Minor League All-Star Teams, 1922-1962

Book excerpt: Long before strip malls, television and huge retail chains homogenized American culture, minor league baseball clubs represented individual, local ideals. Fans turned out in droves to see their hometown heroes, and teams were sources of civic pride and popular recreation. Gradually, these teams and leagues were either driven under or swallowed up by baseball's vertical integration, and by 1963 a significant piece of the American landscape had all but disappeared. This heavily researched reference work covers every official minor league All-Star team from 1922 (when the first such team was named) to 1962 (the last year of the AAA-D classification system). Each entry includes the full roster of an All-Star team, complete individual hitting and pitching statistics, and detailed commentary on the selections. Where sabermetrics indicate more-deserving players were passed over, the author presents the case for alternative candidates.