Emery: For many decades, Providence was a player in baseball’s minors
From Tom Emery at the Providence Journal on August 9, 2015, with mention of SABR member Len Levin:
With the proposed move of the Pawtucket Triple-A franchise to Providence, minor league baseball would return to the capital city for the first time in more than 60 years.
The history of the minors in Providence is intermittent, yet filled with notable moments.
Providence has been without minor league baseball since it hosted a team in the New England League in 1949, a boom period in the minors. A record 59 leagues were in operation that year, more than three times the number today, as the minors rode the crest of post-war expansion.
The city’s experience in the minors dates to 1877 with a team in the New England League, a fixture in the area for decades. The circuit bounced between semi-pro and professional status for years, switching back to pro in 1946 when Providence found itself in the minors again.
Len Levin, a former news editor for The Providence Journal and a member of the Society of American Baseball Research, notes that the minor leagues of the late 1940s and ’50s were the victim of changes in technology and tastes.
Read the full article here: http://www.providencejournal.com/article/20150809/ENTERTAINMENTLIFE/150809431
Originally published: August 14, 2015. Last Updated: August 14, 2015.