Atlantic League of Professional Baseball


The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball is a professional, independent baseball league located primarily in the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeastern United States, especially the greater metropolitan areas of the Northeast megalopolis. There are also two teams in North Carolina and one in the Houston, Texas metropolitan area. League offices are located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
The Atlantic League operates in cities not served by Major League Baseball or Minor League Baseball teams and is not affiliated with either; most of its teams are within suburbs and exurbs too close to other teams in the organized baseball system to have minor league franchises of their own. The Atlantic League requires cities to have the market for a 4,000 to 7,500-seat ballpark and for the facility to be maintained at or above Triple-A standards. When Atlantic League professionals are signed by MLB clubs, they usually start in their Double-A or Triple-A affiliates. The league uses a pitch clock and limits the time between innings in an effort to speed up the game. In 2019, the Atlantic League began a three-year partnership with Major League Baseball allowing MLB to implement changes to Atlantic League playing rules, in order to observe the effects of potential future rule changes and equipment.

History

In 1998, the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball played its inaugural season, with teams in Bridgewater, Newark, and Atlantic City, New Jersey; Nashua, New Hampshire; Newburgh, New York; and Bridgeport, Connecticut. The creation of the league was the result of the New York Mets' objection to Frank Boulton's proposal to move the former Albany-Colonie Yankees because of its territorial rights to the region. Boulton, a Long Island native, decided to create a new league that would have a higher salary cap for its players and a longer season than most of the other independent baseball organizations. He modeled the Atlantic League after the older Pacific Coast League, with facilities that exceed AAA-level standards. Boulton also emphasized signing players of Major League Baseball experience for all Atlantic League teams, raising the level of play above other independent leagues.
In 2010, the league announced that it would be expanding to Sugar Land, Texas and adding its first franchise not located in an Atlantic coast state. The Sugar Land Skeeters began play in 2012. In 2010, amid financial struggles, the Newark Bears moved from the Atlantic League to the Can-Am League, leaving the Bridgeport Bluefish and Somerset Patriots as the only teams remaining from the league's inaugural season. In the summer of 2013, then-ALPB President Frank Boulton announced that he would be resigning so that he could devote more time to operating the Long Island Ducks. He was replaced by longtime high-ranking Major League Baseball executive Rick White. On July 8, 2015, the Atlantic League began using Rawlings baseballs with red and blue seams, virtually unused in the sport since the American League swapped the blue in their seams for red in 1934.
On September 1, 2015, the Atlantic League announced conditional approval for an expansion team or a relocated team to play in New Britain, Connecticut for the 2016 season. On October 21, 2015, the Camden Riversharks announced they would cease operations immediately due to the inability to reach an agreement on lease terms with the owner of Campbell's Field, the Camden County Improvement Authority. The team was replaced by the New Britain Bees for the 2016 season. On May 29, 2016, Jennie Finch was the guest manager for the league's Bridgeport Bluefish, thus becoming the first woman to manage a professional baseball team.
Shortly before the conclusion of the 2017 season, the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut voted to not continue with professional baseball in the city and announced plans to convert The Ballpark at Harbor Yard into a music amphitheater; the Bridgeport Bluefish announced plans to relocate to High Point, North Carolina in 2019 when the construction of a new multipurpose facility in High Point is completed. League officials announced the return of the Pennsylvania Road Warriors, an all road game team, to keep the league at an even eight teams while the Bluefish go inactive for the 2018 season.
The Atlantic League is generally regarded as the most successful and highest level of baseball among independent leagues. Two former Atlantic League players have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame: Tim Raines and Rickey Henderson. Other notable former and future Major League ballplayers who have played in the league include Roger Clemens, Scott Kazmir, Dontrelle Willis, Juan González, Rich Hill, John Rocker and José Canseco, and several others have coached or managed, including Gary Carter, Tommy John, Bud Harrelson, Gary Gaetti and Sparky Lyle. The Atlantic League has consistently posted higher per game and per season attendance numbers than other independent circuits including the American Association, Can-Am League, and Frontier League.
In 2015, the Atlantic League experienced a watershed moment for independent baseball when it signed a formal agreement with Major League Baseball which put into writing the rules which the ALPB would follow in selling its players' contracts to MLB clubs and their affiliates. This marked the first time that MLB, which has enjoyed a U.S. Supreme Court-granted antitrust exemption since 1922, had made any formal agreement with or acknowledgment of an independent baseball league.
In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league announced that it would be unable to operate for the 2020 season with the current 8 member ballclubs, thereby canceling its season. Several teams did not gain necessary approval from governmental and health officials to open their ballparks to the capacity level necessary for competition. They will use their stadiums to host recreational & community-based events, as well as local baseball activities where allowed. Meanwhile, the Long Island Ducks, High Point Rockers, and Southern Maryland Blue Crabs initially attempted to partner with teams from other leagues in order to play a 70-game season from mid-July through the end of September. However, due to ongoing restrictions and capacity limitations, they ultimately decided to suspend all baseball activities for the 2020 season. The only team that intends on playing in 2020 is the Sugar Land Skeeters, who had already announced they would create a new 4-team independent league in Texas, with all 60 games being played at Constellation Field.
In July 2020, the league announced the addition of a new franchise in Gastonia, North Carolina beginning in 2021; it will be the league's second team based in North Carolina.

