Minor League Presidents

When Mike Moore took over leadership of Minor League Baseball as the 10th president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL), he hit the ground running -- and then some. On his first day in office, he took the first step toward a major makeover of the leadership of Minor League Baseball. It was a step that many feel is the most important change to the organization since it was formed in 1901.

Moore called for a constitutional convention in Dallas six weeks later to consider revisions to the National Association Agreement (NAA), the bylaws that define the relationship between the NA and its member leagues. It was an agreement that had changed little since the NA first began.

The first result of the new NAA was to change the NAPBL to more of a "corporate" structure in which the president, as governing authority, would work closely on policy and direction with a Board of Trustees (BOT), composed of one club owner from each domestic league, and the Council of League Presidents (COLP). It would lead, eventually, to a reorganization of the NAPBL and its mission in the industry. Prior to this time, the president had worked with an executive committee that was made up primarily of a league president from each classification.

Moore had campaigned for the presidency on a platform of reorganization, with an extensive background of watching the NA office operate from both inside and outside. He spent 18 years (1971-88) as co-owner and operator of the Tampa team in the Florida State League, then moved into the NA office as chief administrative officer in 1988, working with president Sal Artiaga.

"I told all the leagues, as I went around the country, that I felt the industry could not move forward and become what it was capable of becoming under the system that was then in place," Moore recalled. "It was just too cumbersome in the modern world. We needed a new, more modern structure that fit today's world. Communication is very important. The executive committee, with a league president from each classification, was not a large enough body to come to the table with all the ideas that we needed to consider.

"Now, when any of our leagues get together for any of their meetings, there are two people with direct responsibility to feed back information to us, the league president through COLP, and a club owner through the BOT. Both groups are contributing to the operation of the NA office and the industry."

While the move to the new system began almost immediately after his induction as president, it had been a long time in planning, going back many years to Moore's days running the Tampa team, where he became friends with Bob Sowers.

"He was a fascinating man," says Moore. "He had been with one of the largest advertising agencies in the world in New York City. He was a big fan and when he retired, he bought the West Palm Beach team and ran it. He talked a lot about what he considered the tremendous potential of the NA and what it should -- and could -- do if it was organized properly."

"Those ideas were the roots of my plan," said Moore. "I got more input on how to go about it. I already had a lot of it in mind over perhaps a 10-year period. Once I went to work with Sal and saw what the NA office did, it really came to a focus in my mind. At that time, the NA office was basically a record-keeping place, dealing with player contracts and rules, and that was where its economic support came from. I felt that those activities were not what we should be relying on -- especially since they were not likely to stay in our office." (Those functions are all now handled out of the Office of the Commissioner in New York.)

"Going back maybe 10 years before I became president, the value of franchises was slowly increasing. At one time, you could literally buy a club by taking over the club's debt. Now people were beginning to spend money to buy clubs. They were buying because of their love for the game -- that was a plus -- but they also wanted to look at things in a businesslike fashion. We gave them an avenue to have input in how the organization operated. The BOT let owners have direct input. That let us go to other things, such as advertising and marketing and providing more service to our clubs," says Moore. "These were the things that were much more important to our clubs."

This led Minor League Baseball to a whole new ballgame and, correspondingly, to phenomenal growth, including in some areas that nay-sayers insisted couldn't be reached. National marketing, for instance, and a national licensing program that has Minor League Baseball merchandise, once strictly a local "sell," in stores and Web sites all over the country.

From a humble beginning, retail merchandise sales have averaged about $40 million annually since 1993. The NA provides a central office to let companies work with any size group of teams with marketing programs, pumping other millions of dollars into the industry.

"We found a way to make it work," Moore says, proudly. "Baseball is a game of adjustments, both on and off the field. From my days working in the NA office, I knew that the days of the NA president being all-encompassing with one person making all the decisions in every area were over. It took more than one person to run everything. You need to hire good, qualified people and let them do their jobs if you're going to get things done. The various departments that we have added are there to assist our clubs in areas that increase values, provide growth and create more interest among fans."

Interest among fans had never been higher. Regular-season attendance during the 2001 season, when Minor League Baseball was celebrating its 100th birthday, reached 38.8 million fans, the second highest total in history, at the time, and was accomplished by just 176 teams. The only larger attendance total was in 1949, when there were 448 teams that drew 39.7 milllion fans at a time when there were far fewer competitors for the entertainment dollar. And this became an ongoing phenomenon, as attendance increased steadily throughout Moore's three terms in office. In his final year, Minor League Baseball set a new all-time attendance record, as 42.8 million fans passed through the gates.

There was a corresponding increase in the value of franchises, and in the construction of outstanding new stadiums. The Minors have welcomed 106 new stadiums since 1990, with three new ballparks in 2008. There was also a two-fold increase in net income between 1994 and 2006, with increases in ticket sales again in 2007 and 2008.

