Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball
| File:Canadian-American Association.png CanAm League logo | |
| Sport | Baseball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004 |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country |  United States Canada |
| Most recent champion(s) | Sussex Skyhawks |
| Official website | www.canamleague.com |
The Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, based in Durham, North Carolina, is a professional, independent baseball league located in the Northeastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It operates in cities not served by Major or Minor League Baseball teams and is not affiliated with either. The level of play is comparable to that in Class A leagues.
The Association is usually referred to as the Can-Am League. This was also the name of the Canadian-American League, which operated between 1936 and 1951.
Policies and practices
Policies
The Can-Am League is a relatively short-season, low-budget league. Several league policies serve to prevent dominance by owners who can out-spend their opposition:
A league salary cap is a maximum amount that can be spent on the entire player roster. Teams may apportion it among players as they see fit. Certain players are given coaching duties, by which to earn additional pay. The typical Can-Am player does not earn enough to live on even during the season, and teams solicit "host families." A host family provides room and board for the player it accepts.
Rosters are limited to 22 players once the regular season begins. An additional two players can be on the disabled list (which is referred to on some published rosters as the disabled/inactive list, and is sometimes used to ensure that a player under contract that a team does not wish to use is unavailable to opponents).
League roster rules give each player an LS (Length of Service) rating, based on the number of full years the player has played professionally: Rookie, LS-1 through LS-5, and Veteran. Teams can carry at most four veterans and must carry at least five rookies. Some published rosters state the LS rating of each player. Veteran players tend to play the best, but teams can use their rookie slots for home-town natives, fan favorites, and occasional celebrity players. Can-Am teams often sign as rookies players from local colleges. Teams do not sign players still in college, because earning money for playing makes them ineligible for further college play. The most promising college players, after graduating, prefer to play in a league affiliated with Major League Baseball.
Source: Can-Am League Roster Rules
Scheduling
The Can-Am League has played regular seasons of between 92 and 96 games. In years when one of the teams is a league-operated traveling team, the franchises play an increased number of home games to keep the total length of the regular season constant. All games a franchise plays against the traveling team are played at the franchise's ballpark. However, half of those games are designated "home games" for the traveling team, which takes the field first and bats last as though the game were played at the traveling team's "home."
In 2007 and 2008, the schedule has not been perfectly balanced, either in the number of times a team will play each of its opponents, nor in the division of home and away games for a given team.
Opponents play a series of from three to five games on consecutive days. There are no doubleheaders in the original schedule, but doubleheaders are played after weather cancels or suspends a game. Occasionally, for the nearby franchises in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the original schedule does not put all the games of a series at the same ballpark. For example, the teams may travel to the visitor's ballpark for the middle game of a series.
Level of play
The level of play is comparable to that in Class A leagues. Players in independent baseball are scouted less heavily by Major League teams than players on affiliated teams. In addition, some scouts believe the short playing season of the Can-Am League does not adequately test a player's durability for an entire Major-League season. The Atlantic League is another independent league in the same geographic area and has a longer season; some Can-Am players go there after the Can-Am season finishes.
Some Major League alumni have gone to the Can-Am League in an effort to return to the Majors. This succeeds occasionally, but is a less direct route than signing with an affiliated team, which a player would do if scouts and coaches shared the player's optimism.
Current teams
| Team | Founded | City | Stadium | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ♣American Defenders of New Hampshire | 1998 * | Nashua, New Hampshire | Nokona Park at Holman Stadium | 4,375 |
| Atlantic City Surf | 1998 * | Atlantic City, New Jersey | Bernie Robbins Stadium | 5,500 |
| Brockton Rox | 2002 | Brockton, Massachusetts | Campanelli Stadium | 4,750 |
| New Jersey Jackals | 1998 | Little Falls, New Jersey | Yogi Berra Stadium | 3,748 |
| ♦Ottawa Rapids | 2007 | Ottawa, Ontario | Ottawa Baseball Stadium | 10,332 |
| Quebec Capitales | 1999 | Quebec City, Quebec | Stade Municipal | 4,500 |
| Sussex Skyhawks | 2006 | Augusta, New Jersey | Skylands Park | 4,300 |
| Worcester Tornadoes | 2005 | Worcester, Massachusetts | Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field | 3,000 |
♣ Known as the Nashua Pride through 2008.
♦ The League intends to operate the Ottawa franchise in 2009 if a new owner is not found.
* Entered the Can-Am League later.
