Frontier League


The Frontier League is a professional independent baseball league with teams in the Northeast and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. It operates mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball or Minor League Baseball teams and is not affiliated with either. The league was formed in 1993, and is the oldest currently running independent league in the United States. It is headquartered in Sauget, Illinois.

Description and history

Teams in the Frontier League must recruit and sign their own players, who usually are undrafted college players or one-time prospects who have been released by their teams.
Frontier League rules limit teams to four "veterans", while a minimum of ten of the 24-man roster are required to be rookies.
Pay in the Frontier League is minimal. For the 2020 season, each team has a salary cap of $85,000 and the player salaries range from a minimum of $600 up to $1,600 a month. Veterans can earn up to $2,500 per month, and each team’s highest-paid player can make as much as $4,000 a month with only one-third of the salary counting against the cap.
Leagues previous salary cap info-
Due to the low pay, players typically live with host families and receive meal money during the season.
The first league champions were the Zanesville Greys. Only seven teams have won more than one championship: Springfield in 1996 and 1998; Johnstown in 1995 and in 2000, Richmond in 2001 and 2002, Windy City in 2007 and 2008, the Joliet Slammers in 2011 and 2018, and the Evansville Otters in 2006 and 2016. The Florence Y'alls, the Rockford RiverHawks, Schaumburg Boomers, and the River City Rascals are currently tied for the most league championships with each franchise winning three.
On June 20, 2000, Brian Tollberg debuted with the San Diego Padres, becoming the first player from the Frontier League to make it to the Majors. A week later, Morgan Burkhart made his debut with the Boston Red Sox.
Although the league does not have any teams located in the same city as Major League teams, it does nonetheless have teams located within the markets of Major League teams. The Chicago area had three teams and St. Louis, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh each have one. The Wild Things, in particular, have been able to market themselves as a successful alternative to the Pittsburgh Pirates due to the latter franchise's long stretch of losing seasons, which lasted from the Frontier League's founding in 1993 until 2013 when the Pirates finished with a record of 94–68.
On October 16, 2019, it was announced that the Frontier League would be merging with the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, absorbing five of its teams to form the largest independent professional baseball league. The divisions were realigned and renamed to reflect the change. The Can-Am Division features the seven easternmost teams in the league, while the remaining seven teams compete in the Midwestern Division.

Teams

Former teams


DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
ImageSize = width:1100 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1993 till:2024
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width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:orange from:05/15/1993 till:09/20/2008 text:Chillicothe Paints
bar:2 color:orange from:05/15/1993 till:09/20/1994 text:Kentucky Rifles
bar:3 color:orange from:05/15/1993 till:end text:Lancaster Scouts, Evansville Otters
bar:4 color:orange from:05/15/1993 till:09/20/2005 text:Ohio Valley Redcoats, Dubois County Dragons, Kenosha Mammoths, Springfield-Ozark Ducks
bar:5 color:orange from:05/15/1993 till:09/20/2009 text:Portsmouth Explorers, Springfield Capitals, Rockford RiverHawks, Rockford Aviators,
bar:5 color:orange from:05/15/2011 till:09/20/2015
bar:6 color:orange from:05/15/1993 till:07/10/1993 text:Tri-State Tomahawks
bar:7 color:orange from:05/15/1993 till:06/30/1993 text:West Virginia Coal Sox
bar:8 color:orange from:05/15/1993 till:09/20/1996 text:Zanesville Greys
bar:8 color:orange from:05/15/1999 till:09/15/2019 text:River City Rascals
bar:9 color:orange from:05/15/1994 till:end text:Erie Sailors, Johnstown Steal, Johnstown Johnnies, Florence Freedom, Florence Y'alls
bar:10 color:orange from:05/15/1994 till:09/20/2005 text:Newark Buffaloes/Bison, Kalamazoo Kodiaks, London Werewolves, Canton Coyotes, Mid-Missouri Mavericks
bar:11 color:orange from:05/15/1995 till:09/26/2018 text:Richmond Roosters, Traverse City Beach Bums
bar:12 color:orange from:05/15/1997 till:end text:Canton Crocodiles, Washington Wild Things
bar:13 color:orange from:05/15/1999 till:end text:Cook County Cheetahs, Windy City ThunderBolts
bar:14 color:orange from:05/15/2001 till:end text:Gateway Grizzlies
bar:15 color:orange from:05/15/2001 till:09/20/2008 text:Kalamazoo Kings
bar:16 color:orange from:05/15/2007 till:07/25/2012 text:Slippery Rock Sliders, Midwest Sliders, Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti, Oakland County Cruisers, London Rippers
bar:17 color:orange from:05/15/2007 till:end text:Southern Illinois Miners
bar:18 color:orange from:05/15/2009 till:end text:Lake Erie Crushers
bar:19 color:orange from:05/15/2010 till:09/26/2018 text:Normal CornBelters
bar:20 color:orange from:05/15/2011 till:end text:Joliet Slammers
bar:21 color:orange from:05/15/2012 till:end text:Schaumburg Boomers
bar:22 color:orange from:07/25/2012 till:10/31/2012 text:Road Warriors
bar:23 color:orange from:05/25/2013 till:09/30/2015 text:Frontier Greys
bar:24 color:orange from:05/15/2020 till:end text:New Jersey Jackals
bar:25 color:orange from:05/15/2020 till:end text:New York Boulders
bar:26 color:orange from:05/15/2020 till:end text:Québec Capitales
bar:27 color:orange from:05/15/2020 till:end text:Sussex County Miners
bar:28 color:orange from:05/15/2020 till:end text:Trois-Rivières Aigles
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text:"Frontier League Franchise History"

Champions