Western Association

The "Western Association" was the name of five different leagues in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1878, became the "Western Association" in 1888, before changing its name to the Western League in 1893. Under new ownership by the end of the 1890s, the league began positioning itself into larger cities, became the American League in 1900 and began competing directly against the National League of Major League Baseball by 1901.

A separate Western Association was formed in 1894 with clubs in Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois and Missouri - with a team in faraway Denver, Colorado added in 1895. This league ceased operations in 1898, revived the following season, and renamed itself the Central League in 1900. Two leagues called the Western Association existed in 1901. One had eight teams in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, West Virginia and Indiana; it folded after only one year. The other loop, confusingly located in the same geographic area, was the former Interstate League; it reverted to its original identity in 1902.

The most long-lived Western Association played between 1905 and 1954. Originally the Missouri Valley League, it existed for 42 years during that half century, suspending operations during both world wars and for one season (1933) during the Great Depression. It was largely a Class C circuit, meaning it was a lower minor league, above only the Class D level.

1905 League

Teams in Joplin, Missouri, Leavenworth, Kansas, Sedalia, Missouri, Springfield, Missouri, and Topeka, Kansas joined from the Missouri Valley League. Teams from Guthrie, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma joined from the Southwestern League. A new team in Wichita, Kansas formed and joined the league.

1905

1908

The Leavenworth team folded, and a new team in Enid, Oklahoma, formed and joined the league,

1911

The teams in Enid and Guthrie folded. New teams in Coffeyville, Kansas, Fort Smith, Arkansas, Independence, Kansas, Muskogee, Oklahoma, and Tulsa, Oklahoma formed and joined the league. The Joplin and Springfield teams folded May 10, the Coffeyville and Independence teams June 14, and all other teams and the league itself on June 19.

Oklahoma City beat Muskogee 4 games to 3 for the championship.

1916

Enid and Okmulgee tied 3 games to 3 in the championship round.

1921

Ardmore beat Okmulgee 4 games to none for the championship.

1924

Ardmore moved to the Oklahoma State League, and Enid moved to the Southwestern League. Teams from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Hutchinson, Kansas, Muskogee, Oklahoma, and Topeka, Kansas, joined from the Southwestern League. The Bartlesville team, with a record of 19-23, moved to Ardmore, Oklahoma on June 8, where their record was 56-59. The Joplin team, with a record of 25-24, moved to Bartlesville on June 16, where their record was 44-63.

1927

The team in Joplin folded. A team from St. Joseph, Missouri, joined from the Western League, and one fro Topeka, Kansas joined from the Southwestern League. A new team in Muskogee, Oklahoma, formed and joined the league. The team in St. Joseph, with a record of 38-32, moved to Joplin on July 7, where their record was 35-28.

1930

The Maud team moved back to Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Springfield beat Bartlesville 5 games to 4 for the title. The Atchinson and Springfield teams moved to the Western League. The Belleville and Muskogee teams, and the Western Association itself, folded.

1934 League

The new League and all six member teams were created. The season was broken into halves, with the first-half and second-half winners competing in the championship. The founding teams were in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Hutchinson, Kansas, Joplin, Missouri, Muskogee, Oklahoma, Ponca City, Oklahoma, Springfield, Missouri.

1934

Ponca City won the title over Joplin 5 games to 2.

1937

1940

Fort Smith beat Topeka 4 games to 3 for the title.

1943-1945

The League suspended play because of World War II.

1946

Springfield moved to St. Joseph. New teams formed in Leavenworth, Kansas and Salina, Kansas. Because of the playoff format, the team with the best overall record, the newly-formed Leavenworth Braves, did not qualify for the playoffs.

1949

Springfield moved back to Hutchinson again, changing their name and losing their affiliation. This season, St. Joseph had the best winning percentage in the history of this incarnation of the league. Perhaps coincidentally, Leavenworth had the worst winning percentage in the history of this version of the league in the same year.

1952

This year, the league returned to the 1st-half winner vs. 2nd-half winner playoff format.

Blackwell beat Topeka 3 games to zero, and St. Joseph beat Muskogee 3 games to 2 in the first round of the playoffs. Blackwell beat St. Joseph 4 games to 1 for the title. After the season, Blackwell joined the Sooner State League, and the other seven teams, and the league itself, folded.

The Western Association prospered during the minor league baseball boom that followed World War II, with its clubs in Topeka, Kansas, and St. Joseph, Missouri, drawing over 100,000 fans and most of its eight clubs tied to major league farm systems. But the bust that followed in the early 1950s, caused by the Korean War, the advent of television, and a retrenchment in MLB farm systems, also buffeted the WA. It finally disbanded after the 1954 season, its champion Topeka club, a Chicago White Sox affiliate, drawing half the number of fans the team had drawn during the late 1940s.

=References=
*Johnson, Lloyd and Wolff, Miles, ed., "The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball." Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 1997.
*Sumner, Benjamin Barrett. "Minor League Baseball Standings:All North American Leagues, Through 1999." Jefferson, N.C.:McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0781-6