at Bowling Green Ballpark which opened in 2009. The team is named for the city's connections to the automotive and racing industries such as the National Corvette Museum, Holley Carburetor, Beech Bend Raceway, and the Bowling Green Assembly Plant.
Below are select minor league players of the San Diego Padres organization and the rosters of their minor league affiliates:
Konstantin Vitalievich Shafranov is a retired professional Kazakhstani ice hockey player who played five games in the National Hockey League. He played for the St. Louis Blues. In 1996, he won the Gary F. Longman Memorial Trophy as the best rookie in the International Hockey League (IHL). Two years later he was named to the IHL's end of season all-star team, as the second best right-wing in the league.
Joanne Weaver [″Joltin' Jo″] was a right fielder who played from 1951 through 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m), 142 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
The 1945 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season marked the third season of the circuit. The action began with six teams, like the previous season. But the Milwaukee Chicks and the Minneapolis Millerettes franchises were renamed the Grand Rapids Chicks and Fort Wayne Daisies respectively. The measure took effect for poor attendances in the cities of these teams the year before. At this point, the new clubs joined the Kenosha Comets, Racine Belles, Rockford Peaches and South Bend Blue Sox, all founding members of the league. The six teams competed through a 110 game schedule, while the split season was dropped in favor of a longer playoff format with the Shaugnessy format: the one seed facing the three seed and the two seed against the four seed. In addition, the pitching distance increased from 40 to 42 feet during the midseason.
The 1954 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season marked the twelfth and last season of the circuit. The AAGPBL was left with five teams after the Muskegon Belles franchise folded at the end of the past season. As a result, it was the lowest number of teams since its opening season in 1943. The Fort Wayne Daisies, Grand Rapids Chicks, Kalamazoo Lassies, Rockford Peaches and South Bend Blue Sox competed through a 96-game schedule, while the Shaugnessy playoffs featured the top four teams in a best-of-three first round series, with the two winning teams facing in a best-of-five series to decide the championship.
The Texas Association was a minor baseball league based in Texas. A league by that name first appeared in 1896, but folded following the season. A new league by that name returned in 1923 and played until 1926.