In addition to the growth of revenue areas, the support field grew, as well. Minor League Basebal added two subsidiary companies to help the industry. Beginning in 1998, the Professional Baseball Umpire Corp (PBUC) was formed to operate and maintain the umpire program for all of the Minor Leagues, helping lead aspiring umpires toward the Major Leagues. Off the field, the Professional Baseball Employment Opportunities (PBEO) office does much the same thing for hopefuls looking for office jobs in the baseball industry.

Minor League Baseball has also branched out into the political arena. That was another plus from Moore's campaign for the presidency in 1991. Another of the candidates for the job was Stan Brand, an attorney in Washington, D.C.

"Stan truly had a great interest in Minor League Baseball. With his Washington background and Congressional connections, which I felt were very important, he brought a lot of things to the table that I didn't have, and that our office needed," says Moore, who hired Brand as special counsel and later convinced him to join the NA office as vice president in charge of government relations activities.

Ten years into his presidency, Moore's goals were "to continue our growth and continue our position of low cost family entertainment. We have to maintain our involvement within the community, so that people will want to participate and want Minor League Baseball to be part of their community.

"And we have to continue to work on our relationship with our partners in Major League Baseball. That was another of my first goals when I took over. We didn't have a good relationship at that time. I probably visited as many Major League team owners as I did our own members that first year. We need to maintain good communications, so that we understand their problems and concerns, and they need to understand ours. I think we have accomplished that. I think my relationship with [MLB commissioner] Bud Selig is as good as people in our two positions has ever been. That's something that works for all of us."

Moore served as president until 2007 and was replaced by Pat O'Conner in January 2008.

Sal Artiaga's term as the ninth president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL) was a time of considerable prosperity for Minor League Baseball and a time of considerable turmoil, as well. Which means, of course, that it was a time of change for the industry.

Attendance was growing dramatically, attaining levels that had not been approached in nearly 40 years. Franchise values were soaring and teams were being purchased for investment and profit rather than being taken over as a civic responsibility. But the rules of operation were being altered, and many of those in the game were not ready for the changes.

Like Minor League Baseball presidents before him, Sal was and is a baseball "lifer" who has devoted most of his life to the great game of baseball, in general, and Minor League Baseball, in particular. It began in the heat and dust of his native Albuquerque, watching the local team in action. He followed a progression in the game starting as assistant business manager of the El Paso Sun Kings in 1965, followed by two years with the Tampa Tarpons, first as business manager and then general manager.

Those jobs put him in regular contact with such respected baseball "heavyweights" as Roland Hemond, Bob Howsam and Chuck Tanner, which led to a job with the Cincinnati Reds (1967-82) as business coordinator for player development. That stint of working with all phases of baseball"s farm system and the people involved in it solidified what was to become Artiaga"s passion for Minor League Baseball -- a passion that still burned brightly. In 1983, he jumped at the chance to move into the NAPBL office as Administrator under president Johnny Johnson.

"Johnny brought me in to deal with baseball issues with a strong commitment toward player development," recalled Artiaga. "It gave me the opportunity to use things I had learned on a much wider scale, involving the whole industry. I believed that Minor League Baseball was growing as an important institution, and I wanted to be a part of that growth."

In that role, Artiaga helped draft the new rule involving free agency for Minor League players, the so-called "six-year free agent," which keeps a veteran player from being stuck in one farm system. He was also instrumental in starting the Dominican Republic Summer League as a Rookie-level developmental league for Latin American players.

But then the unexpected happened. Johnson, who had been running Minor League Baseball for nearly a decade and, in fact, had recently been elected to his third term as NA president, contracted cancer. His untimely death in January 1988, left Minor League Baseball with a void to fill.

Artiaga was elected in April of that year in a close contest with Charles Eshbach, Eastern League president. Eshbach had served as interim president in his role as chairman of the NA's executive committee.

Artiaga built a constituency with what he calls a "grassroots" approach. "I visited an average of 35 clubs every year I was in office," he says, "and in all classifications. Every classification of Minor League Baseball is different and has its own interests and problems. I wanted to hear about those and try to deal with them, face to face. I wanted to talk to the fans, as well as the operators, and get a true feeling of what it was all about and how to apply it. On the other side, I wanted to make the Minor Leagues valuable, so that we would be a needed entity for Major League Baseball clubs -- a place where they wanted to be."

But then he ran head on into PBA negotiations. The Professional Baseball Agreement (PBA) is a contract between Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball that defines the working relationship between the two entities. It comes up for renegotiation periodically.

