1.
Eugene, Oregon
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Eugene is a city of the Pacific Northwest located in the U. S. state of Oregon. It is located at the end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette Rivers. As of the 2010 census, Eugene had a population of 156,185, it is the second most populous city in the state, the citys population for 2014 was estimated to be 160,561 by the US Census. Eugene is home to the University of Oregon and Lane Community College, the city is also noted for its natural beauty, recreational opportunities, and focus on the arts. Eugenes official slogan is A Great City for the Arts and Outdoors and it is also referred to as the Emerald City and as Track Town, USA. The Nike corporation had its beginnings in Eugene, in 2021, the city will host the 18th Track and Field World Championships. The first people to settle in the Eugene area were known as the Kalapuyans and they made seasonal rounds, moving around the countryside as appropriate to collect and preserve local foods, including acorns, the bulbs of the wapato and camas plants, and berries. They stored these foods in their permanent winter village, when crop activities waned, they returned to their winter villages and took up hunting, fishing, and trading. They were known as the Chifin Kalapuyans and called the Eugene area where they lived Chifin, other Kalapuyan tribes occupied villages that are also now within Eugene city limits. Pee-you or Mohawk Calapooians, Winefelly or Pleasant Hill Calapooians, and they were close-neighbors to the Chifin, intermarried, and were political allies. Some authorities suggest that the Brownsville Kalapuyans were related to the Pee-you and it is likely that since the Santiam had an alliance with the Brownsville Kalapuyans that the Santiam influence also went as far at Eugene. According to archeological evidence, the ancestors of the Kalapuyans may have been in Eugene for as long as 10,000 years, French fur traders had settled seasonally in the Willamette Valley by the beginning of the 19th century. Having already developed relationships with Native communities through intermarriage and trade, by 1828 to 1830 they and their Native wives began year round occupation of the land, raising crops and tending animals. In this process the mixed race families began to impact Native access to land, food supply, in July,1830, intermittent fever struck the lower Columbia region and a year later, the Willamette Valley. Natives traced the arrival of the disease, then new to the Northwest, to the U. S. ship, Owyhee, intermittent fever is thought by researchers now to be malaria. In his book The Coming of the Spirit Pestilence Boyd reports that there was a 92% population loss for the Kalapuyans between 1830 and 1841 and this catastrophic event shattered the social fabric of Kalapuyan society and altered the demographic balance in the Valley. As the demographic pressure from the colonists grew, the remaining Kalapuyans were forcibly removed to reservations, though some Natives escaped being swept into the reservation, most were moved to the Grand Ronde reservation in 1856. Strict racial segregation was enforced and mixed people, known as Métis in French, had to make a choice between the reservation and Anglo society
2.
Minor League Baseball
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All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses. Most are members of the organization known as Minor League Baseball. Several leagues, known as independent baseball leagues, do not have any links to Major League Baseball. Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball teams may enter into a PDC for a two- or four-year term. At the expiration of a PDC term, teams may renew their affiliation, or sign new PDCs with different clubs, though many relationships are renewed and endure for extended time periods. Minor League teams that are owned directly by the major league club do not have PDCs with each other and are not part of the reaffiliation shuffles that occur every other year, several more independent leagues operate in the United States and Canada. The earliest professional baseball association, the National Association of 1871 to 1875 and this system proved unworkable, however, as there was no way to ensure competitive balance, and financially unsound clubs often failed in midseason. This problem was solved in 1876 with the formation of the National League, with a membership which excluded less competitive. Professional clubs outside the National League responded by forming regional associations of their own, there was a series of ad hoc groupings, such as the New England Association of 1877 and the Eastern Championship Association of 1881. These were loose groups of independent clubs which agreed to play a series of games for a championship pennant, the first minor league is traditionally considered to be the Northwestern League of 1883 to 1884. Unlike the earlier minor associations, it was conceived as a permanent organization and it also, along with the National League and the American Association, was a party to the National Agreement of 1883. Included in this was the agreement to respect the reserve lists of clubs in each league, teams in the National League and the American Association could only reserve players who had been paid at least $1000. Northwest League teams could reserve players paid merely $750, implicitly establishing the division into major and minor leagues, over the next two decades, more minor leagues signed various versions of the National Agreement. Eventually, the minor leagues joined together to negotiate jointly, in the late 1890s, the Western League run by the fiery Ban Johnson decided to challenge the National Leagues position. Representatives of the different minor leagues met at the Leland Hotel in Chicago on September 5,1901, in response to the National–American battle, they agreed to form the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, called the NAPBL, or NA for short. The purpose of the NA at the time was to maintain the independence of the leagues involved, several did not sign the agreement and continued to work independently. Powers was made the first president of the NAPBL, whose offices were established in Auburn, in 1903, the conflict between the American and National Leagues ended in the National Agreement of 1903. The NAPBL became involved in the stages of the negotiations to develop rules for the acquisition of players from their leagues by the National
3.
