Minor League Presidents
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MINOR LEAGUE PRESIDENTS compiled by Tony Baseballs www.minorleaguebaseballs.com This document deals only with professional minor leagues (both independent and those affiliated with Major League Baseball) since the foundation of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (popularly known as Minor League Baseball, or MiLB) in 1902. Collegiate Summer leagues, semi-pro leagues, and all other non-professional leagues are excluded, but encouraged! The information herein was compiled from several sources including the Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd Ed.), Baseball Reference.com, Wikipedia, official league websites (most of which can be found under the umbrella of milb.com), and a great source for defunct leagues, Indy League Graveyard. I have no copyright on anything here, it's all public information, but it's never all been in one place before, in this layout. Copyrights belong to their respective owners, including but not limited to MLB, MiLB, and the independent leagues. The first section will list active leagues. Some have historical predecessors that will be found in the next section. LEAGUE ASSOCIATIONS The modern minor league system traces its roots to the formation of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL) in 1902, an umbrella organization that established league classifications and a salary structure in an agreement with Major League Baseball. The group simplified the name to “Minor League Baseball” in 1999. MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL Patrick Powers, 1901 – 1909 Michael Sexton, 1910 – 1932 Judge William Bramham, 1933 – 1946 George M. Trautman, 1947 – 1963 Phil Piton, 1964 – 1971 Henry J. “Hank” Peters, 1972 – 1975 Robert R. “Bobby” Bragan, 1976 – 1978 Johnny Johnson, 1979 – 1988 Sal Artiaga, 1988 – 1991 Mike Moore, 1992 – 2007 Pat O'Conner, 2008 - Four independent leagues (American Association, Atlantic League, Can-Am League, and Frontier League) have developed a similar arrangement with the formation of the Independent Professional Baseball Federation (IPBF) ACTIVE MINOR LEAGUES AMERICAN ASSOCIATION Ind, 2006 - (Distinct from the defunct Triple-A American Association) Miles Wolff (Commissioner), 2006 - APPALACHIAN LEAGUE Class D 1911-1914, 1921-1925,1937-1955,1957-1962; Rookie 1963 - W.W. Miller, 1911 Jacob Smith, 1912 - 1913 E.F. Fisher, 1914 W.T. Ellison, 1921 Jacob Smith, 1922 George C. Davis, 1923 – 1925 E.B. Fisher, 1925 Ray Ryan, 1937 John Bernard, 1938 Ray Ryan, 1939 J. Ross Edgemon, 1940 – 1943 Charles T. Herndon, 1944 Carl A. Jones, 1945 – 1947 Chauncey De Vault, 1948 – 1955, 1957 – 1979 Paul Fyffe, 1980 – 1981 Bill Halstead, 1982 - 1995 Lee Landers, 1996 - ARIZONA LEAGUE Rookie 1988 - Bob Richmond, 1988 - ATLANTIC LEAGUE Ind 1998 - Bud Harrelson 1998 – 1999 Joe Klein 2000 – 2014 Rick White 2015 - CALIFORNIA LEAGUE Class C 1941-1942, 1946-1962; Class A (Advanced) 1963 - W.R. “Bill” Schroeder, 1941 – 1942, 1946 – 1947 Wiley K. Peterson, 1948 Jerry Donovan, 1949 – 1955 Edward J. Mulligan, 1956 – 1975 E.W. “Bill” Wickert, 1976 – 1981 Joe Gagliardi, 1982 – 2009 Charlie Blaney, 2010 - CANADIAN-AMERICAN LEAGUE Ind 2005 - Miles Wolff, 2005 - CAROLINA LEAGUE Class C 1945-1948; Class B 1949-1962; Class A (Advanced) 1963 - Dr. Thomas S. Wilson, 1945 – 1947 Carroll T. Brown, 1948 Herb J. Brett, 1949 Glen E. “Ted” Mann, 1949 – 1956 Julian Clyde “Bill” Jessup, 1957 – 1969 Wallace McKenna, 1970 – 1976 James B. Mills, 1977 – 1983 John E. Hopkins, 1984 - DESERT LEAGUE of PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL Independent (Fall League) 2016 - Luke Powell, 2016 - EASTERN LEAGUE (renamed from New York-Pennsylvania League) Class A, 1938 – 1962; Class AA 1963 – Thomas H. Richardson, 1938 – 1960 A. Rankin Johnson, 1961 – 1968 Thomas H. Richardson, 1969 – 1970 Roy Jackson, 1971 – 1973 P. Patrick McKernan, 1974 – 1981 Charles E. Eshbach, 1982 – 1992 John Levenda, 1993 – 1997 William B. Troubh, 1998 – 2002 Joseph Meacharn, 2003 – EMPIRE LEAGUE (renamed from North Country League) Ind 2016 - Eddie Gonzalez, 2016 - FLORIDA STATE LEAGUE Class D 1919-1920; Class C 1921-1924; Class D 1925-1928, 1936-1941, 1946-1962; Class A (Advanced) 1963- Walter W. Rose, 1919 – 1922 Al E. Lang, 1923 – 1925 J.B. Asher, 1926 – 1928 G.E. Gilliland, 1936 Henry Gray, 1937 – 1941 Al Combs, 1941 – 1946 E.L. Padgett, 1946 Al Combs, 1946 – 1947 A.S. Herlong, 1947 – 1948 Jim Butler, 1948 – 1949 Earle Bussey, 1950 John Krider, 1951 – 1952 Jack Dempsey, 1953 John Krider, 1953 – 1957 Julian Jackson, 1958 – 1960 Herb Smith, 1960 William McKechnie, Jr., 1961 - 1962 J. Roy Stockton, 1963 George G. MacDonald, Sr., 1964 – 1972 George G. MacDonald, Jr., 1972 – 1989 Chuck Murphy, 1990 – 2015 Ken Carson, 2015 - FRONTIER LEAGUE Ind 1993 - Bill Lee (Commissioner), 1994 - GULF COAST LEAGUE Rookie 1966 - (renamed from Florida Rookie League) George MacDonald, Sr., 1966 – 1971 George MacDonald, Jr., 1971 – 1979 Thomas J. Saffell, 1980 – 2009 Tim Brunswick, ???? INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE (renamed from Eastern League) CLASS AA 1912 – 1945, CLASS AAA 1946 - Edward G. Barrow, 1912 – 1917 John H. Farrell, 1918 David L. Fultz, 1919 – 1920 John Conway Toole, 1921 – 1928 Charles H. Knapp, 1929 – 1936 Warren Giles, 1936 Frank J. Shaugnessy, 1937 – 1960 Thomas H. Richardson, 1961 – 1965 George H. Sisler, Jr., 1966 – 1976 Roy Jackson, 1977 Harold Cooper, 1978 – 1989 Randy Mobley, 1990 - MIDWEST LEAGUE (renamed from the Mississippi-Ohio Valley League) Class D 1956-1962; Class A 1963- CC “Dutch” Hoffman, 1956 – 1962 Walter C. Wagner, 1963 – 1964 Jim Gruenwald, 1965 James Doster, 1966 – 1973 William K. Walters, 1974 – 1985 Ed Larson, 1986 George Spelius, 1987 – 2014 Richard Nussbaum, 2015 – NEW YORK-PENNSYLVANIA LEAGUE Class D 1939-1962; Class A (Short Season) 1963 - (known as Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York (P-O-N-Y) League, 1939-1956) Robert C. Stedler, 1939 – 1947 Vincent M. McNamara, 1948 – 1984 Leo A. Pinckney, 1985 - 1991 Robert F. Julian, 1992 - 2001 Ben J. Hayes, 2002 - NORTHWEST LEAGUE (renamed from Western International League) Class B 1955-1962; Class A (Short Season) 1963 - Arthur H. Pohlman, 1955 James M. Fleishman, 1956 – 1966 Hugh Luby, 1967 – 1968 John Carbray, 1969 – 1971 Bob Freitas, 1972 – 1973 Bob Richmond, 1974 – 1980 Bob Freitas, 1981 – 1984 Jack Cain, 1985 – 1990 Bob Richmond, 1991 - 2012 Michael Ellis, 2013 - PACIFIC ASSOCIATION Ind 2013 - (formed after the folding of North American League) Mike Marshall (Commissioner), 2013 – 2016 Jonathan Stone (Commissioner), 2017 - PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE Ind, 1903; Class A 1904-1911; Class AA 1912-1945; Class AAA 1946-1951; Open Classification 1952- 1957; Class AAA 1958 - Eugene F. Bert, 1903 – 1906 J. Cal Ewing, 1907 – 1909 Thomas F. Graham, 1910 – 1911 