The Southern League is a Minor League Baseball league that has operated in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

since 1964. Along with the Eastern League and

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

, it is one of three circuits playing at the Double-A level, which is two grades below

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB). The league traces its roots to the original Southern League (1885–1899), the Southern Association (1901–1961), and the original

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

(1904–1963). The later circuit was renamed the Southern League in 1964, and the league elected to maintain records from that season onward. Following MLB's reorganization of the minor leagues in 2021, it operated as the Double-A South for one season before switching back to its previous moniker in 2022. In its inaugural 1964 season, the Southern League consisted of eight teams from

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

, and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

. Following contractions, expansions, and relocations, the league consists of eight teams in Alabama,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...

, and Tennessee. A league champion is determined at the end of each season. The Birmingham Barons have won 7 Southern League titles, the most among all teams in the league, followed by the Jacksonville Suns (6) and the Montgomery Rebels (5).

History

Predecessor leagues (1885–1963)

The original Southern League was formed prior to the 1885 season as an eight-team circuit playing in the

. It operated at various times as a Class B league. Fraught with financial problems, teams regularly dropped out before the season's end. After being nonoperational in 1891, 1892, and 1897, it disbanded permanently after halting play during the 1899 season. The Southern Association was formed in 1901 as a Class B circuit operating in nearly the same footprint as the first Southern League. It was elevated to Class A in 1902, Class A1 in 1936, and Double-A in 1946. The Southern Association remained a premier Southern baseball league until

radio and television broadcasts began to undercut attendance in the 1950s. The league disbanded after 1961. The original

, nicknamed the "SALLY League" and not related to the current

(formerly the

Western Carolinas League Portion of plaque displaying likeness of John Henry Moss at Municipal Stadium, Hagerstown, Maryland The Western Carolinas League was a Class D (1948–52; 1960–62) and a low Class A (1963–79) full-season league in American minor league base ...

), was formed in 1904. It operated at Class C until it was elevated to Class B in 1921 and Class A in 1946. A year after the Southern Association's disbandment, the SALLY League took its place at the Double-A level in 1963.

The modern league (1964–2019)

The Double-A SALLY League was reorganized as the Southern League in 1964. It elected to start with a clean slate and not maintain records prior to the 1964 season. The newly minted league wanted to distance itself from the SALLY League's past history in the low minors (Class C was roughly equivalent to an Advanced Rookie league today, while Class B was roughly equivalent to short-season Class A). Additionally, many leagues had contributed to its legacy. In its inaugural campaign, the six-team Southern League consisted of the Asheville Tourists, Birmingham Barons, Charlotte Hornets, Chattanooga Lookouts, Columbus Confederate Yankees, Knoxville Smokies, Lynchburg White Sox, and Macon Peaches. Sam C. Smith, previously president of the SALLY League, served as its president. From 1967 to 1969, the league was reduced to six teams. It went back to eight clubs in 1970, but dropped to seven in 1971. With an odd number of teams, the Southern League joined forces with the Double-A

as the Dixie Association in 1971. The two leagues played an interlocking schedule with individual league champions determined at the end of the season. Up to this point, the Southern League champions had been simply the regular season pennant winners. For the first time, the top two Southern League teams met in a best-of-three series to determine champions. The Charlotte Hornets defeated the Asheville Tourists, 2–1, and then defeated the Texas League champion Arkansas Travelers, 3–0, to win the Dixie Association championship. The partnership was dissolved after the season. President Smith died suddenly in April 1971, and Billy Hitchcock became the new president that August. Hitchcock introduced a number of changes that are still in use today. In 1972, the Southern League was split into two divisions, Eastern and Western. The playoffs, which began in the Dixie Association, were continued and expanded to a best-of-five series. The league also began selecting postseason All-Star teams and issuing awards for the Most Valuable Player, Most Outstanding Pitcher, and Manager of the Year. In 1976, it introduced a split-season format with the schedule divided in half and first and second half champions from each division being crowned. This expanded the playoffs to two rounds with the winners of each half competing for each division's championship and the those winners meeting for the league championship. With the addition of two teams in 1978, the Southern League grew to 10 teams. Other improvements under Hitchcock's presidency included stadium refurbishments and efforts to make the league more family-friendly. Attendance figures rose dramatically during his tenure. Jim Bragan became president in 1981 after Hitchcock's retirement. Over his 14 years leading the Southern League, attendance continued to grow as several cities built new ballparks. In 1994, Arnold D. Fielkow succeeded Bragan as president, and Don Mincher took over in 2000. Lori Webb became president in 2012 after Mincher's death that March.

