Introduction to 1951 Season Blog

I am making a major project of following the 1951 baseball season.

Inspired in part by the song “Talkin’ Baseball” with a chorus which includes “Willie, Mickey, and the Duke”, I was looking for a season with those three Hall of Famers on the field at the same time in New York. I was also looking for a season to compare the New York teams (Dodgers, Giants, and Yankees, with the Los Angeles teams (Hollywood Stars and Los Angeles Angels) of the Pacific Coast League (PCL). It needed to be a season when Minor League Baseball was still a major deal.

1951 was a season with one of the greatest numbers of minor leagues in the history of Organized Baseball. In fact, the PCL was such a big deal that it was petitioning Organized Ball to be considered a Major League. While that didn’t happen, in 1952 the PCL was promoted to “Open” status, basically removing it from the restrictions imposed on the other AAA leagues.

As it turns out, 1951 was also my first baseball season: I was born in Los Angeles on December 1, 1950. Duke Snider was patrolling center field in Brooklyn. It was the Rookie Year for Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, and the final year for the great Joe DiMaggio. It was also a season with great drama.

There were a total of 57 minor leagues in 9 classifications: 3 Class AAA leagues, 2 Class AA leagues, 4 Class A, 9 Class B, 13 Class C, 19 Class D leagues, 3 Foreign leagues, 3 Independent leagues, and the Negro American League.

Today there are 28 minor leagues including 7 Independent leagues not affiliated with Major League Baseball. The classifications have changed as well. Gone are the B, C, & D classifications and replaced with classifications like Rookie league. In addition to the 7 Independent leagues, there are 3 AAA leagues including the Mexican League, 3AA leagues, 3 Advanced A leagues, 2 A leagues, 2 Short Season A leagues, 4 Rookie leagues, 2 Foreign leagues (Japan), and 2 Foreign Rookie Summer leagues in the Caribbean.

In 1951, the Brooklyn Dodgers had 19 minor league teams, the Yankees had 16, and the Giants 15. Today the Dodgers have 7 minor league affiliates including the Dominican Summer League.