Allan T. Baum, 1912 – 1919 William H. McCarthy, 1920 – 1923 Harry A. Williams, 1924 – 1931 Hyland H. Baggerly, 1932 – 1935 Wilbur C. Tuttle, 1936 – 1943 Clarence H. Rowland, 1944 – 1954 Claire V. Goodwin, 1955 Leslie O'Connor, 1956 – 1959 Dewey Soriano, 1960 – 1968 William B. McKechnie, Jr., 1968 – 1973 Roy Jackson, 1974 – 1978 William S. Cutler, 1979 – 1997 Branch Rickey III, 1998 - PECOS LEAGUE Ind 2011 - Andrew Dunn (Commissioner), 2011 - PIONEER LEAGUE Class C 1939-1942, 1946-1962; Class A 1963; Rookie 1964 - J.P. “Jack” Halliwell, 1939 – 1952 Claude Engberg, 1953 – 1965 Ben Jewell, 1966 – 1969 Claude Engberg, 1970 – 1974 Ralph Nelles, 1975 – 1993 Jim McCurdy, 1994 - SOUTH ATLANTIC (SALLY) LEAGUE (renamed from the Western Carolinas League) Class A 1980 - John H. Moss, 1980 – 2007 Eric Krupa, 2008 - SOUTHERN LEAGUE (renamed from South Atlantic League (see Historical section)) Class AA 1964 - Sam C. Smith, 1964 – 1971 Billy Hitchcock, 1972 – 1980 Jimmy Bragan, 1981 – 1993 Arnold D. Fielkow, 1994 – 1999 Don Mincher, 2000 – 2011 Steve DeSalvo (Interim), 2012 Lori M. Webb, 2012 - SOUTHWEST LEAGUE Independent 2019 Mark Schuster, 2019 - TEXAS LEAGUE Class D 1902-1903, 1906; Class C 1904-1905, 1907-1910; Class B 1911-1920; Class A 1921-1935; Class I1 1936-1942; Class AA 1946 - John L. Ward, 1902 Newton D. Lassiter, 1903 Alex Abbey, 1904 J. Doak Roberts, 1904 – 1906 Dr. William Robbie, 1907 – 1908 Wilbur P. Allen, 1908 – 1913 J. Walter Morris, 1915 – 1920 J. Doak Roberts, 1920 – 1929 William B. Ruggles (Acting Pres.), 1929 J. Alvin Gardner, 1929 – 1954 John L. Reeves, 1954 Dick Butler, 1955 – 1963 James H. Burris, 1964 – 1965 Dick Butler, 1965 Hugh J. Finnerty, 1965 – 1969 Dick Butler, 1969 Robert R. “Bobby” Bragan, 1969 – 1975 Carl Sawatski, 1976 – 1991 J. Con Maloney (Acting Pres.), 1991 – 1992 Thomas B. Kayser, 1992 – 2016 Tim Purpura, 2017 - THOROUGHBRED BASEBALL LEAGUE Independent 2017 - Dallas Murphy Commissioner/Owner 2017- UNITED SHORE LEAGUE Independent 2016 - Andy Appleby (founder, president of General Sports and Entertainment), 2016 - DEFUNCT LEAGUES ALABAMA-FLORIDA LEAGUE Class D 1936-1939, 1951-1962 (known as ALABAMA STATE LEAGUE 1940-1941, 1946-1950 George M. Grant, 1936 – 1938 Charles T. Laney, 1939 – 1940 J. Eric Ballard, 1941 Jack Hovater, 1946 – 1948 Charles T. Laney, 1949 – 1950 G.D. Halstead, 1951 CC Hodge, 1952 – 1954 Sam C. Smith, 1955 – 1958 William Moore, 1959 - 1962 ALABAMA-TENNESSEE LEAGUE Class D 1921 G.R. Cowie, 1921 ALL-AMERICAN ASSOCIATION Ind 2001 (surviving teams joined the Central League and Southeastern League) Norb Ecksl AMERICAN ASSOCIATION Ind, 1902; Class A 1903-1911; Class AA 1912-1945; Class AAA 1946-1962, Class AAA 1969 – 1997 Thomas J. Hickey, 1902 – 1903 J. Edward Grillo, 1904 Joseph D. O'Brien, 1905 – 1908 Thomas J. Hickey, 1909 Thomas M. Chivington, 1910 – 1935 George Trautman, 1936 – 1945 Roy Hamey, 1946 Frank C. Lane, 1947 – 1948 Bruce Dudley, 1949 – 1953 Edward S. Doherty, 1953 – 1960 James Burris, 1961 – 1962 Inactive 1963 - 1968 Allie Reynolds, 1969 – 1971 Joe Ryan, 1972 – 1987 Ken Grandquist, 1988 Joe Ryan, 1989 Randy Mobley, 1990 – 1991 Branch B. Rickey, 1992 - 1997 ARIZONA STATE LEAGUE Class D 1928-1930 ARIZONA-TEXAS LEAGUE Class D 1931-1932, 1937-1939; Class C 1940-1941, 1947-1950, 1952-1954 (merged with Sunset League to form Southwest International League 1951-1952) ARIZONA-MEXICO LEAGUE Class C 1955-1958 Paul Davis, 1928 Fred Joyce, 1929 Wilford S.