Takeover by Major League Baseball (2020–present)

The start of the 2020 season was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

before ultimately being cancelled on June 30. As part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganization of the minor leagues, the Southern League was reduced to eight teams and temporarily renamed the "Double-A South" for the 2021 season. Following MLB's acquisition of the rights to the names of the historical minor leagues, the Double-A South was renamed the Southern League effective with the 2022 season.

Current teams

Structure and season

The Southern League is currently divided into two divisions, North and South, of four teams each. Previously, from 1972 to 2004, the league was split into Eastern and Western divisions. There were no divisions in place from 1964 to 1970. As of 2020, each club had 140 games scheduled per season. Utilizing a split-season schedule, each half consisted of 70 games. The season typically began during the first or second week of April and concluded in the first week of September on

Labor Day Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United ...

All-Star Game

The Southern League All-Star Game was an annual midsummer game between two teams of the league's players, one made up of All-Stars from North Division teams and the other from South Division teams. First held in 1964, the event predominantly consisted of a single team of the league's All-Stars versus a

team through 1998. The division versus division format was used continuously from 1999 to 2019. No game was held from 1991 to 1995 as the Southern League and the other two Double-A leagues, the Eastern League and

, participated in the Double-A All-Star Game instead.

Teams timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1964 till:2024 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor id:line value:pink id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a current league member id:Past value:rgb(0.4,0.80,0.67) # Use to indicate a stint in the Dixie Association (1971) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another current league id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to a now defunct league PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:Full from:1964 till:1967 text: Asheville Tourists (1964–1966; 1968–1975) bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1967 till:1968 bar:1 color:Full from:1968 till:1971 bar:1 color:Past from:1971 till:1972 bar:1 color:Full from:1972 till:1976 bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:1976 till:1980 text: WCL bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1980 till:2020 text:

SAL Sal, SAL, or S.A.L. may refer to: Personal name * Sal (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname Places * Sal, Cape Verde, an island and municipality * Sal, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province * Ca ...

bar:2 color:Full from:1964 till:1966 text: Birmingham Barons (1964–1965; 1967–1975; 1981–present) bar:2 color:Full from:1967 till:1971 bar:2 color:Past from:1971 till:1972 bar:2 color:Full from:1972 till:1976 bar:2 color:Full from:1981 till:2020 bar:3 color:Full from:1964 till:1971 text: Charlotte Hornets (1964–1972) bar:3 color:Past from:1971 till:1972 bar:3 color:Full from:1972 till:1973 bar:4 color:Full from:1964 till:1966 text: Chattanooga Lookouts (1964–1965; 1976–present) bar:4 color:Full from:1976 till:2020 bar:5 color:Full from:1964 till:1967 text: Columbus Confederate Yankees (1964–1966) bar:6 color:Full from:1964 till:1968 text: Knoxville Smokies (1964–1967) bar:6 color:Full from:1972 till:2020 text: Knoxville/Tennessee Smokies (1972–present) bar:7 color:Full from:1964 till:1965 text: Macon Peaches (1964; 1966–1967) bar:7 color:Full from:1966 till:1968 bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1980 till:1988 text:

bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:2003 text:

bar:8 color:Full from:1964 till:1971 text: Lynchburg/Evansville White Sox; Columbus White Sox/Astros/Mudcats (1964–1990) bar:8 color:Past from:1971 till:1972 bar:8 color:Full from:1972 till:1991 bar:8 color:Full from:1991 till:2012 text: Carolina Mudcats (1991–2011) bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:2012 till:2020 text: Caro bar:9 color:Full from:1965 till:1971 text: Montgomery Rebels (1965–1980) bar:9 color:Past from:1971 till:1972 bar:9 color:Full from:1972 till:1981 bar:10 color:Full from:1966 till:1967 text: Mobile A's (1966) bar:11 color:Full from:1968 till:1971 text: Savannah Senators/Indians/

Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bost ...

(1968–1983) bar:11 color:Past from:1971 till:1972 bar:11 color:Full from:1972 till:1984 bar:11 color:Full from:1984 till:2005 text: Greenville Braves (1984–2004) bar:11 color:Full from:2005 till:2020 text: Mississippi Braves (2005–present) bar:12 color:Full from:1970 till:1971 text: Jacksonville Suns/Expos/Jumbo Shrimp (1970–2020) bar:12 color:Past from:1971 till:1972 bar:12 color:Full from:1972 till:2020 bar:13 color:Full from:1970 till:1971 text:

Mobile White Sox Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ...