"Prior to that, PBA renewal had generally been very routine, without major changes," said Artiaga, "but now we were having a renaissance of growth. There was an upsurge of success with franchise values growing, and the relationship had to be redefined in economic terms. Some who had been in the game understood the evolution of change. Many of the new people, in for a short term, did not understand. That's when the volatility surfaced. We were trying to reach an accord that had mutual benefit to both parties."

A major split developed between Major League and Minor League Baseball. There were also splits within Minor League Baseball itself over the terms being negotiated, all of which were occurring when Artiaga's term of office was nearing an end. He announced a few months in advance that he would not seek re-election.

"We were trying to reach an accord that would have mutual benefit to both parties," said Artiaga, "and I think that we did. But I was caught in the middle as the negotiator. It would have been that way no matter who was in that seat."

As is often the case, history has changed the way those negotiations are evaluated. Minor League Baseball owners/operators gave up a flow of money that had been coming their way from the Major Leagues, but there have been striking gains. The two most important were a guarantee by Major League Baseball regarding the number of working agreements that would be available, and the creation of facilities standards that has led to the incredible surge of new and renovated stadiums that have spurred the growth of Minor League Baseball.

When Artiaga bowed out of the race, his chief administrative officer, Mike Moore, stepped in and served as president until 2007.

Since he left the NA office, Artiaga focused on another part of Minor League Baseball that has long been a very special interest -- the young players coming out of Latin America to play professional baseball in the U.S. He spent five years in the Chicago White Sox system before joining the Philadelphia Phillies as director, Latin American operations.

Much of his time has been spent working with a program to teach youngsters from Latin American how to live in this country as well as play ball here. That was expanded to a role as consultant to Major League Baseball in developing manuals and handbooks of baseball terminology in England and Spanish, as well as to basic "survival" skills, such as day-to-day living, renting an apartment, ordering food, etc. It is now being used by nearly all Major League organizations. He also headed a committee that organized the Venezuelan Summer League, a Rookie co-op league on the order of the Dominican Republic League.

Artiaga served as the Kansas City Royals' Coordinator of Cultural Development for three years before retiring on Oct. 31, 2012 after 48 years of service in professional baseball. "Sal's contributions to both the Royals and professional baseball are immeasurable," said Royals Director of Player Development Scott Sharp. "He is the pioneer of cultural assimilation for Latin American players and his 48-year career has left an indelible mark on the game of baseball."

A native of Los Luna, N.M., Artiaga and his wife, Marlene, reside in Palm Harbor, Fla.

Johnny Johnson never wore a professional baseball uniform, but when he was put in charge of Minor League Baseball as the eighth president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL), it was a perfect fit. Johnson was elected to the post at the Baseball Winter Meetings in December 1978, took over in January and served until his death in January 1988.

Johnson?s strength was as an administrator, having honed his skills during 24 years with the New York Yankees, followed by an eight-year stint as a top assistant to Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. Johnson knew the rules governing baseball operations backwards, forwards and upside down. And he knew how to apply them.

Keeping track of the rules, especially involving player transactions and club finances, and helping member clubs and leagues understand them in dealing with Major League Baseball, was a critical function of the NAPBL office at that time. Johnson's years in the commissioner's office and with the Yankees made him a real expert in that area.

"I never saw anyone who knew rules like he did, and had a feel for their use the way he did," said Sal Artiaga, who was Johnson's administrator in the NA office for several years, and who followed him as president. "Johnny had a very analytical mind for the intent and scope of the rule."

Yet it was that same background and experience that was a potential roadblock on his path to the Minor League Baseball presidency. Some people in the game felt that his ties to Major League Baseball might be too strong, and that the Minor Leagues needed to maintain some independence.

It was a topic that Johnson faced head on. "I leave the commissioner's office unencumbered," he said to his new constituents at the time of his election. "I'm your man to do as I see fit in the best interest of the National Association. I have only one promise to make -- to work hard and be dedicated to the success of the National Association ... and baseball."

Johnson was born in Staten Island, a borough of New York City, and grew up during the Depression. He learned shorthand in the hope it would help him get a job. World War II intervened, but after 4 1/2 years in the Coast Guard, Johnny answered a want ad in a New York newspaper in 1947, seeking a male stenographer for a sports organization.

It turned out to be the Yankees and the job was as the secretary to George Weiss, the general manager. Johnson quickly advanced, moving into the Minor League department. He was loaned out to the Yankees' farm team at Binghamton in the Eastern League (1951-54) as business manager and then general manager, before returning to the Yankees in roles of growing importance, including farm director in 1960 and VP of player procurement/development in 1965. When Lee MacPhail was sidelined by a heart attack in 1969, Johnson became acting general manager.

Johnson left to join the commissioner's office in August, 1970, working as one of Kuhn's top aides, primarily in the draft, player transactions and relations with high school and college baseball, as well as liaison to Japanese baseball.

