Sport | Minor league baseball |
---|---|
Founded | 1978 |
Founder | Roberto Maduro |
Inaugural season | 1979 |
Ceased | June 30, 1979 |
No. of teams | Six (first half) Four (second half) |
Country | United States Panama Puerto Rico Dominican Republic Venezuela |
Last champion(s) | Miami Amigos |
Official website | None |
The Inter-American League was a high-level circuit in Minor league baseball that lasted only three months before folding during the 1979 season.
The league was conceived both as an official Triple-A minor league circuit and member of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues. It was composed of six clubs unaffiliated with Major League Baseball farm systems.
The Inter-American loop was headed by Bobby Maduro, former owner of the Triple-A Havana Sugar Kings and a longtime scout and front-office executive active in Latin American countries and Major League Baseball.
A 130-game regular season was planned, while the six teams were located in the United States, Panama, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela(2). The league featured several well-known MLB veterans, with rosters averaging players between 26-29 years of age. [1]
But the new circuit was barely able to complete half its schedule, fatally wounded by "under-capitalized owners, internecine rivalries among Caribbean baseball powers, tropical monsoons, and unreliable air travel." [2]
On June 17, 1979, the Panama and Puerto Rico teams disbanded, leaving the league with only four clubs. Thirteen days later, the entire league folded. The Miami Amigos, led by future Major League manager Davey Johnson, were in first place with a 51–21 mark (.708) when the Inter-American League shut down. [3]
Clubs | W | L | W/L % | GB | Managers |
Miami Amigos | 51 | 21 | .708 | – | Davey Johnson |
Caracas Metropolitanos | 37 | 27 | .578 | 10 | Jim Busby |
Santo Domingo Azucareros | 38 | 29 | .567 | 10½ | Mike Kekich |
Petroleros de Zulia | 31 | 36 | .463 | 17½ | Luis Aparicio Gustavo Gil Pat Dobson |
Panama Banqueros | 15 | 36 | .294 | 25½ | Willy Miranda |
Puerto Rico Boricuas | 16 | 39 | .291 | 26½ | José Santiago |
José Rafael Santiago Alfonso is a former right-handed pitcher in American Major League Baseball. For some time during the 1980s, Santiago was also a boxing promoter in Puerto Rico; several of his boxing promotions were televised locally.
The Miami Marlins were a minor league baseball team based in Miami, Florida. The original Marlins were a Triple-A franchise in the International League from 1956 through 1960. The International League team was succeeded by a Single-A team in the Florida State League and today's Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball.
Triple-A is the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, Triple-A East and Triple-A West, with a total of 30 teams, 20 in the East and 10 in the West. Triple-A teams can be located both in smaller cities as well as larger metropolitan areas without Major League Baseball teams, such as Austin, Jacksonville, Columbus, and Charlotte.
Joe Tuminelli was a third baseman in Minor League Baseball. Listed at 5' 9", 165 lb., he batted and threw right handed.
Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a hierarchy of professional baseball minor leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball (MLB) and help prepare players to join major league teams. Those teams which are affiliated with MLB teams operate under the Commissioner of Baseball within the scope of organized baseball. Several leagues, known as independent baseball leagues, consist of teams with no affiliation to MLB teams.
The Miami Amigos were a short–lived minor league baseball team based in Miami, Florida in 1979. The Miami Amigos played as members of the Class AAA level Inter-American League and won the 1979 league championship in a shortened season.