American Association of Independent Professional Baseball

The American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, based in Durham, North Carolina, is a professional baseball league founded in 2005 and independent of Major League Baseball (MLB). It operates in the states of Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, New York, and New Jersey along with the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Quebec, mostly in cities not served by MLB teams or their minor league affiliates.

Miles Wolff is the league's commissioner.

History
The American Association was founded in October 2005 when Northern League teams left that league. Following the folding of the Central Baseball League, five teams from that league joined with the four former Northern League franchises, and to even things out an expansion team was placed in St. Joseph, Missouri. The league began play in 2006, with a 96-game schedule. The Fort Worth Cats defeated the St. Paul Saints 3 games to 2, to win the first league championship. The same two teams met for the 2007 title, with exactly the same result. In 2008, the Sioux Falls Canaries won the league championship series 3 games to 1 over the Grand Prairie AirHogs.

The 2012 season, schedule was increased to one hundred games and featured five teams from the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. This format of having the Canadian American Association, despite fielding a different fifth team, playing with the American Association continued in the 2013 season. The two leagues are both headquartered in Durham, North Carolina and both have Miles Wolff as their commissioner. This is similar to inter-league play in Major League Baseball, but American and Canadian American Associations are "separate" legal entities and have separate playoffs/championships.

League Timeline
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Former teams

 * Shreveport-Bossier Captains - Franchise moved to Laredo, TX to become Laredo Lemurs
 * Coastal Bend Aviators - founding member of league, originally from Central Baseball League, folded after 2007.
 * Pensacola Pelicans - founding member of league, originally from Central Baseball League, folded in preparation for new Double-A Southern League team to begin play in 2012.
 * St. Joe Blacksnakes - founding member of league, expansion franchise, folded after 2007.
 * Fort Worth Cats - founding member of the league, had its membership revoked by the league on October 26, 2011 after failing to provide the league with a letter of credit. Joined North American League. Now part of United League Baseball.
 * El Paso Diablos - folded after the 2013 season, to make way for the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas. The team is moving to Joplin, Missouri, and will begin play as the Joplin Blasters in 2015.

Champions

 * 2006 - Fort Worth Cats
 * 2007 - Fort Worth Cats
 * 2008 - Sioux Falls Canaries
 * 2009 - Lincoln Saltdogs
 * 2010 - Shreveport-Bossier Captains
 * 2011 - Grand Prairie AirHogs
 * 2012 - Winnipeg Goldeyes
 * 2013 - Gary SouthShore Railcats
 * 2014 - Wichita Wingnuts

All-star game
The American Association hosted an annual All-Star Game from 2006 to 2010. The league's first All-Star game was played in El Paso, Texas, on July 18, 2006, which pit a team of American Association All-Stars against an All-Star team from the Can-Am League. Its current format pits the all-stars from each division against each other. There was no All-Star game in 2011, 2012, or 2013. The Winnipeg Goldeyes hosted the 2014 All-Star game.


 * Game results
 * 2006 - AAB 5, Can-Am 3
 * 2007 - South 6, North 4
 * 2008 - South 11, North 4
 * 2009 - North 6, South 2
 * 2010 - South 12, North 3
 * 2011 - No All-star game played
 * 2012 - No All-star game played
 * 2013 - No All-star game played
 * 2014 - South 7, North 0


 * Most Valuable Players
 * 2006 - Jake Whitesides, (St. Joe Blacksnakes)
 * 2007 - Jorge Alvarez, (El Paso Diablos)
 * 2008 - Brian Fryer, (Fort Worth Cats)
 * 2009 - Trevor Lawhorn, (Sioux Falls Canaries)
 * 2010 - Chris Garcia, (Shreveport-Bossier Captains)
 * 2011 - Lee Cruz, (Amarillo Sox)
 * 2012 - Nic Jackson, (Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks)
 * 2013 - C.J. Ziegler, (Wichita Wingnuts)
 * 2014 - Devin Goodwin, (Laredo Lemurs)