After joining the NAPBL, Johnson devoted much of his time to working on improving the state of the Minors, stressing to club operators that an attractive product was as important to the fans as a winning ball club. He sent field representatives around the country to work with teams in a hands-on style to improve their stadiums, their fields, their lights and their overall operations.

"I know that many Minor League clubs have financial problems," he said at the time. ?Very few of them make any sizeable profit. They are operated by people who love baseball. What I want to do is improve conditions, so that it will be worthwhile to be in the business of baseball. To do that, I plan every effort to help the stability of the clubs in the Minor Leagues through longer term working agreements. At the same time, I?m going to do all I can to improve conditions for the players, and to encourage our clubs to make their parks pleasant places for the fans. They are the people who pay the bills. I want all our clubs to make baseball fun for the fans.?

It was during Johnson's regime that Minor League Baseball began to shake out of the doldrums and begin the resurgence in attendance, growth and franchise value, as well as the boom in new stadium construction that began during the mid-1980's. Overall regular season attendance was about 15 million fans in his first year in office and grew steadily to more than 20 million by his last season in 1987. It was the first total to exceed 20 million fans since 1953, when there were nearly 300 teams in 38 leagues.

After being elected to his original three-year term (1979-80-81), Johnson received a five-year extension covering 1982-86, then was subsequently re-elected to a three-year term at the Baseball Winter Meetings in 1986. He was diagnosed with cancer in September 1987 and died in January 1988.

When Robert R. (Bobby) Bragan became the seventh president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL) in 1976, making him the chief executive of Minor League Baseball, it was about the only job in baseball that he had not already held.

In a career dating back to 1937, Bragan had been a player at both the Major League and Minor League levels, a manager in both the Major and Minor Leagues, a Major League coach, a front office executive with two Major League teams and had served seven years as president of the Texas League.

When Henry (Hank) Peters cut short his term in office as the sixth president of the NAPBL to become general manager of the Baltimore Orioles, friends and fellow baseball executives began urging Bragan to run for the job. It seemed like a natural thing to do.

Bragan was elected to a three-year term (1976-1978) at the Baseball Winter Meetings in Hollywood, Fla., in December 1975. While his tenure in the office was the shortest of any of the 10 Presidents to date, Bragan left some legacies behind. But he did not get off to a good start.

"My first goal as president was to move the offices to Texas," recalled Bragan, who worked well into his 80s, remaining very active in public relations work for the Texas Rangers. "I went to the executive committee about that and was turned down flat."

Bragan had an alternative plan to get out of the tiny offices that the NAPBL occupied in downtown St. Petersburg, Fla. The city was building a modern new ball park, Al Lang Field, along the Tampa Bay waterfront, replacing a small ancient facility that had served as the Spring Training home of the St. Louis Cardinals and New York -- first the Yankees, and later the Mets.

A one-story building that sat alongside the old ballpark had served as the clubhouse and offices for the Cardinals, but was no longer needed with such facilities being incorporated into the new stadium.

"I went to see the lady who was the Mayor of St. Petersburg at that time and told her that we would like to take over the building, pay for all the renovations and make it the headquarters for all of Minor League Baseball," said Bragan.

Now, a quarter of a century later, the building has been greatly enlarged and still serves as the home of Minor League Baseball.

Bragan had other things in mind for the Winter Meetings that have lingered and flourished. He brought in John Dittrick and Dick King as his top assistants. Dittrick's role was to start a "job-seekers bureau" to help people seeking employment in baseball get interviews with various teams that had job openings. King was to organize a trade show.

"Back in those days," Bragan said, "the different companies would show up at the Winter Meetings and set up displays in their hotel rooms. Everybody had to go find them. We wanted to set up some kind of exhibit hall where everybody could go see all the suppliers and exhibitors in one place."

The trade show has become a major part of the Baseball Winter Meetings and grown into one of the largest gatherings of its type anywhere. More than 250 companies and individuals now regularly have booths to display their wares and ideas.

Professional Baseball Employment Opportunities (PBEO) is now a subsidiary company of Minor League Baseball, and has helped hundreds and hundreds of job seekers find employment in baseball and other allied fields, including many general managers of current Minor League teams.

Life in the NAPBL office in those days was one of maintaining the gains that had been made from the "down" days of the 1960s. "Major League expansion had taken many of our cities, and it was up to us to find new cities for our teams," said Bragan. "It was a matter of holding our own, not expanding ourselves."

Bragan decided that three years in the job were plenty for him.

"Having spent seven years as president of the Texas League, I was very aware of the problems that the clubs and leagues were having," he said. "I really enjoyed the responsibility of working with the umpires, keeping discipline and traveling to see the league presidents and talking about their problems. But I didn't like all the administrative work. All that paperwork just didn't appeal to me. So when my three years were up, I was ready to go back to Texas and turn this over to somebody else."

