The North American League (officially known as the North American Baseball League) was 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 ...

that began play in the 2011 season. The league consisted of a merger of three independent leagues, the Northern League of

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United League Baseball United League Baseball was an independent baseball league that operated in Texas. The league operated from 2006 to 2009. The league then temporarily merged with the Northern League and the Golden Baseball League to form the North American Leagu ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, and the

Golden Baseball League The Golden Baseball League was an independent baseball league based in San Ramon, California, with teams located in the western United States, western Canada and northwest Mexico. The GBL was not affiliated with Major League Baseball or the orga ...

based in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

and

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

and was a last-ditch effort to save the teams in said league. The league's chairman of the board was

Dave Kaval David A. Kaval (born October 28, 1975) is the seventh and current president of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball. He previously served as president of Major League Soccer club San Jose Earthquakes and founded the Golden Baseball Le ...

, former CEO of Diamond Sports and Entertainment (owners of the now-defunct GBL), league president was Brian MacInnes and main board member was James C. Peters. After playing two seasons, the North American League folded.

Travel issues and division alignment

To keep travel costs from being a financial issue for the teams, in 2011 the league played in a division structure where teams played 75% of their 96-game schedule within their division and made just one lengthy roadtrip of 12 games outside their division. The season concluded with divisional playoffs followed by a North American Championship Series. As of the 2012 season there was no inter division play. The North and United played all games within their own division. The only play outside the division was supposed to be a 3 out of 5 games for the North American Baseball League championship. The United Division refused to play a championship series. The 2012 United Division championship series saw the Edinburg Roadrunners defeating the Fort Worth Cats, three games to none. In the North Division championship series, the San Rafael Pacifics topped Na Koa Ikaika Maui, two games to one.

Level of play

The roster rules allowed all teams to keep their existing players from 2010. The three predecessor leagues had contracts of 35 players purchased by Major League organizations in 2010. In addition, these three leagues placed half of the prospects on the

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

Top Indy Prospects List and six of the 14 players on the 2010 Baseball America All-Indy First Team.

Downfall of the league

On March 27, 2012, it was announced that Diamond Sports & Entertainment walked away as management of the league. As the 2012 season came to a close, the league finally folded due to financial instability and franchises withdrawing from the league.

Teams that played

Teams that never played

Henderson RoadRunners The Henderson RoadRunners were an independent professional baseball team based out of Henderson, Nevada. They were members of the Western Division in the North American League and were scheduled to begin play in 2011 at Lied Field at Morse Stadi ...

Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the second largest city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with an estimated population of 320,189 in 2019. The city is part of the Las Vegas Vall ...

– relocated from

St. George, Utah St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northe ...

and were to have been a charter member of the league, but Morse Field was not ready to play and the franchise folded one year later.

Notes and references

External links

North American League
{{Professional Baseball Defunct professional sports leagues in the United States Defunct independent baseball leagues in the United States Defunct baseball leagues in Canada Sports leagues established in 2011 Sports leagues disestablished in 2012 Professional sports leagues in Canada 2011 establishments in Canada 2011 establishments in the United States 2012 disestablishments in Canada 2012 disestablishments in the United States