Northwestern League

Introduction

The Northwestern League was a minor league baseball league that operated in the central United States during the late 19th century. The league’s name was used for the first time to an unrelated league that was formed in 1879. The league that is the subject of this page was formed in 1883 (142 years ago).

The Northwestern League is considered the first “minor league” as it had an agreement with the National League and American Association to honor player suspensions and reserve clauses. Unlike the earlier minor associations, it was conceived as a permanent organization and along with the NL and AA, was a party to the National Agreement of 1883. The agreement expected each team to respect the reserve lists of clubs in each league. Teams in the NL and the AA could only reserve players who had been paid at least $1,000. Northwestern League teams could reserve players paid $750, implicitly establishing the division into major and minor leagues. Over the next two decades, more minor leagues signed various versions of the National Agreement. Eventually, the minor leagues allied to negotiate jointly.

The Northwestern League lasted only a total of four seasons, playing two seasons, going on hiatus for one season (in 1885 when a number of new Baseball leagues started up), and then playing two more seasons before folding for good.

Classification

Top Minor League

Seasons Summary

YearChampion# of Teams
1883Toledo Blue Stockings8
1884Milwaukee Cream Citys14
1885n/an/a
1886Duluth Jayhawks6
1887Oshkosh8

League Championship Summary

# of seasons: 4

List of teams who won championships sorted by number of championships.

Team# of League Championships
Toledo Blue Stockings1 (1883)
Milwaukee Cream Citys1 (1884)
Duluth Jayhawks1 (1886)
Oshkosh1 (1887)

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