What is it about?
The California League, often overshadowed, thrived on its own humble terms, an old-fashioned bush league occupying the heartland of the nation’s wealthiest and most populous state. The league's lowly-but-essential placement within the framework of professional baseball was reflected in the roles its member towns have filled within the economic and political dynamics of California itself.
Featured Image
Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash
Why is it important?
The California League was an illustration of the complicated reality of the State of California: alongside the booming, technologically dynamic, trend-setting big cities hugging its coastline, there has always been a second California realm, far less affluent, far more agricultural and blue-collar, far more conservative, residing in the state’s great Central Valley and in much of its southern desertland.
Perspectives
As a native Californian, the son and grandson of native Californians, the baseball the California League has offered is more than just an evening's entertainment. It also provides a lesson in the big state's geography, history, and economy.
Steven Treder
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: In Memoriam: The California League, 1879–2020, NINE A Journal of Baseball History and Culture, September 2023, Project Muse,
DOI: 10.1353/nin.2023.a903315.
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