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48-645: The Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball , commonly known as the Can-Am League , was a professional, independent baseball league with teams in the Northeast United States and Eastern Canada , founded in 2005 as a reorganization of its predecessor, the Northeast League . The Can-Am League operated in cities not directly served by Major or Minor League teams and was not affiliated with either. The league office

96-583: A balanced schedule, and continued to include matchups with the American Association. Interleague play ended after the 2015 season, though the Can-Am League continued to send players to the American Association's All-Star Game. Starting with the 2015 season, the league hosted international clubs as part of its regular season schedule. Each of the regular clubs of the league played a series of 3 or 4 games against these international teams and

144-794: A baseball team in the independent Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball , based in Pittsfield, Massachusetts . The team was previously known as the American Defenders of New Hampshire (often simply referred to as the "Defenders"), and prior to that was known as the Nashua Pride . The Colonials (in their previous incarnations as the Defenders and the Pride), played in Nashua, New Hampshire from their debut as part of

192-524: A league championship series every fall from 1999 until 2002. The Northeast League became its own entity again for the 2003 season and continued play for one additional year before the renaming of the league. The Allentown Ambassadors 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

240-658: A lease on Wahconah Park for a team in the New England Collegiate Baseball League , and transferred the current lease for play in the Can-Am League. Dan Duquette , current executive vice-president of baseball operations for the Baltimore Orioles , is also part of the ownership group, which is known as Boston Baseball All-Stars LLC. The team was renamed the Pittsfield Colonials . After the 2010 season, In its place,

288-611: A level considered major league from 1914 to 1915. Few independent leagues existed between 1915 and 1993. Major exceptions included the Carolina League and the Quebec -based Provincial League . The Carolina League, based in the North Carolina Piedmont region, gained a reputation as a notorious "outlaw league" during its existence from 1936 to 1938. The Provincial League fielded six teams across Quebec and

336-404: A tie. Beginning in 2006, the league abandoned divisional play. The first half-season leader automatically qualified for the playoffs, as did the second half-season leader if there was a second. To round the field out at four, two or more wild-card spots were given to teams with the best overall season record. The four qualifiers for the playoffs would meet in two separate best of five series with

384-539: A variety of independent semi-professional leagues consisting of industrial teams , where the players are regular employees of the company that own the team and are additionally paid to play baseball for the company on the side. South Korea also has series of small independent leagues. Additionally, as of 2024, two Japanese teams without affiliation to NPB teams play within NPB's minor leagues (the Eastern League and

432-564: The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball in 1998 until the end of the 2009 season, and called Holman Stadium in Nashua home, until the summer of 2009. In August of that year, the city of Nashua evicted the Defenders from their home and parked a tractor on home plate, refusing to move it or let the team back into the stadium until $ 45,000 in back rent and property taxes were repaid to the city. The team has played at Wahconah Park ,

480-786: The MLB Draft League , which operates as an amateur collegiate summer baseball league in the first half of each season and a professional league outside of the structure of Minor League Baseball for the remainder. Independent baseball leagues and teams exist outside of North America, though rarer. In Japan, the Japan Independent Baseball League Organization, which consists of the Shikoku Island League Plus and Baseball Challenge League , operates independently from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Japan also has

528-529: The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum , Tim Raines and Rickey Henderson . Gary Carter , another Hall of Famer, managed in the league. The Atlantic League has had many notable managers and coaches, including Wally Backman , Frank Viola , Tommy John , Sparky Lyle , and Bud Harrelson . The Northern League alumni include Leon "Bull" Durham , J. D. Drew , and Darryl Strawberry . Independent leagues are those professional leagues in

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576-577: The Western League ). Similarly, within KBO Futures League , the minor league of Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), there is an unaffiliated team that consists only of South Korean military personnel . A select number of Japanese independent teams also participate in the off-season Miyazaki Phoenix League alongside Japanese and Korean minor league teams. American Defenders of New Hampshire The Pittsfield Colonials were

624-544: The Worcester Tornadoes as a new eighth team. However, three weeks before the start of the 2005 season, the Bangor Lumberjacks folded, forcing the team to create another traveling team, this time called The Grays . The league operated a traveling team whenever necessary to provide an even number of teams. However, doing so forced the other franchises to host more home games to provide a season of