He knew who he thought that somebody should be. "I called [then Baseball Commissioner] Bowie Kuhn and told him I was resigning and that the man I had in mind to replace me was sitting in his office. I told him I could deliver 19 of our 20 leagues to vote for the man."

That man was Johnny Johnson, who had been the commissioner's top aide for eight years. Johnson was elected at the 1978 Winter Meetings, virtually without opposition.

Bragan moved back to Texas, working in a dual capacity for the commissioner's office and for the Texas Rangers, a job that soon became totally for the Rangers. Bragan made upwards of 150 appearances annually to schools and organizations on behalf of the team. He became the oldest man to ever manage a professional baseball game when he skippered the Fort Worth Cats for one day in 2005.

He also established the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation, which awards $2,500 scholarships to eighth graders, encouraging them to continue their education. The kicker is that they have to go to college to collect the money. Every winner so far has done so. As of 2010, the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation has awarded more than $1 million in scholarships to eighth-graders.

Bragan, 92, died on Jan. 21, 2010 at his home in Fort Worth, Texas.

When Henry J. (Hank) Peters took over leadership of Minor League Baseball as the sixth president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, serving from 1972 through 1975, he had a background unlike any of his predecessors in the position. It was the first time in what was then the 70-year history of the organization that it would have a president whose baseball service had been almost exclusively in Major League Baseball, rather than in the Minor Leagues.

His election may have been a sign of the times. Perhaps the most important ingredient for Minor League success, during this period of fighting for survival, was to have a Player Development Contract with a Major League partner. In those days, not every Minor League team had such an affiliation to help pay the bills.

Peters already had 25 years in baseball at the time of his election, but except for one season as general manager of the Burlington (Iowa) team in the Three-I league in 1954, all of his paychecks had come from Major League teams. It was a narrow distinction, however, since nearly all of that service had been working with Minor League clubs from the "other side" of the desk. He began his baseball career in the Minor League department of the St. Louis Browns (1946-53) and later served as farm director for Kansas City, Cincinnati and Cleveland.

Hank was vice president/player personnel of the Cleveland Indians during the 1971 season, a time when Phil Piton had already announced his pending retirement as NAPBL president. The NAPBL executive committee sought candidates for the job of president, conducted interviews and put the finalists on a ballot for the leagues to decide.

"I wasn't sure how the membership would react to my background," says Peters. "I thought some might think that I would be too Major League-oriented. But it was definitely a time when affiliations were almost mandatory. The Minors had gone through some really trying times -- from glory days to big problems.

"I think it was obvious to the people voting that they needed more Major League support," Hank continued, "and maybe there was some thinking that the NA was getting a little archaic and needed some different thinking. It was time to consider the Major Leagues as an associate and not the enemy. In any event, enough of them saw fit to elect me."

Peters quickly found out that he would need every bit of influence that his background provided, at both the Minor League and Major League levels.

"The Winter Meetings [in 1971, just prior to the start of his presidency] were a real eye-opener for me, sitting in on so many meetings with our teams and leagues," says Hank. "I found out that in many instances club management was sorely lacking in preparation for the next season. Too many teams would just close their offices at the end of season and not open until the next spring. There was no winter work, no planning, no selling. That just wouldn't do.

"What we tried to do was instill in people the idea that they had to do more to help themselves before they were going to be able to get their Major League partners to help them. We came out of the meeting," Peters said, "with a committee that had both Minor and Major League representatives to study the situation, and see if we could help both sides -- [with] additional benefits for the Minors, as well as setting some minimum standards for Minor League teams that had not existed before."

The committee returned to the Winter Meetings a year later with a long list of proposals, including such things as setting minimum standards for ballparks, lighting, transportation and associated items. But it would have been expensive, and was voted down by the Major Leagues.

"If it had passed, it might have speeded up lot of things that the game needed and eventually got," says Peters. "Instead, we had to settle for a piecemeal approach, and moved on. We had Bob Freitas and a few others going around the country to visit clubs and inspect ballparks. We wanted to share ideas and improve things as much as we could."

Peters' most consistent battle was to retain the leagues then in existence. It was a battle on two fronts. There was a movement among some Major League teams at that time to abandon the existing farm system structure with teams spread all over the country and have all or most of their teams play their games at Spring Training complexes, much like instructional leagues and Spring Training. It was seen as a major cost-cutting approach, with virtually no travel involved. But it would also have meant no fans in the stands, and no real feeling of competition.

"It was understandable in theory," acknowledged Peters, "since it would have let the parent teams control things totally. But it would also have removed the human element from the development process, with no fans -- and I believe that would have been very detrimental."

