Founded 1949 Country USA | No. of teams 23 | |
Sport Minor League Baseball
Class D Ceased 1955 (became Midwest League in 1956) Most titles 2 Danville Dans (1951, 1954)
Decatur Commodores (1952-1953) | ||
The Mississippi–Ohio Valley League was a Class-D American minor league baseball league. Evolving from the renamed Illinois State League (1947-1948), the Mississippi–Ohio Valley League operated for seven seasons, from 1949 through 1955. In 1956 the league was renamed the Midwest League, which still exists today.
Contents
History
In 1947, the Illinois State League (ISL) (1947-1948) was formed. Charter franchises were in the Illinois cities of Belleville, Centralia, Marion, Mattoon, Mount Vernon and West Frankfort. After the 1948 season, the Marion Indians moved out of Illinois to Kentucky. This necessitated a name change for the league .
The new name was the Mississippi–Ohio Valley League. The league incorporated the new Paducah Chiefs and the five former ISL teams, the Belleville Stags, Centralia Cubs, Mattoon Indians, Mount Vernon Kings, and West Frankfort Cardinals as 1949 charter members. In 1950, Springfield, Illinois joined, leaving the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League, while the league expanded, adding expansion teams in the Paris Lakers, Illinois and the Citizens of Vincennes, Indiana, while the Belleville franchise folded. There was more movement in 1951, as the Springfield Giants and West Frankfort Cardinals both folded and the Paducah Chiefs left to join the Kentucky–Illinois–Tennessee League. The league played 1951 with six teams, as Danville, Illinois joined from the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League.
In 1952, the league again expanded to eight teams, adding the Commodores in Decatur, Illinois and Cardinals in Hannibal, Missouri, while Vincennes relocated to Canton, Ohio. In 1953, the Canton and Centralia franchises both folded and the league returned to six teams. There was expansion again in 1954, as two Iowa teams, the Clinton Pirates and Dubuque Packers returned the league to eight members. In the final season of the league, the Danville Dans moved to Kokomo, Indiana and became the Kokomo Giants and Mount Vernon moved to Lafayette, Indiana as the Lafayette Red Sox. Following the 1955 season, Hannibal moved to become the Michigan City White Caps, joining Kokomo, Lafayette, Clinton, Dubuque, Decatur, Mattoon and Paris in the renamed Midwest League. The Midwest League still exists today with 16 teams, with Clinton as the only remaining original locale.
Teams
Belleville Stags (1949)
Canton Citizens (1952)
Centralia Cubs (1949), Sterlings (1950), Zeros (1951-1952)
Clinton Pirates (1954-1955)
Danville Dans (1951-1954)
Decatur Commodores (1952-1955)
Dubuque Packers (1954-1955)
Hannibal Stags (1952), Cardinals (1953-1954), Citizens (1955),
Kokomo Giants (1955)
Lafayette Chiefs (1955)
Mattoon Indians (1949-1952), Phillies (1953-1955)
Mount Vernon Kings (1949-1954)
Paducah Chiefs (1949-1950)
Paris Lakers (1950-1955)
Springfield Giants (1950)
Vincennes Citizens (1950)
Vincennes Velvets (1951-1952)
West Frankfort Cardinals (1949-1950)
Year by Year
1949
Mattoon beat Centralia 3 games to none in the playoffs. Paducah beat West Frankfort by 3 games to none as well. Paducah beat Mattoon 4 games to 3 for the championship.
1950
Centralia beat Mattoon 3 games to 1, and Paducah beat West Frankfort 3 games to none, in the first round of the playoffs. The championship series was cancelled due to bad weather.
1951
1952
Hannibal beat Danville 3 games to 1, and Decatur beat Paris 3 games to 2 in the first round of the playoffs. Decatur won the championship over Hannibal 3 games to 1.
1953
Decatur beat Hannibal 3 games to none, and Paris beat Mattoon 3 games to none, in the first round of the playoffs. Decatur won the championship over Paris 3 games to 2.
1954
Clinton beat Decatur 2 games to none, and Danville beat Dubuque 2 games to 1, in the first round of the playoffs. Danville won the championship over Clinton 3 games to none.
1955
Dubuque beat Clinton 2 games to none, and Mattoon beat Kokomo 2 games to none, in the first round of the playoffs. Dubuque won the championship over Mattoon 3 games to none. The team from Hannibal folded. All other teams from the league became charter members of the new, Class D Midwest League, now a Low Class A circuit, and the Mississippi–Ohio Valley League folded.