Category: Northern League 1993

Darryl Brinkley on the cover of a 2007 Calgary Vipers Baseball Program from the Northern League Baseball

Calgary Vipers

March 22, 2024

This well-travelled independent pro baseball team played in a succession of indy leagues of decreasingly poorer quality from 2005 through 2011. The Vipers were always great on the field, posting only one losing season in their history and appearing in three consecutive league championship series 2007 and 2009. Calgary was the champion of the Golden Baseball League in 2009. But the team never developed a strong following at Foothills Stadium. The team finally folded after the 2011 season, done in by anemic local support and the serious illness of long-time owner Jeff Gidney, who would ultimately pass away the following year.

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Waterbury Spirit Baseball

Waterbury Spirit

August 20, 2021

Northeast League (1997-1998) Northern League (1999-2000) Born: 1996 – Northeast League expansion franchise Suspended Operations: Postseason 2000 Moved: 2003 (North Shore Spirit) First Game: May

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Rochester Aces Northern League Baseball

Rochester Aces

April 19, 2021

We’re talking Rochester, Minnesota today, not New York. The Rochester Aces were one of six original franchises that launched independent baseball’s Northern League during the summer of 1993. Three of these clubs – the St. Paul Saints (now the triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins), the Sioux City Explorers and the Sioux Falls Canaries – are still around today, nearly three decades later. But the Aces saw the weakest community response of the original six and lasted just a single season in Minnesota’s third-largest city.

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2001 Albany Colonie Diamond Dogs baseball program from the Northern League

Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs

February 18, 2021

Northeast League (1995-1998) Northern League (1999-2002) Born: 1995 Folded: October 2002 First Game:  Last Game: September 1, 2002 (L 3-2 @ Elmira Pioneers) Northeast League

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Edmonton Cracker Cats Baseball

Edmonton Cracker-Cats

December 29, 2020

The Edmonton Cracker-Cats were a shambolic independent baseball operation that arrived at Telus Field in the spring of 2005 in the wake of the departure of the Class AAA Edmonton Trappers of the Pacific Coast League. The ‘Cats arguably received more attention for a 2006 brawl against the rival Calgary Vipers than any on-field accomplishments. But the club did manage to develop two future Major Leaguers in pitchers Robert Coello and Scott Richmond.

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