Former teams
| Team | City | Stadium | Capacity | Years | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adirondack Lumberjacks | Glens Falls, New York | East Field | 9,000 | 1995-2002 | Became the Bangor Lumberjacks. |
| Allentown Ambassadors | Allentown, Pennsylvania | Bicentennial Park | 4,600 | 1997-2003 | |
| Bangor Lumberjacks | Orono, Maine | Mahaney Diamond, U. Maine |
3,000 | 2003 | |
| Bangor, Maine | Winkin Sports Complex, Husson College | 3,000 | 2004 | ||
| Berkshire Black Bears | Pittsfield, Massachusetts | Wahconah Park | 4,500 | 2002-2003 | Became the New Haven County Cutters. |
| Elmira Pioneers | Elmira, New York | Dunn Field | 4,020 | 1996-2005 | Moved to New York Collegiate Baseball League. |
| Massachusetts Mad Dogs | Lynn, Massachusetts | Fraser Field | 4,375 | 1997-1999 | Became the Berkshire Black Bears. |
| New Haven County Cutters | New Haven, Connecticut | Yale Field | 6,200 | 2004-2007 | |
| North Shore Spirit | Lynn, Massachusetts | Fraser Field | 4,375 | 2003-2007 |
League-operated traveling teams
| Name | Year(s) | Reason | Disposition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aces | 2004 | Departure of Allentown Ambassadors | Place taken in 2005 by the Worcester Tornadoes. |
| The Grays | 2005 | Departure of Bangor Lumberjacks | Place taken in 2006 by the Sussex Skyhawks. |
| The Grays | 2007 | Arrival of Atlantic City Surf | Place taken in 2008 by the Ottawa Rapids. |
Standings
2008 final standings (full-season)
| Team | W | L | Win % | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ♣Quebec Capitales | 58 | 36 | .617 | 0 |
| ♦Worcester Tornadoes | 53 | 41 | .564 | 5 |
| ¶Sussex Skyhawks | 52 | 42 | .553 | 6 |
| ¶Atlantic City Surf | 51 | 43 | .543 | 7 |
| Brockton Rox | 47 | 47 | .500 | 11 |
| New Jersey Jackals | 43 | 51 | .457 | 15 |
| ^Nashua Pride | 41 | 53 | .436 | 17 |
| Ottawa Rapidz | 31 | 63 | .330 | 27 |
♣ Won first half of season
♦ Won second half of season
¶ Won wildcard playoff berth
^ Franchise sold; to be known in 2009 as the American Defenders of New Hampshire
Source: Can-Am League Standings
2008 playoffs
In the divisional series, Quebec beat Atlantic City, 3 games to 1; and Sussex beat Worcester, 3 games to 1. In the championship series, Sussex beat Quebec, 3 games to 0.
History
The Canadian-American Association was created when the Northeast League was renamed in 2005. The Northeast League was formed in 1995; it merged with the Northern League in 1998, but the two leagues separated after the 2002 season. During that merger, the two leagues competed in an All-Star Game, and held a championship series in some years, but there was no inter-league play in the regular season.
New charter in 2005
The Allentown Ambassadors had folded days before the 2004 season began, forcing the Northeast League to field a traveling team called the Aces. For the 2005 season, the Northeast League accepted the Worcester Tornadoes as a new eighth team. However, three weeks before the start of the 2005 season, the Bangor (Maine) Lumberjacks folded, forcing the team to create another traveling team, this time called The Grays.
The league has operated a traveling team whenever necessary to provide an even number of teams. However, doing so forces the other franchises to host more home games to provide a season of the same length. To obviate such disruptive last-minute schedule changes in the future, the Northeast League adopted a new charter, giving the league new powers to ensure that its franchises are solvent, and renamed itself the Canadian-American Association.
Subsequent changes
For 2006, the Can-Am League added two teams. The new Sussex Skyhawks replaced the Elmira Pioneers, which moved into the amateur New York Collegiate Baseball League; and the Nashua Pride joined the league from the Atlantic League. There were now eight teams without a traveling team.
The current playoff format was adopted in 2006. Playoff spots go to the winner of the first half, the winner of the second half, and the two remaining teams with the best winning percentage (for the full season). If the same team wins both halves, the three other teams with the best winning percentages enter the playoffs. Previously, the league had North and South Divisions; the playoff teams were the winners of each division in each half-season, with wild-card teams (based on record) added if necessary to equal four.
For 2007, the Atlantic City Surf joined from the Atlantic League, and the league re-established The Grays, after a year of dormancy, as a tenth team. At the end of that season, both the New Haven County Cutters and the North Shore Spirit suspended operations, reducing the league to eight teams. Many New Haven player contracts were sold to Nashua, while many Spirit players were placed on waivers.
For 2008, Ottawa, which had lost its franchise in the International League, joined the Can-Am League as the Rapids, an eighth franchise, displacing the Grays.
Future plans
After the 2008 season, Rapidz management declared bankruptcy but the league intends to operate a franchise in Ottawa in 2009 if separate management cannot be found.The name was also changed back to it's original one: Rapids. [1]
The Nashua Pride franchise was sold and will be known in 2009 as the American Defenders of New Hampshire because of the military tie-ins of its new ownership group.
Champions
- Champions of the Northeast League, 1995-98
- 1995 Adirondack Lumberjacks
- 1996 Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs
- 1997 Elmira Pioneers
- 1998 New Jersey Jackals
- Champions of the Eastern Division of the Northern League
- 1999 Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs
- 2000 Adirondack Lumberjacks
- 2001 New Jersey Jackals
- 2002 New Jersey Jackals
- Champions of the Northeast League, 2003-04
- 2003 Brockton Rox
- 2004 New Jersey Jackals
- Champions of the Can-Am League
- 2005 Worcester Tornadoes
- 2006 Quebec Capitales
- 2007 Nashua Pride
- 2008 Sussex Skyhawks
References
- ^ Campbell, Don (November 14, 2008). "Ottawa's Can-Am 'run' not over yet". The Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved November 14, 2008.