Florida Baseball

     On January 26, 1936 the Florida State League was reorganized as a six club league after missing 8 seasons of play. Today we are looking at the leagues history. Although the league played very briefly in January of 1892, the league got its real start in 1919. In that season the league fielded six clubs, mostly in the central part of the state. The league lasted until the end of the 1928 season, when it suspended operations. During this period the league operated with between 4 and 8 clubs.

     With the exception of the 1943-45 period when World War II forced the league on the shelf, the league has operated continously since. Until 1963 the league was a Class "D" league. At that point in time the league was promoted to Class "A". The league reached its current designation in 1990 when it was named an advanced A league with the California and Carolina Leagues.

   For a period on time between 1940 and 1954 the league faced compatation for the fans dollar when a second league was launced in the state. That league was first called the Florida East Coast League when it was first formed. After the war it was called the Florida International League. The FIL struggled into the 1954 season during which it folded. The FSL gradually moved east into the territory formerly occupied by the FIL.

  Today the FSL is a 12 club league whose teams play in the parks used by their parent clubs during spring training. Many of the clubs share facilities during the late June to end of August period with a team in the rookie level Gulf Coast League. During September these facilities are frequently used by teams in the Florida Instructional League, a league that first started in 1958. Although attendance in the league is not strong the league continues to send players to the Majors on a regular basis. It does appear that the league will be around for many more years.         

      The answer to our last trivia question was in the fourth minute of the Kontinental Hockey League game on January 9, 2010 between Vityaz Chekhov and Avangard Omsk clubs saw a record 707 minutes of penalties handed out. When order was restored 33 players and both coaches had been ejected. Only four players remained in the game, which was then abandoned.


   Todays trivia question is in what year did the Continental Football League play its first season? The answer in our next blog on Monday, when our column will feature the first of a two part series on our annual look at the two teams in the Super Bowl from a historical perspective when we look at the New York Giants.