Triple-A (baseball)
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Triple-A is the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Mexico. Before 2008, Triple-A leagues also fielded teams in Canada, a total of 30 teams play in the Triple-A International League and Pacific Coast League, with 14 teams in the IL and 16 in the PCL. The MLB-independent Mexican League fields 16 teams, interleague play between the International League and Pacific Coast League occurs twice each season. In July, each leagues All-Star team competes in the Triple-A All-Star Game, in September each leagues regular season champions play each other in the Triple-A Baseball National Championship Game to determine an overall champion of Triple-A baseball. The Triple-A classification was created before the 1946 season, prior to then, the top level of the minors had been designated as Double-A since 1912. The modern Double-A classification also dates to 1946, when the former Class A1 level was renamed, Triple-A teams main purpose is to prepare players for the Major Leagues. ESPN wrote in 2010, Winning is nice, but secondary, players on the 40-man roster of a major league team are eligible for promotion to the major league club once the major league roster expands on September 1. For teams in contention for the postseason, these create the flexibility needed to rest regular starters in late regular-season games. For those not in contention, using such players lets the teams evaluate them under game conditions, teams at this level are divided into three leagues, the International League, the Pacific Coast League, and the MLB-independent Mexican League. The Mexican League fields teams throughout Mexico, the International League traditionally fielded teams in the Northeastern United States, and now fields teams in the Midwest and South as well. The Pacific Coast League originally fielded teams on the West Coast, each of the 30 Major League Baseball teams has an affiliation with one Triple-A team in the United States. However, Mexican Triple-A teams are not included in the farm team system. The Triple-A All-Star Game is a game held between the two affiliated Triple-A leagues—the International League and the Pacific Coast League. Each league fields a team composed of the top players in their respective leagues as voted on by fans, the media, the event has taken place every year since 1988 when the first Triple-A All-Star Game was played in Buffalo, New York. Prior to 1998, a team of American League-affiliated Triple-A All-Stars faced off against a team of National League-affiliated Triple-A All-Stars, traditionally, the game has taken place on the day after the mid-summer Major League Baseball All-Star Game. The game is meant to mark a symbolic halfway-point in the season, both Triple-A leagues share a common All-Star break, with no regular-season games scheduled for two days before the All-Star Game itself. Some additional events, such as the All-Star Fan Fest and Triple-A Home Run Derby, take each year close to. It was originally held annually at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, since 2011, the game has been held in a different Triple-A city each year
4.
Northwest League
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Northwest League of Professional Baseball is a Class A Short Season minor league in the northwest United States and western Canada. The NWLs short season starts in mid-June, after major league teams have signed their amateur draft picks to professional contracts, all eight teams are affiliated with a major league team. The Northwest League has existed in various forms since 1890, and has been in its current incarnation since 1955 and it switched to the short season schedule in 1966, with only four teams. Its immediate predecessor, the Western International League, had ten teams in its year in 1954. During its fiftieth season in 2004, five of the seven cities were in the league. Source, Eugene is the city in the NWL, having fielded a team in all. Spokane had a Triple-A PCL team for 24 seasons, sports league attendances List of Northwest League champions Official website Baseball Reference – Northwest League
5.
Pacific Coast League
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The Pacific Coast League is a Minor League Baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern, and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball and it is officially named the Pacific Coast League of Professional Baseball Clubs, Inc. The PCL maintains its headquarters in Round Rock, Texas, during the first half of the 20th century, the Pacific Coast League developed into one of the premier regional baseball leagues. With no major league baseball team existing west of St. Louis, although it was never recognized as a true major league, its quality of play was considered very high. During 1945 the league voted to become a major league, some players made a career out of the minor leagues. One of the better known was Frank Shellenback, whose Major League pitching career was brief, many former major-league players came to the PCL to finish their careers after their time in the majors had ended. The mild climate of the West Coast, especially California, allowed the league to play longer seasons, sometimes starting in late February and this allowed players to hone their skills, earn an extra month or two of pay, and reduce the need to find off-season work. The longer playing season also allowed for games on the schedule. Teams sometimes played more than 200 games in a single season, during the 1905 season the San Francisco Seals set the all-time PCL record by playing 230 games. Even just prior to the 1958 reshuffling, the league was playing 170–180 games per season, one consequence of such lengthy seasons was that a number of the all-time minor-league records for season statistical totals are held by players from the PCL. In 1952, the PCL became the minor league in history to be given the Open classification. This limited the rights of major clubs to draft players from the PCL. The shift to the Open classification came just as minor league teams from coast to coast suffered a drop in attendance. The hammer blow to the PCLs major league dreams came in 1958, when the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, as a result, three of the PCLs flagship teams were immediately forced to relocate to smaller markets. Additionally, the PCL lost customers to the league teams which now occupied the same territory. The league never recovered from these blows, the Pacific Coast League reverted to Triple-A classification in 1958, and soon diminished in the public eye to nothing more than another minor league. The Oakland Oaks had moved to Canada two years before the arrival of the Giants, the San Diego Padres and Seattle Rainiers were displaced by Major League teams in 1969, but by this time the PCLs decline was already far advanced. The league now stretches from Western Washington to Middle Tennessee, despite its name, the league now has as many teams east of the Mississippi as it does near the Pacific coast
6.
