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| Classification |
|
|---|---|
| Sport | Baseball |
| Founded | 1911 |
| President | Dan Moushon[1] |
| No. of teams | 10 |
| Country | United States |
| Most recent champion | Bluefield Ridge Runners (2025) |
| Most titles | Bluefield Blue Jays (14) |
| Streaming partner | AWRE Sports[2] |
| Official website | appyleague.com |
TheAppalachian League is acollegiate summer baseball league that operates in theAppalachian regions ofTennessee,Virginia,West Virginia, andNorth Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using woodenbats, its season runs from June through August. The league is part ofMajor League Baseball andUSA Baseball's Prospect Development Pipeline.
Between 1911 and 2020, the Appalachian League operated as part ofMinor League Baseball and various of its teams were low-level affiliates ofMajor League Baseball franchises. It operated as aClass D league during four stints through 1962, then was classified as aRookie Advanced league from 1963 to 2020.
The original Appalachian League existed for four seasons from 1911 to 1914 and was classified as aClass D circuit.[3] All teams were independent with noMajor League Baseball (MLB) affiliation in the era. The charter Appalachian League teams were theAsheville Moonshiners, Bristol Boosters,Cleveland Counts,Johnson City Soldiers,Knoxville Appalachians, andMorristown Jobbers, playing in the inaugural season.[4] After a six-year absence, the league reorganized for five seasons from 1921 to 1925, and, as before, it consisted entirely of independent teams at the Class D level.[3] Following an 11-year period of inactivity, the third iteration of the Class D Appalachian League played from 1937 to 1955.[3] The league went dormant in 1956, but was revived in 1957.[5]
Along with a reorganization of Minor League Baseball in 1963, the Appalachian League reformed and was classified as aRookie-level league.[5] In its final years as an MLB-affiliated league, the Appalachian League was one of two "Rookie Advanced" minor leagues along with thePioneer League. As such, it occupied the second-lowest rung in the minor league ladder. Although classified as a Rookie league, the level of play was slightly higher than that of the two "complex" Rookie leagues, theGulf Coast League andArizona League. Unlike the complex leagues, Appalachian League teams charged admission and sold concessions. It was almost exclusively the first fully professional league in which many players competed; most of the players had just been signed out of high school and were further along in their development than players in the "complex" leagues. It was a short-season league that competed from late June (when major league teams signed players whom they selected in the amateur draft) to early September.
It continued to operate as a Rookie Advanced league through 2020, with the start of the 2020 season postponed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic before ultimately being cancelled.[6][7] Thus, 2019 was the Appalachian League's last season of operation within Minor League Baseball, with theJohnson City Cardinals winning the league championship. Entering the2021 Major League Baseball season, MLB stated that 29 of its 30 teams had players who had played in the Appalachian League when it was part of Minor League Baseball, with a total of 139 such players onOpening Day rosters.[8][a]
In conjunction with a contraction of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Appalachian League was converted to an amateurcollegiate summer baseball league designed for rising freshmen and sophomores.[9] The reconfigured league become a part of Major League Baseball's Prospect Development Pipeline, a collaboration between MLB andUSA Baseball. It is scheduled to play a 48-game regular season and continue to host an annual All-Star Game. Each of the league's 10 cities will continue to host teams in the new configuration of the Appalachian League.[10]
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League champions have been determined by different means since the Appalachian League's formation in 1911. Before 1984, the champions were usually the league pennant winners. With only a few early exceptions, champions since 1984 have been the winner of postseason playoffs.[11]
The league established a hall of fame in 2019; through 2022 elections, 46 people have been inducted.[12] Members of the 2021 Hall of Fame induction class includedOrlando Cepeda, Dotty Cox, Mahlon Luttrell,Joe Mauer,Ron Necciai, andJimmy Rollins.CC Sabathia andJim Leyland were the two members of the 2022 induction class.