But that was only half of the battle. "We had so many leagues that were in danger of going out of business. Some were down to three teams -- and you can't operate that way. I spent a lot of my time trying to convince Major League Baseball that they really needed these leagues. I'm proud that we were able to create clubs, getting two or three players from this team and a few from another team and so on, so that we could put together an unaffiliated team and each league could have at least four teams. Some of those leagues that were in trouble are now strong and prosperous."

The Carolina, Western Carolinas (forerunner of the South Atlantic), Pioneer, Northwest and New York-Penn leagues had as few as four or six teams, nearly all including teams with no Major League partner.

Another lasting accomplishment of Peters' tenure as the sixth president of Minor League Baseball was establishing the office in St. Petersburg, where it has remained for more than 30 years. Traditionally, the office had been located in a city with a Minor League team at the choosing of the president. The previous site, Columbus, Ohio, under presidents George Trautman and Phil Piton, was without a team when Peters took over, and he moved operations to central Florida.

Peters resigned his post after four years to return to Major League Baseball, serving as executive vice president/general manager of the Baltimore Orioles for 12 years, where he was twice named Major League Baseball Executive of the Year, and then as president of the Cleveland Indians from 1987 through 1991. Since his retirement, he has divided his time between Baltimore and Florida.

When Phil Piton took over Minor League Baseball as the fifth president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, he was as well prepared to deal with the intricacies of the job as any man who'd ever had it.

Piton, who held the reins from 1964 until his retirement in 1971, had an intriguing resume. For 15 years, he had served as a top aide to Baseball commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis, where he became an authority on operations, rules and legal procedures within the professional baseball industry.

He left that post for a time during World War II, but soon returned to baseball when George Trautman was elected as the National Association president in 1947. One of Trautman's first acts was to hire Piton as his assistant. Piton added to his reputation as a top administrator in the game during his 16 years in the job. When Trautman died in June, 1963, Piton was the logical choice to succeed him, and the membership voted him in at the Winter Meetings in San Diego that December.

Piton took over when Minor League Baseball was at a low ebb. The 1963 season ended with 18 leagues and 130 teams, the lowest totals (other than during the WWII shutdown) since the depths of the Depression. Total attendance had sagged to fewer than 10 million fans. It was a time when the industry's biggest need was stability, and he was able to help provide it. When he retired following the 1971 season, Piton turned over 20 leagues and 155 teams to his successor, Henry (Hank) Peters. Attendance still was not booming, but the downward slide had ended and the upward progression had begun.

Phil was very promotion-minded and a strong backer of programs to make the ballpark experience more enjoyable for fans. He believed that much of the support for this needed to come from the central office, and he expanded a program of sending field representatives from the NA office all over the country to work with teams and share ideas.

Through his work in the commissioner's office, and under Trautman in the NA office, Piton knew that it was vital for the Minor Leagues to work closely with Major League Baseball. Affiliations and support through the farm systems were the keys to survival.

As with his predecessors in the office of president, Piton had a war to contend with -- this time in Vietnam. But it manifested itself in a different way. Instead of shutting down teams and leagues, it changed the way young manpower was available. Deferments from military service were available for college students, but only as long as they stayed in school. Major League Baseball teams encouraged their top prospects to stay in school and play baseball in the summer.

Minor League Baseball's answer was to create short-season leagues that would not begin play until school was out and would end around Labor Day. Some of this was accomplished by converting existing full-season leagues to an abbreviated calendar, while some -- the "complex" leagues -- were new creations.

The complex leagues came into being in 1964 and 1965. They were beginning leagues for neophyte professionals, with games played at the Spring Training complexes of Major League teams, thus the designation for the group of leagues. In 1964, the Cocoa Rookie League and the Sarasota Rookie League began with four teams based at each of the Florida sites. A year later, the Florida Rookie League operated with six teams in Sarasota and Bradenton, eventually growing into the widespread Gulf Coast League of today.

With the need for additional sites for more advanced players, the Pioneer League switched to a summer-only schedule in 1964. The Northwest League followed suit in 1966, and the New York-Penn did the same in 1967. They joined the Appalachian League, which had been operating on that kind of a schedule since 1957. These Class A Short-Season leagues remain an important stop for many professionals in their earliest years.

Piton had to contend with a round of Major League expansion in 1969, losing significant West Coast markets in Seattle and San Diego. The other two expansion sites -- Kansas City and Montreal -- did not impact the NA, except that all four new teams would need new Minor League affiliates.

Late in his tenure, Piton had another war to fight. While Phil was a strong advocate of cooperation with the Major Leagues, he was not about to surrender the independence of the National Association. He was scheduled to retire after the 1970 season. That year also marked the end -- temporarily -- of Minor League Baseball in Columbus, Ohio -- long the site of the NA office. The International League team was being relocated to Charleston, W.Va., and Piton knew there would a heavy push to move the office to a baseball city.

