On March 25, 1953 the Southwest International League folded. Exactly six years later the Arizona-Mexico League folded as well. These two leagues were part of a long line of professional baseball leagues that played successfully for more then a few seasons and then due to circumstances beyond their control were forced into the history books never to be heard from again. These two leagues actually shared a common history at one point in time.
The Arizona State League became a Class "D" minor league in 1928. The league had functioned for a couple of seasons before that but, as a semi-pro league. For 1931 the league changed its name to the Arizona-Texas League and played that way for many seasons. The league also had two major breaks in its history. From mid 1932 until the 1937 season started and a few seasons off for World War 2. The league came back strong after the war.
For the 1947 season the Sunset League a mostly Southern California League began play. The league played 4 seasons before starting to run into trouble. The league had trouble finding a sixth team to join the league for the 1951 season. The Arizona-Texas League was having the same problem. A merger called the Southwest International League was formed. The 10 club league lasted for one year before the Arizona-Texas League clubs withdrew to reform their own league. Despite a gimmick or two the former Sunset League clubs struggled to get through the 1952 season. One of its clubs was an all-black club that struggled through three homes and still failed to complete the season. The end came as described above.
The Arizona-Texas had a few more seasons left in it. At one point in time the league admitted a couple of towns from Mexico and the leagues name was changed to the Arizona-Mexican League. The death knell for the league began to toll at the end of the 1957 season when the Dodgers and Giants moved west. The San Francisco Seals franchise of the Pacific Coast League was transferred to Phoenix and the the AZ-Mex League was forced to find a smaller town to fill the void. It did not work the league was doomed. An attempt to revise the league in 2003 did not work either as the revised league struggled to make it through just one season. Many other leagues not just in baseball alone share similar histories. If you wait long enough I will get to each and everyone of them.
The answer to yesterdays trivia question is in the 1955-56 season Bob Pettit of the Saint Louis Hawks won the first Most Valuable Player award. Pettit who had previously been named Rookie of the Year, would later get elected to the Hall of Fame.
Todays trivia question is who was the first MVP award winner in the National Hockey League?
Tomorrow we go back down South of the Mexican border, way south of the border.
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