The Louisville Colonels were a Minor League Baseball team that played in Louisville, Kentucky , from 1901 to 1962 and 1968 to 1972. The name, like that of the 19th century Major League team of that name , is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels .
22-589: Delbert Quentin Wilber (February 24, 1919 – July 18, 2002) was an American professional baseball player , manager , coach and scout . A catcher , he appeared in 299 Major League games for the St. Louis Cardinals (1946–49), Philadelphia Phillies (1951–52) and Boston Red Sox (1952–54). The native of Lincoln Park, Michigan , threw and batted right-handed . He stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed 200 pounds (91 kg). Wilber signed with
44-507: A slugging percentage of .389, 280 total bases and five sacrifice hits . According to The Sporting News ' Official Baseball Register , Wilber had a unique hobby during his catching career. When a pitcher hurled an especially noteworthy game, Wilber would decorate a game baseball, writing the line score of the contest, as well as game highlights, on the ball, then present it to his pitcher. Wilber managed in minor league baseball both during his playing career and after it ended. He led
66-575: A black player's head. Now, however, baseball is fully integrated, and there is little to no racial tension between teammates. Between 1943 and 1954, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League fielded teams in several Midwestern towns. Louisville Colonels (minor league baseball) In the 20th century, several Minor League Baseball teams in Louisville, Kentucky , have been known as
88-459: A scout (Toronto Blue Jays) after his playing days. After his baseball career, Bob Wilber worked in international sports marketing, was chief executive (GM) of three different professional indoor soccer franchises (St. Louis Storm, Kansas City Attack, and Indianapolis Twisters). He also spent 20 years in professional drag racing as a PR rep and manager for Nitro Funny Car driver Del Worsham (12 years) and Nitro Funny Car driver Tim Wilkerson (8 years.) He
110-407: Is now an author with multiple best-selling books to his credit. Del Wilber's grandson Del Quentin Wilber is a journalist and also a best-selling author. Professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout
132-622: The American League St. Louis Browns in 1938, but was acquired by the Cardinals in 1940 and played in their extensive farm system until the outbreak of World War II; he missed the 1942–45 seasons while serving in the United States Army Air Force , where he attained the rank of captain . In 1946 , he resumed his baseball career and made his Major League debut, appearing in four games before being sent to
154-764: The Commissioner of Baseball . Operating outside the Minor League Baseball organization are many independent minor leagues such as the Atlantic League , American Association , Frontier League , and the feeder league to these the Empire Professional Baseball League . Japan has had professional baseball since the 1930s. Nippon Professional Baseball consists of two leagues, the Central League and
176-784: The International League and moved them to Louisville, renaming them the Colonels. They played in the International League through the 1972 season. During this stretch, players included Carlton Fisk , Dwight Evans , Luis Tiant , and Cecil Cooper . The franchise had to move when the Kentucky State Fair Board announced that Fairgrounds Stadium would be renovated for football in a manner that would make it unsuitable for baseball. The team relocated to Pawtucket, Rhode Island , and became known as
198-755: The Pacific Coast League , one of three league titles in his minor-league resume. Wilber was a coach for the 1955–56 White Sox and the 1970 Senators, serving under former teammates Marty Marion and Ted Williams . He also scouted for the Orioles, Twins, Athletics, Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers . He died in St. Petersburg, Florida at the age of 83. Wilber's son, Rick , is a writer, editor, and teacher. His two other sons, Del Wilber Jr. (Philadelphia Phillies) and Bob Wilber (Detroit Tigers and Oakland A's) both played professional minor league baseball. Bob Wilber then followed in his father's footsteps as
220-730: The Pacific League , each with six teams. South Korea has had professional baseball since 1982. There are 10 teams in KBO League . Taiwan has had professional baseball since the 1990s. The Chinese Professional Baseball League absorbed Taiwan Major League in 2003. There are currently 6 teams in the CPBL. Other Asian leagues include three now defunct leagues, the China National Baseball League , Israel Baseball League , and Baseball Philippines . During
242-679: The Triple-A Columbus Red Birds . He did not appear in the 1946 World Series . Wilber played in 51 games for the 1947 Cardinals and 27 more in 1948 , but did not spend a full season in MLB again until 1951 , when he appeared in 84 games, 61 as the starting catcher, for the Phillies. After only two games played for the 1952 Phillies , Wilber's contract was purchased by the Red Sox on May 12. He served for three seasons as