As it turned out, that push came from the top -- a bid to move NA operations into the MLB commissioner's office in New York City. Piton's arguing logic prevailed. If it was so important for all of the offices to be under one roof, he reasoned, why had the National League office recently moved to San Francisco while the American League office remained in Boston? When Piton was persuaded to postpone his retirement for a year, the proposed move to New York was scrapped and the office remained in Columbus (until a subsequent move to its present location in St. Petersburg, Fla.)

Minor League Baseball was ready to explode when George M. Trautman was elected as the fourth president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues at the 1946 Winter Meetings in Los Angeles. He was a strong leader with a strong baseball background, who was ready to help the industry take advantage of the coming boom years.

It was a time of peace and prosperity in America that followed the end of World War II. The troops had come home from Europe and the Pacific. Jobs and money were plentiful. Americans were looking for relaxation and entertainment. It was a time in baseball in which seemingly every city and town in the country had its own Minor League Baseball team. There were players and fans in abundance.

The seasons of 1947, 1948 and 1949 produced all-time record attendance totals for the industry. There were 388 teams operating in 52 leagues in 1947, drawing 37.1 million fans. A year later, those numbers were up to 438 teams in 58 leagues, luring 38.4 million through the turnstiles. And then, the high-water mark of 1949, when not quite 40 million fans (39,782,717) supported the playing efforts of 448 teams in 59 leagues.

Trautman, who served until his death in June 1963, was the first National Association president who came directly from Major League Baseball. He had been executive vice president of the Detroit Tigers. But he had a solid background in Minor League Baseball.

A three-sport varsity athlete at Ohio State University, where he was later an assistant athletic director, Trautman's first involvement with the Minor Leagues came when Columbus hosted the 1932 Winter Meetings. He was with the Chamber of Commerce, which had been instrumental in getting the baseball convention for the city.

Soon after, Trautman was in baseball for good. He became president of the Columbus team in the American Association in 1933, then president of the league itself from 1935 to 1944. After two years in Detroit, he was ready to return to the Minor Leagues.

Before Trautman's election, however, baseball executives of the day had to deal with a possible uprising. Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who had ruled baseball with an iron fist as the first commissioner of Major League Baseball, had died a few days before the Winter Meetings, and the possibility of major changes loomed.

Frank Lawrence, president of the Portsmouth (Va.) team of the Piedmont League, led a movement to dissolve the National Association and put all of baseball under the commissioner's office. That proposal went nowhere, and Trautman was soon elected unanimously to a five-year term. He moved the office from Durham, its home under previous president William Bramham, to Columbus, where it was to remain until 1971, through the tenure of two presidents.

During Trautman?s early years, a new relationship was forged between the Major Leagues and the Minor Leagues. Territorial rights, which had been in dispute, were established, so that if the Major Leagues took over a National Association city, compensation would be due to both the existing team and its league. That was to be an important issue in the years that followed.

Trautman was strong believer in league rights, and having strong leagues able to determine their own fate. He also believed in strengthening management at the club level. He held conferences in Columbus in 1948 and 1949 for business managers and other executives, with more than 350 clubs represented at what amounted to a college of baseball knowledge. He tried to get Ohio State to establish a course of study on office management and promotions. Finally, a School for Baseball Administration was established at Florida Southern College in Lakeland.

Trautman pushed to update and improve ballparks, helped establish an Umpire Advisory Bureau to improve working conditions for umpires, and took a strong stand to assure the financial stability of anyone coming into the game.

But there was trouble brewing that would eventually dampen the boom times. Television came in for a big share of the blame. Major League games were becoming available all over the country, even if only on a Game of the Week basis. And television itself had become a prime competitor for entertainment time.

Movement of Major League teams may have had an even more significant impact, as new Major League franchises took over some of the biggest and best Minor League markets. During the 1950's, Minor League Baseball lost such strongholds as Milwaukee, Baltimore, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Hollywood and San Francisco.

Minneapolis-St. Paul and Houston would join that list, as well, before Trautman?s death in office in 1963. Minor League membership would fall to fewer than 150 teams as total attendance dipped into the doldrums, drawing as few as nine million fans annually. And recovery would be a long time coming.

When Judge William Bramham took over as the third president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (Minor League Baseball) in 1933, he had the misfortune of staring squarely at the Great Depression that had a firm grip on all phases of U.S. life, including Minor League Baseball.

He treated it as an opportunity, instead of a misfortune, and provided the strong leadership that the industry needed to survive and eventually prosper, despite the turbulent financial times. After the infamous stock market crash of 1929, the game was in trouble. While 25 Minor Leagues were able to finish the 1929 season, that number dwindled to 21 in 1930 and 16 in 1932.

