Midwest League History

The 1980s

An overview of Midwest League history between 1980 and 1989.

The eighties were an expansion era, as the Midwest and South Atlantic Leagues became clearly defined as the "Low-A" component of professional baseball's player development system. Our league grew from eight to twelve teams in 1982, and added two more in 1988. (The SAL grew similarly, from eight to twelve teams.)

The first expansion occurred in '82, as the Beloit, Springfield (now Great Lakes), Danville (Peoria), and Madison (West Michigan) franchises were added to the mix. 1988 saw the Rockford (Dayton) and South Bend join the MWL, an expansion which had originally been approved in 1984, though for other cities. While there's been occasional discussion about adding another pair of MWL teams, there's been no expansion since--and when the SAL expanded to sixteen teams in 2001, the pressure for further expansion at our league's level was considerably reduced.

There were just two franchise moves during this period: The new Danville entry lasted but one season before moving to Peoria, and the Wisconsin Rapids team moved to Kenosha before 1984. Even affiliation changes were rare during the decade, except at Burlington. 1980's Wausau team and the 1989 Waterloo nine were the last official Co-op teams on the MWL's records, although the 1986 Burlington Expos had a ten-player contribution from the Royals.

The Midwest League was a Class A member of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues during this period.