The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. The Braves were founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1871, as the Boston Red Stockings. The club was known by various names until the franchise settled on the Boston Braves in 1912. The Braves are the oldest continuously operating professional sports franchise in North America.
The Frontier League is a professional baseball league based in the East North Central and Mid-Atlantic United States, and Central Canada. It operates as one of four Major League Baseball (MLB) Partner Leagues in the American independent baseball league system. Founded in 1993, the Frontier League is the oldest extant independent baseball league in North America to have never organized under the Minor League Baseball system.
The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball (MLB).
The Coastal Plain League (CPL) is a wood-bat collegiate summer baseball league, featuring college players recruited from throughout the nation. The league takes its name from the Class D level Coastal Plain League which operated in the area from 1937 to 1952.
The Florence Flamingos are an amateur baseball team that plays in Florence, South Carolina. The Flamingos are part of the Coastal Plain League, the collegiate summer baseball league located in the American Southeast.
The Gastonia Grizzlies were a collegiate summer baseball team playing in the Coastal Plain League. The team played its home games at Sims Legion Park in Gastonia, North Carolina, where they were known for their unique promotional events and fireworks shows. It was reported in October 2020 that the team was moving to Spartanburg, South Carolina starting with the 2021 season. The team's new name was announced as the Spartanburgers.
The Martinsville Mustangs are a baseball team in the Coastal Plain League, a collegiate summer baseball league. The team plays its home games at Hooker Field in Martinsville, Virginia. The Mustangs first started participating in the Coastal Plain League during the 2005 season.
The Wilmington Sharks are an American baseball team in the East Division of the Coastal Plain League (CPL), a collegiate summer baseball league. The Sharks play their home games at Buck Hardee Field at Legion Stadium in Wilmington, North Carolina. Buck Hardee Field is more commonly referred to as "The Shark Tank."
The Forest City Owls are a baseball team in the Coastal Plain League, a collegiate summer baseball league. The team played its inaugural 2008 season in Forest City, North Carolina after the same franchise, owned by Ken Silver, moved from Spartanburg, South Carolina in the offseason. The Owls play their home games at McNair Field, a new baseball stadium constructed near downtown Forest City by the municipal government utilizing town funds, private contributions, and more than $1 million in donations from Robert C. McNair, a Forest City native and owner of the NFL Houston Texans. The Owls won their home debut on Thursday, May 29, 2008, by a score of 4–2 over the Gastonia Grizzlies before 2,675 fans. McNair threw out the first pitch, and the Owls turned an ever-rare triple play in the top of the 6th inning.
Below is a partial list of Minor League Baseball players in the Los Angeles Angels system.
The Prospect League is a collegiate summer baseball league comprising teams of college players from North America and beyond. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. So as to maintain their college eligibility, players are not paid. Beginning in 2012, the league added four games to the season, making a total of 60 games per team.
The Norwich Sea Unicorns are a baseball team located in Norwich, Connecticut. From 2010 to 2020, they were members of Minor League Baseball's New York–Penn League (NYPL) as the Class A Short Season affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They play their home games at Senator Thomas J. Dodd Memorial Stadium. They were previously known as the Connecticut Tigers from 2010 to 2019. With Major League Baseball's reorganization of the minor leagues after the 2020 season, Norwich was not selected to continue in affiliated baseball. Starting with the 2021 season, Norwich plays in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League.
Class A Short Season was a level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States from 1965 through 2020. In the hierarchy of minor league classifications, it was below Triple-A, Double-A, Class A-Advanced, and Class A. Teams in Class A Short Season played about 75 to 80 games per season, compared to the 130- to 140-game seasons of most professional baseball minor leagues.
The Savannah Bananas are an exhibition barnstorming baseball team based in Savannah, Georgia. The team was founded in 2016 and has played at Grayson Stadium since its inaugural season. Until 2022, the Bananas competed as a collegiate summer baseball team in the Coastal Plain League's (CPL) West division, where they won three Petitt Cup championships. However, after the growth of their alternate "Banana Ball" format, the team transitioned entirely to exhibition games against their partner touring teams, the Party Animals, the Firefighters, and other "challenger" professional teams, similar to the decades-long format of basketball's Harlem Globetrotters and their partner touring team, the Washington Generals. The team has been featured by ESPN, The Wall Street Journal, CNN 10, and Sports Illustrated because of its on-field hijinks and viral videos.
The Portland Pickles are a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the South Division of the West Coast League, a premier collegiate summer baseball league based in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. The Pickles play their home games at Walker Stadium in Portland's Lents Park.
The Macon Bacon is a Georgia based wood-bat collegiate summer baseball team that began playing in the Coastal Plain League (CPL) in 2018. They have appeared in the league playoffs twice, and finished as the runner-up after a Championship appearance in their second season.
The Spartanburgers were a collegiate summer baseball team playing in the Coastal Plain League in 2021. The team played its home games at Duncan Park in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The team, formerly the Gastonia Grizzlies, relocated from Gastonia, North Carolina for the 2021 season. The team name, announced in February 2021, was just the one word, not using the city name. On December 21, 2020 Wesley Brown was named head coach. The team played their first game on May 27, 2021, losing at home to the Lexington County Blowfish. The team's mascot was Tom 8-0, a giant ketchup bottle.
Shepherd Stadium is a baseball stadium in Colonial Heights, Virginia which is home to the Tri-City Chili Peppers, a collegiate summer baseball team in the Coastal Plain League. Shepherd Stadium also hosts American Legion Post 284 baseball, the annual Optimist Club Boys' Invitational Baseball Tournament, Colonial Heights High School baseball, and city Rec and Parks youth baseball and softball programs. The stadium was built in 1948 and named for Mayor Fred R. Shepherd in 1951. A five-year renovation project was concluded in 2018.
Gavin James Cross is an American professional baseball outfielder in the Kansas City Royals organization. He played college baseball for the Virginia Tech Hokies.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to baseball across the world, mirroring its impact across all sports. Leagues across the world experienced delayed starts, cancelled seasons, limited or no fan attendance, game postponements, and other restrictions in 2020 and 2021. Most leagues, including Major League Baseball, began to transition back to a normal schedule with fan attendance in 2021. Since then, few leagues have widespread restrictions in place, but players may still miss time if they contract the virus.