Chicago Cubs
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The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League Central division. The team plays its games at Wrigley Field, located on the citys North Side. The Cubs are one of two league teams in Chicago, the other, the Chicago White Sox, is a member of the American League Central division. The Cubs, first known as the White Stockings, was a member of the NL in 1876. The Cubs have appeared in a total of eleven World Series, the 1906 Cubs won 116 games, finishing 116–36 and posting a modern-era record winning percentage of.763, before losing the World Series to the Chicago White Sox by four games to two. The Cubs won back-to-back World Series championships in 1907 and 1908, the 108-year drought was also the longest such occurrence in all major North American sports. Since the start of play in 1969, the Cubs have appeared in the postseason eight times through the 2016 season. The Cubs are known as the North Siders, a reference to the location of Wrigley Field within the city of Chicago, there is a divisional rivalry with the St. Louis Cardinals and also a newer rivalry with the Milwaukee Brewers. There is also a rivalry with the White Sox. The Cubs began play in 1876 as the Chicago White Stockings, joining the National League as a charter member. Owner William Hulbert signed multiple star players, such as pitcher Albert Spalding and infielders Ross Barnes, Deacon White, the White Stockings played their home games at West Side Grounds and quickly established themselves as one of the new leagues top teams. Spalding won forty-seven games and Barnes led the league in hitting at.429 as Chicago won the first ever National League pennant, which at the time was the games top prize. After back-to-back pennants in 1880 and 1881, Hulbert died, and Spalding, the White Stockings, with Anson acting as player-manager, captured their third consecutive pennant in 1882, and Anson established himself as the games first true superstar. In 1885 and 86, after winning N. L. pennants, both seasons resulted in match ups with the St. Louis Brown Stockings, with the clubs tying in 1885 and with St. Louis winning in 1886. This was the genesis of what would become one of the greatest rivalries in sports. In all, the Anson-led Chicago Base Ball Club won six National League pennants between 1876 and 1886. As a result, Chicagos club nickname transitioned, and by 1890 they had known as the Chicago Colts, or sometimes Ansons Colts
7.
San Diego Padres
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The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball franchise based in San Diego, California. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League West division, along with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the NL pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, as of 2015, they have had 14 winning seasons in franchise history. The Padres are the major professional sports franchise to be located in San Diego. The Padres adopted their name from the Pacific Coast League team that arrived in San Diego in 1936 and that minor league franchise won the PCL title in 1937, led by 18-year-old Ted Williams, the future Hall-of-Famer who was a native of San Diego. The teams name, Spanish for fathers, refers to the Spanish Franciscan friars who founded San Diego in 1769. In 1969, the Padres joined the ranks of Major League Baseball as one of four new teams, along with the Montreal Expos, the Kansas City Royals. Arnholt Smith, a prominent San Diego businessman and former owner of the PCL Padres whose interests included banking, tuna fishing, hotels, real estate and an airline. The teams fortunes improved as they won five National League West titles and reached the World Series twice, in 1984 and in 1998. The Padres main draw during the 1980s and 1990s was Tony Gwynn and they moved into their current stadium, Petco Park, in 2004. As of 2016, the Padres are the team in the MLB yet to throw a no-hitter since their addition to the league in 1969. The team has played its spring training games at the Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria and they share the stadium with the Seattle Mariners. From 1969 to 1993, the Padres held spring training in Yuma, due to the short driving distance and direct highway route, Yuma was very popular with Padres fans, and many fans would travel by car from San Diego for spring training games. Throughout the teams history, the San Diego Padres have used six different logos, the original team colors were blue and red before changing to gold and brown in the 70s. Their first logo depicts a friar swinging a bat with Padres written at the top standing in a sun-like figure with San Diego Padres on the exterior of it. The Swinging Friar has popped up on the uniform on and off ever since although the head of the friar has been tweaked from the original in recent years, in 1985, the Padres switched to using a script-like logo in which Padres was written sloped up. That would later become a script logo for the Padres, the teams colors were changed to brown and orange and remained this way through the 1990 season. In 1989, the Padres took the scripted Padres logo that was used from 1985 to 1988, in 1991, the logo was changed to a silver ring with the Padres script changed from brown to blue
8.