672-507: The 2010 season. The move to Pittsfield forced the displacement of Wahconah's previous tenants, the NECBL 's Pittsfield American Defenders, which were owned by the same ownership group that bought the Pride in 2008. In the case of the Pride and the former Pittsfield Dukes, the ownership group changed the name of the team. The American Defenders name was an homage to the U.S. Armed Forces . One of

720-599: The 2012 season the Worcester charter was rescinded and the league decided to try to find new owners for the Tornadoes, but failed to do so and awarded the franchise instead to a Trois-Rivières, Quebec, group. Beginning in 2012, Can-Am League clubs played 18 to 20 games per season against opponents from the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball , with which it shares a commissioner. After

768-615: The 2013 season, Newark announced it would not compete in the 2014 season and the team was eventually folded altogether. In 2014, the Can-Am League announced that a fifth team, based in Ottawa, would join the league for 2015. The league later announced it would be returning to Sussex County, New Jersey as well, and announced that a traveling team would join the Ottawa Champions and the Sussex County Miners to create

816-513: The Frontier League, the league awarded playoff spots to the teams with the four best records at the end of the regular season. The league salary cap was a maximum amount that could be spent on the entire player roster. Teams could apportion it among players as they saw fit. Certain players were given coaching duties to earn additional pay. The maximum salary cap for a rostered player was about US$ 4,000 every one to two months, depending on

864-451: The LS rating of each player. Since 2005, the Can-Am League regular season schedule varied in length from 92 to 102 games. In 2019, the league scheduled a 95-game regular season. In years when one of the teams was a league-operated traveling team, the franchises played an increased number of home games to keep the total length of the regular season constant. All games a franchise played against

912-759: The National Association after one season of independence. Notable exceptions were the California League , which was independent in 1902 and from 1907 to 1909; the United States Baseball League , which folded during its independent 1912 season; and the Colonial League, a National Association Member that went independent in 1915 and then folded. Another independent league, the Federal League , played at

960-539: The Northern League's success paved the way for other independent leagues like the Texas-Louisiana League and Northeast League . Over the next eight years, at least 16 independent leagues formed, of which six existed in 2002. As of the 2024 season, there are seven active leagues, with four of them acting as MLB Partner Leagues . Additionally, Major League Baseball co-operatively operates

1008-584: The Ottawa franchise in 2009. The league changed the team's name back to Rapids, a spelling used during the team's founding (Rapides in French). Later, however, the Commissioner stated the need for a "fresh start" and opened a contest to select a new name for the team. The winning name was "Voyageurs". Still later, the Atlantic City franchise was terminated, as a sale fell through. On March 30, 2009,

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1056-490: The U.S. Military All-Stars "Red, White and Blue Tour". The new management promoted Brian Daubach , who became the hitting coach of the Nashua Pride during the second half of 2008, to manage the team. Allvord, O'Connor, and Duquette are no longer owners of the team, as Buddy Lewis led new investors who purchased the team in early 2010. It was announced on October 4, 2011 that the Can-Am League owners voted to rescind

1104-519: The United States and Canada not under the purview of organized Minor League Baseball and the Commissioner of Baseball. Independent baseball existed in the early 20th century and has become prominent again since 1993. Leagues operated mostly autonomously before 1902, when the majority joined the NAPBL. From then until 1915, a total of eight new and existing leagues remained independent. Most joined

1152-400: The end of the first half of the season automatically qualified for the playoffs. Two additional playoff spots would be made available. Once again, these went to division winners if the first half champions failed to repeat. Otherwise, one or more wild card spots would be given based on the team's overall record in both halves. If absolutely necessary, a one-game playoff would be played in case of

1200-717: The former home of the Berkshire Black Bears of the Northeast League (the Can-Am League's predecessor), since 2010; the Colonials are the first Can-Am or Northeast League team to call the park home since the Black Bears moved to New Haven, Connecticut in 2004. The team's name was chosen in March 2010 after a contest run by the Berkshire Eagle , one of the two papers that have covered the Colonials since