2019 experimental rules

In March 2019, the Atlantic League and Major League Baseball reached agreement to test multiple rule changes during the 2019 Atlantic League season:
In April 2019, implementation of two of the changes was delayed:
The tracking system for calling balls and strikes was introduced at the league's all-star game on July 10. In addition to rule changes noted above, additional changes being implemented for the second half of the league's 2019 season are:

Current franchises

Future teams

Team map

League timeline


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bar:1 color:Full from:01/01/1998 till:12/31/2006 text:Atlantic City Surf
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bar:2 color:Full from:01/01/1998 till:01/01/2018 text:Bridgeport Bluefish
bar:3 color:Full from:01/01/1998 till:12/31/2005 text:Nashua Pride
bar:3 color:Other from:01/01/2006 till:12/31/2011
bar:4 color:Full from:01/01/1998 till:12/31/2010 text:Newark Bears
bar:4 color:Other from:01/01/2011 till:12/31/2013
bar:5 color:Full from:01/01/1998 till:12/31/2001 text:Newburgh/Lehigh Valley Black Diamonds
bar:6 color:Full from:01/01/2002 till:12/31/2004 text:Pennsylvania Road Warriors
bar:6 color:Full from:01/01/2006 till:12/31/2007 shift: 50 text:Road Warriors
bar:6 color:Full from:01/01/2011 till:12/31/2011
bar:6 color:Full from:01/01/2018 till:12/31/2018
bar:6 color:Full from:10/28/2019 till:end
bar:7 color:Full from:01/01/1998 till:end text:Somerset Patriots
bar:8 color:Full from:01/01/2000 till:12/31/2000 text:Aberdeen Arsenal
bar:9 color:Full from:01/01/2000 till:end text:Long Island Ducks
bar:10 color:Full from:01/01/2001 till:10/21/2015 text:Camden Riversharks
bar:11 color:Full from:01/01/2005 till:end text:Lancaster Barnstormers
bar:12 color:Full from:01/01/2007 till:end text:York Revolution
bar:13 color:Full from:01/01/2008 till:end text:Southern Maryland Blue Crabs
bar:14 color:Full from:01/01/2012 till:end text:Sugar Land Skeeters
bar:15 color:Full from:01/01/2016 till:10/28/2019 text:New Britain Bees
bar:15 color:Other from:10/29/2019 till:end
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    Former teams

TeamCityStadiumSeasonsHistory
Aberdeen ArsenalBel Air, MarylandThomas Run Park2000Replaced by the Aberdeen IronBirds.
Atlantic City SurfAtlantic City, New JerseyThe Sandcastle1998–2006Moved to Can-Am League, folded prior to the 2009 season.
Bridgeport BluefishBridgeport, ConnecticutThe Ballpark at Harbor Yard1998–2017Folded when they lost the lease on their ballpark; replaced by the High Point Rockers.
Camden RiversharksCamden, New JerseyCampbell's Field2001–2015Replaced by the New Britain Bees
Lehigh Valley Black DiamondsQuakertown, PennsylvaniaMemorial Park1999–2001Formerly the Newburgh Black Diamonds. Became the first Pennsylvania Road Warriors.
Nashua PrideNashua, New HampshireHolman Stadium1998–2005Moved to Can-Am League, later relocated to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, folded at the end of the 2011 season.
Newark BearsNewark, New JerseyBears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium1998–2010Moved to Can-Am League, folded prior to the 2014 season.
Newburgh Black DiamondsNewburgh, New YorkDelano-Hitch Stadium1998Became the Lehigh Valley Black Diamonds, which became the first Pennsylvania Road Warriors.
New Britain BeesNew Britain, ConnecticutNew Britain Stadium2016–2019Moved to Futures Collegiate Baseball League; Replaced by the Road Warriors for the 2020 season

Championship series

The championship series is played as a best-of-five. Numbers in parenthesis denote the number of championships won by a team to that point, when more than one.

All-Star games

Freedom Division won the 2019 game in a "homer-off" after the teams were tied at the end of nine innings.

League records