Atlanta Braves
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The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball franchise based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The franchise competes in Major League Baseball as a member of the National League East division, the Braves played home games at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium from 1966 to 1996, and Turner Field from 1997 to 2016. Since 2017, their stadium has been SunTrust Park, a new stadium 10 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta in Cumberland/Galleria, Georgia. The Braves play spring training games in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, in January 2017, the Braves announced a formal agreement to move their spring training home to North Port, Florida. The Braves name, which was first used in 1912, originates from a term for a Native American warrior, from 1991 to 2005, the Braves were one of the most successful franchises in baseball, winning division titles an unprecedented 14 consecutive times in that period. The Braves won the NL West 1991–93 and the NL East 1995–2005, the Braves advanced to the World Series five times in the 1990s, winning the title in 1995. The Braves are the only Major League Baseball franchise to have won the World Series in three different home cities, the Braves and the Chicago Cubs are the National Leagues two remaining charter franchises. The Braves were founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1871, the team states it is the oldest continuously operating professional sports franchise in America. After various name changes, the team began operating as the Boston Braves. Then, in 1953, the moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The teams tenure in Atlanta is noted for Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruths career home run record in 1974, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, established in 1869 as the first openly all-professional baseball team, voted to dissolve after the 1870 season. The original Boston Red Stockings team and its successors can lay claim to being the oldest continuously playing team in American professional sports. Two young players hired away from the Forest City club of Rockford, Illinois, turned out to be the biggest stars during the NAPBBP years, pitcher Al Spalding and second baseman Ross Barnes. Led by the Wright brothers, Barnes, and Spalding, the Red Stockings dominated the National Association, the team became one of the National Leagues charter franchises in 1876, sometimes called the Red Caps. The Boston Red Caps played in the first game in the history of the National League, on Saturday, April 22,1876, defeating the Athletics, although somewhat stripped of talent in the National Leagues inaugural year, Boston bounced back to win the 1877 and 1878 pennants. The Red Caps/Beaneaters were one of the dominant teams during the 19th century. For most of time, their manager was Frank Selee. Boston came to be called the Beaneaters in 1883, while retaining red as the team color, the 1898 team finished 102–47, a club record for wins that would stand for almost a century
9.
Kansas City Royals
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The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball as a team of the American League Central division. The team was founded as a franchise in 1969, and has participated in four World Series, winning in 1985 and 2015. The name Royals originates from the American Royal, a show, horse show, rodeo. Entering the American League in 1969 along with the Seattle Pilots, since April 10,1973, the Royals have played at Kauffman Stadium, formerly known as Royals Stadium. The team remained competitive throughout the early 1990s, but then had one winning season from 1995 to 2012. For 28 consecutive seasons, the Royals did not qualify to play in the Major League Baseball postseason, the team broke this streak in 2014 by securing the franchises first wild card berth and advancing to the World Series. The Royals followed this up by winning the teams first Central Division title in 2015, the Royals began play in 1969 in Kansas City, Missouri. In their inaugural game, on April 8,1969, the Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins 4–3 in 12 innings, in 1971, the Royals had their first winning season, with manager Bob Lemon leading them to a second-place finish. In 1973, under manager Jack McKeon, the Royals adopted their iconic powder blue road uniforms, the 1973 All-Star Game was hosted at Royals Stadium, with Otis and Mayberry in the AL starting lineup. The event was held at Municipal Stadium in 1960, when the Athletics were based in Kansas City. However, the Royals lost to the New York Yankees in three straight American League Championship Series encounters, after the Royals finished in second place in 1979, Herzog was fired and replaced by Jim Frey. Under Frey, the Royals rebounded in 1980 and advanced to the ALCS, the Royals vanquished the Yankees in a three-game sweep punctuated by a George Brett home run off of Yankees star relief pitcher Goose Gossage. After reaching their first World Series, the Royals fell to the Philadelphia Phillies in six games, Game 6 was also significant because it remains the most-watched game in World Series history with a television audience of 54.9 million viewers. In July 1983, while the Royals were headed for a second-place finish behind the Chicago White Sox another chapter in the rivalry with the New York Yankees occurred. After Yankee Manager Billy Martin came out of the dugout to talk to home plate umpire Tim McClelland, McClelland, McClelland then pointed to Brett in the dugout and gave the out sign, disallowing the home run. Brett stormed out of the dugout, angry and hysterical, the homer was later reinstated by AL President Lee MacPhail, and the Royals won the game after it was resumed several weeks later. The 1983 season was notable for some transitional changes in the Royals organization