1248-533: The future of baseball in Nashua . The Quebec Capitales would go on to win their second League Championship. On December 19, 2009, league directors preliminarily gave approval to transfer the membership of the American Defenders of New Hampshire from Nashua, New Hampshire, to Pittsfield, Massachusetts for play in the 2010 season. Final approval was granted by the city for use of Wahconah Park on February 1. The ownership group headed by Buddy Lewis had

1296-481: The games of a series at the same ballpark. For example, the teams could travel to the visitors' ballpark for the middle game of a series. In 2014, the Can-Am League adopted the IBAF's international tiebreaker rule. If a game went beyond the tenth inning, each half-inning began with a runner on second base. The runner was the batter who made the last out in the team's previous turn at bat, or the batter immediately preceding

1344-733: The leadoff man for the inning if that player had been substituted out. Play continued as normal otherwise. If the game remained tied, the process repeated until one team won. The first use of the rule came on June 2, 2014, in an interleague matchup between the St. Paul Saints and the Quebec Capitales , and the American Association has also adopted the rule. Can-Am League Northeast League Northern League East Independent league baseball Independent leagues have flourished in northeastern states, where dense populations can often support multiple franchises . Because they are not subject to

1392-410: The league announced that it would shrink to six teams rather than having two league-operated teams. The Nashua Pride franchise was sold and was known in 2009 as the American Defenders of New Hampshire because of the military tie-ins of its new ownership group. During the 2009 season the Defenders were locked out of Holman Stadium and forced to play their last home games on the road, bringing doubt to

1440-751: The league awarded the Rockland Boulders a franchise, added the Newark Bears from the Atlantic League, and formed the New York Federals as a traveling team. Pittsfield's franchise charter was rescinded after the 2011 season and the Colonials folded after ownership could not find partners. The Brockton Rox moved to the Futures Collegiate Baseball League after the 2011 season. At the end of

1488-483: The league to cancel its 2020 campaign. The Champions were not invited, but the Frontier League would eventually grant a franchise to Ottawa and that team would begin play in 2022 as the Ottawa Titans . In its inaugural season, the Can-Am League kept the two-division setup and half-season format that the Northeast League had. The two teams that were leading their respective divisions, designated North and South, at

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1536-595: The prominent members of the team's prior ownership group, Terry Allvord, is the founder of armed forces baseball in the modern era and a retired U.S. Naval Lieutenant Commander who served 23 years and logged over 5,000 flight hours as a rescue swimmer and helicopter pilot. The former Pittsfield franchise in the NECBL is now based in Mystic, Connecticut , where it is known as the Mystic Schooners . The Nashua Pride

1584-544: The results of those games counted in the regular season standings. Over the years, the league hosted teams from Cuba, Japan and the Dominican Republic. On October 16, 2019, the independent Frontier League announced that it was merging with the Can-Am League for the 2020 season. The Jackals, Miners, Capitales, Aigles, and Boulders all joined but did not start play until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing

1632-426: The roster size. However most players made about $ 2–3,000 every month. There were some rostered players that made the maximum every two months. There were no players in the league that made more than $ 4,000 per month. Rosters were limited to 23 players once the regular season began. An additional two players could be on the disabled list (which was referred to on some published rosters as the disabled/inactive list, and

1680-473: The sale of the team, the name was changed from the Nashua Pride to the American Defenders of New Hampshire, placing less of an emphasis on the Nashua market. The change of the geographical portion of the name is meant to emphasize the globalism of the United States military. American Defenders of New Hampshire ownership consisted of Nokona executives Buddy Lewis and Jerry O'Connor, former Boston Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette , and Terry Allvord, founder of

1728-639: 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 were solvent, and renamed itself the Canadian-American Association. For 2006, the Can-Am League added two teams. Floyd Hall Enterprises, which owned the Jackals, decided to launch a second team after the New Jersey Cardinals franchise

1776-566: The team moved to the Canadian American Association (Can-Am League). As Nashua is closer in proximity to the teams of the Can-Am League than those of the Atlantic, the Pride was relieved of the expensive travel to away games. The Nashua Pride won the 2007 Can-Am League championship. Following the 2008 season, the former owner of the team, John Stabile, sold the team to the American Defenders of New Hampshire, LLC. With