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#1732794418477264-678: The Cardinals' Houston Buffaloes Double-A farm club as a catcher-manager in 1949. Then, after hanging up his catching gear, he managed at the Triple-A level with the Louisville Colonels , Houston Buffs of the American Association , Charleston Senators , Tacoma Twins , Denver Bears and Spokane Indians . He skippered affiliates of the Baltimore Orioles , both the original and expansion editions of
286-622: The Colonels played in the Junior World Series against the Baltimore Orioles , and the game drew an attendance of 52,833 — 16,265 more than any single World Series game that year. Through the 1940s and 1950s, the Colonels were part of the Boston Red Sox farm system, and they won the pennant in 1954. The Red Sox transferred its affiliation to the San Francisco Seals after the 1955 season. Starting in 1956,
308-757: The Colonels were affiliated with the Washington Senators . They moved to Fairgrounds Stadium in 1957. In 1959, the Colonels became affiliated with the Milwaukee Braves . They won (in 1960, with pitcher Phil Niekro ) one of three appearances in the Junior World Series in that time, but in 1962 the American Association folded. In October 1967, Walter J. Dilbeck purchased the Toronto Maple Leafs of
330-623: The Louisville Colonels. In 1909, the Colonels won the American Association pennant, as they also did in 1921, 1925, 1926, and 1930 while featuring players such as Joe McCarthy , Billy Herman , and Earle Combs ; Combs hit .344 in 1923 and .380 in 1924 before joining the New York Yankees in 1925. Pee Wee Reese was a rookie with the 1938 Colonels. The Colonels were one of few minor league teams to play throughout World War II, and they won pennants in 1944 and 1945. In 1944,
352-646: The Red Sox' second-string and third-string receiver behind Sammy White , through 1954. Boston then traded him to the New York Giants for infielder Billy Klaus that December, but the Giants granted Wilber his release to enable him to join the coaching staff of the Chicago White Sox for the 1955 season. On August 27, 1951, Wilber hit three home runs off pitcher Ken Raffensberger , each on
374-469: The United States and Canada. The minor leagues are divided into classes AAA, AA, High-A, A, and Rookie. These minor-league divisions are affiliated with major league teams, and serve to develop young players and rehabilitate injured major-leaguers. "Affiliated baseball" (archaically, " organized baseball ") is often applied as an umbrella term for all leagues — major and minor — under the authority of
396-666: The Washington Senators, and the Senators' current incarnations as the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers . His one-game stint as skipper of the 1973 Texas Rangers—as interim pilot between Whitey Herzog and Billy Martin on September 7, he won his only game as manager, 10–8 against the future world champion Oakland Athletics —occurred after Wilber led the Rangers' Spokane affiliate to the 1973 championship of
418-576: The first pitch of each at bat, to lead the Phillies to a 3–0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds . Two years later, while playing for the Red Sox, Wilber had 27 hits and 29 runs batted in , making him one of the few big leaguers to have more RBIs than hits in a season. In all or parts of eight MLB seasons, Wilber compiled 720 at bats , 67 runs , 174 hits, 35 doubles , seven triples , 19 homers, 115 RBI, one stolen base and 44 bases on balls . He batted .242 with an on-base percentage of .286,
440-594: The late 19th and early 20th centuries, players of black African descent were barred from playing the major leagues , though several did manage to play by claiming to be Cubans or Native Americans . As a result, a number of parallel Negro leagues were formed. However, after Jackie Robinson began playing with the major-league Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, the Negro leagues gradually faded. The process of integration did not go entirely smoothly; there were some ugly incidents, including pitchers who would try to throw directly at
462-471: The oldest continuous same-name, same-city franchise in both Major League Baseball and all of American professional sports. In addition to the major leagues, many North American cities and towns feature minor league teams. An organization officially styled Minor League Baseball , formerly the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, oversees nearly all minor league baseball in
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#1732794418477484-691: The world. Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada consists of the National League (founded in 1876) and the American League (founded in 1901). Historically, teams in one league never played teams in the other until the World Series , in which the champions of the two leagues played against each other. This changed in 1997 with the advent of interleague play . The Philadelphia Phillies , founded in 1883, are
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