The Northwestern League was a sports league that operated in the Central United States during the early years of professional baseball for six seasons: 1879, 1883–1884, 1886–1887, and 1891. After the 1887 season, the league was replaced by the Western Association, although the Northwestern League returned for its final season in 1891 as an

independent baseball league An independent baseball league is a professional baseball organization in the United States or Canada that is not overseen by Major League Baseball and is outside the Minor League Baseball clubs affiliated to it. The Northern League and Frontie ...

. The Northwestern League of 1883–1884 is considered the first baseball "

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

", as it was party to the National Agreement of 1883, along with the National League and

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

, whereby the leagues agreed to honor each other's suspensions, expulsions, and player reserve clauses, and established territorial rights. An unrelated

Northwestern League The Northwestern League was a sports league that operated in the Central United States during the early years of professional baseball for five seasons: 1879, 1883–1884, and 1886–1887. After the 1887 season, the league was replaced by the We ...

, located in the Pacific Northwest, later formed in 1905.

Results by season

The league operated for a total of six seasons, during a span of 13 years.

1879

Ted Sullivan 1893 Nashville American illustration

Four teams participated in the 1879 season, which ran from May 1 to July 7. Source:

1883

The 1883 season featured eight teams and ran from May 1 to September 29. Source:

1884

The 1884 season began on May 1 with 12 teams. The Bay City team disbanded in late July and was replaced by Evansville. In early August, multiple other teams disbanded. Play continued through August 13, at which time Milwaukee had the best record of teams still active. Milwaukee was later offered the league championship for the abbreviated season, but declined it. PhillipsHorace

Source:

The league reorganized on August 14, and started a second season with a limited schedule of 24 games planned for each of four teams. This short season would also end early due to financial difficulties, with the final game played on September 7. Source: The St. Paul and Milwaukee teams were late-season additions to the major league

Union Association The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for just the 1884 season. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season. Seven of the twelve teams who were in the Association at some poi ...

1886–1887

In 1886, the league was recreated when the

Duluth Jayhawks , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

;

Eau Claire Lumbermen Eau or EAU may refer to: * The French word for water * Eau (trigraph), a trigraph of the Latin script * EAU, the IATA code for the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport in Wisconsin, United States * East Africa University, a private university in Pu ...

;

St. Paul Freezers The St. Paul Freezers were a minor league baseball team based in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1886, the "Freezers" played as members of the Independent baseball league, Independent level Northwestern League, placing fourth in the six-team league. The S ...

, Minneapolis Millers, Milwaukee Brewers, and the

Oshkosh, Wisconsin Oshkosh is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, of which it is the county seat. The city had a population of 66,816 in 2020, making it the ninth-largest city in Wisconsin. It is also adjacent to the Town of Oshkosh. History Oshkosh was ...

team composed the league. Duluth won the championship. In 1887, the Northwestern League featured the

Des Moines Hawkeyes Des is a masculine given name, mostly a short form (hypocorism) of Desmond. People named Des include: People * Des Buckingham, English football manager * Des Corcoran, (1928–2004), Australian politician * Des Dillon (disambiguation), severa ...

Duluth Freezers The Duluth Freezers were a minor league baseball team based in Duluth, Minnesota. In 1886 Duluth began minor league baseball play. In 1886 and 1887, Duluth played as members of the Independent baseball league, Independent level Northwestern League ...

, Eau Claire,

LaCrosse Freezers Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensivel ...

Milwaukee Cream Citys The Cream City Club of Milwaukee, Wisconsin was a baseball team in the 1860s, usually known as the Cream Citys. The Cream City Base Ball Club was organized in October 1865, with Henry H. West as its first president, and rose to the upper echelon of ...

, Minneapolis Millers, Oshkosh and the

St. Paul Saints The St. Paul Saints are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and have played their home games at CHS Field since 2015. They prev ...

. Oshkosh won the championship.

1891

Teams

* Bay City, Michigan: Bay City * Dayton, Ohio: Dayton * Detroit, Michigan: Detroit Wolverines * Evansville, Indiana:

Evansville Hoosiers Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the state's List of cities in Indiana, ...

* Fort Wayne, Indiana: Ft. Wayne * Grand Rapids, Michigan:

Grand Rapids Shamrocks Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commun ...

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...

: Peoria Distillers *

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...

Terre Haute Hottentots The Terre Haute Hottentots were a Minor League Baseball team from Terre Haute, Indiana, that played in the Northwestern League in 1891, Illinois–Iowa League in 1892, Western Interstate League in 1895, Western League in 1895, Class C Central ...

Standings

League president: W. H. Ketcham Note: Peoria and Dayton disbanded July 16; Bay City disbanded June 7; Detroit disbanded June 6
Peoria won the first and second split-season. Evansville won the third split-season. Schedule:

References

External links

Northwestern League - Baseball Reference
Defunct minor baseball leagues in the United States Baseball leagues in Iowa Baseball leagues in Illinois Baseball leagues in Wisconsin Baseball leagues in Indiana Baseball leagues in Minnesota Baseball leagues in Michigan Baseball leagues in Ohio Baseball leagues in Nebraska