1824-699: The teams, The Grays were relaunched to serve as the traveling team. After the 2007 season, the New Haven County Cutters and North Shore Spirit ceased operations. For 2008, Ottawa , which had lost its franchise in the International League , joined the Can-Am League as the Rapidz , an eighth franchise, displacing the Grays. After the 2008 season, Rapidz management declared bankruptcy. The league declared its intention to operate

1872-610: The territorial limitations imposed on affiliated minor-league teams, independent clubs can relocate as close to affiliated teams (and one another) as they choose to. For example, the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania , cannot have an affiliated team because of its proximity to the Harrisburg Senators and Reading Fightin Phils , leaving the Atlantic League to place a team—the Lancaster Barnstormers —to fill

1920-407: The traveling team were played at the franchise's ballpark. However, half of those games were designated "home games" for the traveling team, which took the field first and batted last as though the game were played at the traveling team's "home." Opponents played a series of from three to five games on consecutive days. Occasionally, for clubs near to one another, the original schedule did not put all

1968-722: The void. Another example is the greater New York City metropolitan area, where there are many independent teams: the Long Island Ducks , Staten Island FerryHawks , New Jersey Jackals , New York Boulders , and Sussex County Miners . The Atlantic League considered as the top level of competition among the independent leagues, and has had more marquee players than any other independent league, including Jose Canseco , Mat Latos , Steve Lombardozzi Jr. , Francisco Rodríguez , Chien-Ming Wang , Roger Clemens , Rich Hill , Scott Kazmir , Juan González , John Rocker , and Dontrelle Willis . Two former Atlantic League players are in

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2016-605: The winners advancing to the League Championship Series, which was also best of five. Beginning in 2012, the league stopped using the half-season format. From 2012 through 2014, the teams with the two best records in the league advanced to the League Championship Series. The series was expanded from a best of five to a best of seven. This changed in 2015 when Ottawa and Sussex County joined the league, which enabled it to have enough teams to return to its previous playoff format. From this point until its merger with

2064-526: Was formed in 1995 and played four seasons as an independent league. At the end of the 1998 season, the Northeast League was merged with the Northern League and became that league's East Division. Although the East Division did not play the teams that were already in the Northern League during the regular season, the respective divisions played each other in an all-star game every summer and in

2112-477: Was in Dayton, Ohio . Though a separate entity, the league shared a commissioner, president, and director of umpires with the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball . The Can-Am League ceased operations after the 2019 season, with five of the six league teams joining the independent Frontier League . The Can-Am League was created when the Northeast League was renamed in 2005. The Northeast League

2160-425: Was independent from 1948 to 1949. Similarly to early 20th-century independent leagues, it joined the National Association in 1950, playing for six more years. Independent leagues saw new growth after 1992, after the new Professional Baseball Agreement in organized baseball instituted more stringent revenue and stadium requirements on members. The Northern League and Frontier League both started play in 1993, and

2208-626: Was one of the founding members of the Atlantic League in 1998. In the 2000 season, the team swept the Somerset Patriots in three games to win the Atlantic League Championship Series. However, the Patriots answered that loss by defeating the Pride in the 2003 and 2005 championships. The Pride had one of the lowest average attendances in the league was the farthest team from the core of the league. In 2006,

2256-684: Was relocated and founded the Sussex Skyhawks . The Skyhawks took the place of the Elmira Pioneers , which moved into the amateur New York Collegiate Baseball League . The league also received a new member from the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball , as the Nashua Pride joined as the eighth team. Another Atlantic League team defected to the Can-Am League for 2007 as the Atlantic City Surf joined. To even out

2304-426: Was sometimes used to ensure that a player under contract that a team does not wish to use was unavailable to opponents). League roster rules gave each player an LS (Length of Service) rating, based on the number of full years the player had played professionally: Rookie, LS-1 through LS-5, and Veteran. Teams could carry at most four veterans and were required to carry at least five rookies. Some published rosters stated

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