The Senior Professional Baseball Association , referred to commonly as the Senior League , was a winter baseball league based in Florida for players age 35 and over, with a minimum age of 32 for catchers. The league began play in 1989 and had eight teams in two divisions and a 72-game schedule. Pitchers Rollie Fingers , Ferguson Jenkins (both future Hall of Famers ), and Vida Blue , outfielder Dave Kingman , and managers Earl Weaver and Dick Williams were the league's marquee names; and former big league outfielder Curt Flood was the circuit's first Commissioner. At age 54, Ed Rakow was the league's oldest player.
12-571: The Bradenton Explorers were one of the eight original franchises that began play in the Senior Professional Baseball Association in 1989 . That season, the club compiled a record of 38-34, finishing in second place in the league's Northern Division, narrowly holding off the Orlando Juice . Jim Morrison led the league with 17 home runs, and pitcher Rick Lysander added a league-high 11 saves. In
24-573: A 2.12 ERA. Joaquín Andújar of Gold Coast had 5 wins and an ERA of 1.31. In the first weekend of February 1990, the league's top four teams participated in a three-game, single elimination tournament with a rather unusual format. On February 2, the league's second place clubs faced off. The Explorers defeated the Sun Sox for a chance to face the St. Petersburg Pelicans. The next day, the Pelicans beat
36-443: A league best .374, and his teammate Kim Allen paced the circuit with 33 stolen bases. Willie Aikens hit 12 home runs and had 58 RBIs. West Palm Beach pitcher Juan Eichelberger went 11–5 with a 2.90 ERA , and St. Petersburg's Milt Wilcox went 12–3. Jon Matlack , Tim Stoddard , and Pete Falcone each won 10 games. Bradenton's Rick Lysander saved 11 games, and Winter Haven's Bill Campbell notched 5 saves to go along with
48-680: A two-sport star at the University of Southern California , where he earned three national championships in baseball and two in football, before playing as a running back in the WFL , the CFL , the NFL , and the USFL . The Pride had a record of 13-12 and were in third place when the league canceled the season on December 26, 1990. An apparent rift between teams owners forced cancellation of all remaining games. At
60-494: The Orlando Juice . Infielder Ron Washington of West Palm Beach was the league's offensive star, hitting .359 with a league leading 73 RBIs and winning the MVP award . Washington's teammate Mickey Rivers hit .366, and Gold Coast Sun Bert Campaneris , the oldest everyday player in the league at 47, stole 16 bases. Bradenton's Jim Morrison hit .290 with 55 RBIs and led the league with 17 homers. Tim Ireland of Fort Myers hit
72-791: The Explorers 9–2 to advance to the league championship game against the West Palm Beach Tropics. On February 4, 1990, the Pelicans, powered by Lamar Johnson 's home run and 3 RBIs, beat the Tropics 12–4 for the league's first championship. The 1989-90 player statistics for all teams were published in the Sporting News on February 12, 1990, pages 30–31 "Assessing the Boys of Winter". 1989/1990 Teams Northern Division Southern Division For its second season, four of
84-580: The SPBA. San Bernardino Pride The San Bernardino Pride was a baseball club who played in the Senior Professional Baseball Association in 1990 for the league's second season. They played its home games at Fiscalini Field in San Bernardino, California . Former Baltimore Orioles infielder Rich Dauer was the playing manager of the Pride, while Tom Thompson served as the bench coach for
96-648: The inaugural season, most clubs struggled with poor attendance, with an average attendance of less than 1,000 per game. On the field, the West Palm Beach Tropics ran away with the league's South Division, finishing 15 games ahead of the second place Fort Myers Sun Sox . In the North, the St. Petersburg Pelicans finished in first, and the Bradenton Explorers were second, narrowly holding off
108-800: The league's eight teams (Gold Coast, Orlando, St. Lucie, and Winter Haven) folded; the West Palm Beach Tropics became a traveling team known as the Florida Tropics , and the Explorers moved from Bradenton to Daytona Beach, becoming the Daytona Beach Explorers . The circuit then added clubs in Arizona, the Sun City Rays , as well as in California, the San Bernardino Pride . In addition, the league dropped
120-538: The minimum age to 34 and shortened the season to 56 games. Less than halfway through its second season, the SPBA folded on December 26, 1990. 1990/1991 Standings Ron Washington , Joaquín Andújar , Paul Mirabella , Danny Boone , and Ozzie Virgil Jr. signed Major League Baseball contracts after playing in the Senior League; Mirabella, Boone, and Virgil all played in the Majors after their appearances in
132-694: The playoffs, the Explorers lost to the St. Petersburg Pelicans , who went on to become league champions. However the following season, the team was relocated to Daytona Beach , becoming the Daytona Beach Explorers . The move was a result of the team losing $ 1 million during their first season. In Daytona the team had an 11-11 record and were in 4th place when the Senior Professional Baseball Association ceased operations on December 28, 1990. Senior Professional Baseball Association Throughout
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#1732776523894144-429: The team. The best-known names on the roster were Vida Blue , the 1971 American League MVP and Cy Young Award winner , and Mike Norris , a 22-game winner for the 1980 Oakland Athletics . Other players included Derrel Thomas , who played for seven teams during a 15-year major league career, as well as the brothers Gary and Ron Roenicke . The Pride also had its version of Bo Jackson in outfielder Anthony Davis ,
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