Blue Ridge League

Blue Ridge League

Sport	Baseball
Founded	1915
Inaugural season	1915
Ceased	9 February 1931
No. of teams	6 (1915–1917) (1920–1929) 4 (1918, 1930)
Country	United States
Last champion(s)	Chambersburg Young Yanks
Most titles	Hagerstown (5)
Official website	blueridgeleague.org

The first league operated for the better part of sixteen years, from 1915 through 1918, and 1920 to 1930. It was a Class D league in the old classification system that ran from Class D up to Class Double-A, and had teams from Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

The league was founded by Charles W. Boyer in 1915, as part of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues. Boyer, former president of the original South Atlantic League, served as the league president in the Blue Ridge League's inaugural season. Due to internal problems, Boyer resigned as president the first week of the 1916 season, being replaced by James Vincent Jamison, Jr. Jamison was at the forefront of the league until it ceased its operations shortly before the beginning of the 1931 season.[1]

Blue Ridge League play officially began in 1915 with six teams from Chambersburg, Frederick, Gettysburg, Hagerstown, Hanover and Martinsburg. The team to win the most games during the regular season was declared the pennant winner. Through the 1917 midseason, Chambersburg replaced Cumberland when this team refused to pay its annual forfeit fee. The league shrank from six teams to four in 1918, with teams representing Cumberland, Hagerstown, Martinsburg and Piedmont, and ultimately disbanded after three weeks of play due to the lack of players during World War I.

Due to the aftermath of the war and the 1918 flu pandemic, the Blue Ridge League did not resume operations until 1920, with Chambersburg, Frederick, Hagerstown, Hanover and Martinsburg rejoining the action, as well as the addition of the Waynesboro franchise to bring again the six-team format. Since 1928, the two teams with the best records competed in a series of play-off games to determine the League Champion. Gradually, six Major League Baseball franchises started their affiliation with the league, among others Cleveland Indians (Frederick), Detroit Tigers (Hanover), New York Yankees (Chambersburg), St. Louis Cardinals (Waynesboro) and Philadelphia Athletics (Martinsburg), Washington Senators (Hagerstown). But after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Detroit and St. Louis dropped their affiliations due to heavy financial losses. Only the teams of Chambersburg, Frederick, Hagerstown and Waynesboro returned in 1930, the Blue Ridge League's last season.

Another Blue Ridge League operated between 1946 and 1950. It was located in North Carolina and Virginia and was rated as a D-level league. The Presidents in the history of the league were Joe Ryan (1946), Stanley F. Radke (1947-'48), Judge E. C. Bivins (1948-'49) and John B. Spiers (1950). In 1946, the team with the best winning record was declared the pennant winner. From 1947 through 1950, the two teams with the best records faced in a series of play-off games to determine the League Champion.

• Minor League Baseball Standings: All North American Leagues, through 1999 – Benjamin Barrett Sumner. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2000. Format: Hardcover, 726pp. Language: English. ISBN 0-7864-0781-6
• Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball: The Official Record of Minor League Baseball – Lloyd Johnson, Miles Wolff, Steve McDonald. Publisher: Baseball America, 1997. Format: Paperback, 672pp. Language: English. ISBN 0-9637189-7-5
• The Blue Ridge League: Images of Baseball – Robert B. Savitt. Publisher: Arcadia Publishing, 2011. Format: Softcover, 127pp. Language: English. ISBN 978-0-7385-8239-9

• Class D, Blue Ridge League (1915-1930) Website
• Baseball Reference - Blue Ridge League History