(1970) bar:15 color:Full from:1973 till:2004 text: Orlando Twins/SunRays/Cubs/Rays (1973–2003) bar:15 color:Full from:2004 till:2020 text: Montgomery Biscuits (2004–present) bar:16 color:Full from:1976 till:1993 text: Charlotte O's/Knights (1976–1992) bar:16 color:OtherC1 from:1993 till:2020 text: IL bar:17 color:Full from:1978 till:1998 text: Memphis Chicks (1978–1997) bar:17 color:Full from:1998 till:2020 text: West Tenn Diamond Jaxx; Jackson Generals (1998–2020) bar:18 color:Full from:1978 till:1985 text: Nashville Sounds (1978–1984) bar:18 color:OtherC2 from:1985 till:1998 text: AA bar:18 color:OtherC1 from:1998 till:2020 text:

PCL PCL may refer to: Aviation *FAP Captain David Abenzur Rengifo International Airport, near Pucallpa, Peru (IATA code: PCL) *Pilot-controlled lighting, a system by which aircraft pilots can control the lighting of runways and taxiways via radio cont ...

bar:19 color:Full from:1985 till:2015 text: Huntsville Stars (1985–2014) bar:19 color:Full from:2015 till:2020 text: Biloxi Shuckers (2015–present) bar:20 color:Full from:1993 till:2020 text: Nashville Xpress; Port City Roosters; Mobile BayBears; Rocket City Trash Pandas (1993–present) bar:21 color:Full from:2012 till:2020 text: Pensacola Blue Wahoos (2012–present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1964 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center) text:^"Southern League Timeline" #> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following three options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#

All-time teams

A "^" indicates that team's article redirects to an article of an active team formerly of the Southern League * Asheville Orioles * Asheville Tourists^ * Biloxi Shuckers * Birmingham A's * Birmingham Barons * Carolina Mudcats^ * Charlotte Hornets * Charlotte Knights^ * Charlotte O's * Chattanooga Lookouts * Columbus Astros * Columbus Confederate Yankees * Columbus Mudcats * Columbus White Sox *

Evansville White Sox The Evansville White Sox were a minor league baseball team based in Evansville, Indiana that played in the Southern League from 1966 to 1968. They were affiliated with the Chicago White Sox and played their home games at Bosse Field. Year-by-y ...

* Greenville Braves * Huntsville Stars * Jackson Generals * Jacksonville Expos * Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp^ * Jacksonville Suns * Knoxville Blue Jays * Knoxville Smokies * Knoxville Sox * Lynchburg White Sox * Macon Peaches * Memphis Chicks * Mississippi Braves * Mobile A's * Mobile BayBears *

* Montgomery Biscuits * Montgomery Rebels * Nashville Sounds^ * Nashville Xpress * Orlando Cubs * Orlando Rays * Orlando Sun Rays *

Orlando Twins Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures relea ...

* Pensacola Blue Wahoos * Port City Roosters * Rocket City Trash Pandas * Savannah Braves * Savannah Indians * Savannah Senators * Tennessee Smokies * West Tenn Diamond Jaxx

Champions

League champions have been determined by different means since the Southern League's formation in 1964. Through 1970, champions were the regular-season pennant winners—the team with the best win–loss record at the conclusion of the regular season. The 1971 title was decided in a postseason series between the two teams with the best records. From 1972 to 1975, the winners of each of two divisions competed in a series to determine champions. The league operated using a split season format from 1976 to 2020. Under this format, the winners of each half within each division played for the division championship, and the division winners met to play for the SL title. The 2021 winner was crowned via a series between the two teams with the best full-season records. The 2022 championship will be decided through the same split-season divisional format used for most of the league's existence. The Birmingham Barons have won 7 Southern League championships, the most among all teams in the league, followed by the Jacksonville Suns (6) and the Montgomery Rebels (5).

Awards

The SL recognizes outstanding players and team personnel annually near the end of each season.

MVP Award

The Most Valuable Player Award is given to honor the best player in the league.

Pitcher of the Year Award

The Pitcher of the Year Award, originally known as the Most Outstanding Pitcher Award, serves to recognize the league's best pitcher.

Manager of the Year Award

The Manager of the Year Award is given to the league's top manager.

Top MLB Prospect Award

The Top MLB Prospect Award, created in 2021, is given to the league's top rookie prospect.

Presidents

Six presidents led the Southern League since its formation: * 1964–1971: Sam C. Smith * 1971–1980: Billy Hitchcock * 1981–1994: Jim Bragan * 1994–2000: Arnold D. Fielkow * 2000–2011: Don Mincher * 2012–2020: Lori Webb

References

;Specific ;General *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Southern League (1964-2020) 1964 establishments in the United States Sports leagues established in 1964 Minor baseball leagues in the United States