At the Winter Meetings in 1931, with Michael Sexton in his 24th year as president, there was a strong feeling that new blood was needed for the guidance and survival of the organization. Administrative duties were put in the hands of an executive committee for a period of one year, with orders to survey conditions and report back with recommendations. Bramham was named chairman of that committee.

The key ingredients were the formation of a promotional department to organize new leagues and aid the existing leagues and a press bureau to serve as a clearinghouse for information and to collect and file player records.

Not only were the committee's recommendations adopted in their entirety, Sexton was retired as president and Bramham elected in his place. He was hired for one year and stayed for 14 of the most important years in the existence of Minor League Baseball.

The NA offices had been in Auburn, N.Y., since the organization was founded in 1901, but Bramham moved them to Durham, N.C., where he had a thriving law practice and was active in state-wide Republican politics. He soon found out that he had a full-time job and gave up his law business to devote all his energy to Minor League Baseball.

As organizer of the old Carolina and Piedmont Leagues, Bramham was well versed in league problems, particularly in the lower classifications. And there were plenty of problems. At that 1932 Winter Meeting, only five leagues committed to operate in 1933, but 14 actually opened and finished the season. That started an upward trend for the NA, which reached a peak of 43 leagues just prior to the start of World War II.

One of the most important reforms instituted by Bramham during these lean business years was designed to eliminate the so-called "shoestring operators," who often didn't have the backing to survive a full season. He insisted that new owners show moral integrity and back up their operations with guaranty deposits. He rigidly held all clubs to this standard. This led to improved stability and sounder policies, making it easier to bring in new investors.

As a league president, Bramham had been a strong backer of his umpires, and he now pressed all league presidents to do the same, protecting them from physical and verbal attacks from both uniformed and non-uniformed personnel. Among other ideas implemented by the mid-1930s were a school of instruction for club business managers, and displays of promotional ideas at the Winter Meetings.

Having "won" the battle of the Great Depression, Bramham faced an even bigger hurdle -- the start of World War II. This not only drained the game of manpower, as players marched off to serve their country, but also created severe restrictions on the game through gas rationing and electrical power, travel cutbacks and the elimination of night games in coastal areas on both sides of the country.

Despite the war threat, 41 leagues operated in 1941, but many soon suspended operations. The number was down to 31 in 1942 and just nine in 1943. Bramham had one more major battle to fight during his term of office. Late in 1943, as Bramham was up for re-election, there were rumors of a possible floor fight at the Winter Meetings. It would hinge on the issue of the existing NA treasury -- upwards of $250,000. Some leagues, with operations suspended, wanted to divide up the money and liquidate the fund. The key issue was whether or not the suspended leagues or only those still active had the right to vote.

Bramham not only won the battle, keeping the treasury intact for post-war operations, but was elected to a new five-year term as president. But time and responsibilities were to take their toll on his health. On the eve of the 1946 Winter Meetings, Bramham announced his retirement. He was retained as a consultant to the new president -- George Trautman -- but died a few months later.

When Patrick Powers resigned as president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL) in 1909, it was an easy move to elect Michael Sexton to replace him. Powers and Sexton were considered the "fathers" of Minor League Baseball. They thought alike and acted alike, and were in agreement on the path that the National Association should take.

Powers was president of the Eastern League (forerunner of the International) as well as the National Association. When his league, along with the American Association, threatened to withdraw from the NA over control issues, Powers did not agree, but was caught in the middle and resigned as NA president in mid-term.

Sexton was chosen to replace him. At the Winter Meetings in 1909, the future of the NA was re-affirmed with legislation extending its life for 10 years. The dispute with the Eastern League and American Association was settled, and Sexton was elected to continue as president.

But there were more "wars" ahead for Sexton to confront. The first occurred in 1914, when the "outlaw" Federal League challenged the established National and American Leagues by raiding their rosters and territories in a bid to become a third Major league. The raids took their toll on the top Minor Leagues, as well.

When some radical delegates at the Winter Meetings in 1914 tried to push the National Association to desert Major League Baseball and align with the Federal League, Sexton led the group to take a stand, and passed a strong resolution backing the existing agreements with the National and American Leagues.

It was a critical time in Sexton's presidency, and established his firm command of the organization, leading to an unprecedented five-year contract a year later. The Federal League collapsed in 1916, but by then there was another war facing Sexton and the National Association -- a real one.

When ballplayers, along with other large segments of the population, went marching off to World War I, it put a tremendous strain on Sexton and the National Association. The 1917 season opened with 21 leagues, but 10 of them were no longer active by July. It was even worse in 1918, when just 10 leagues opened the season. The International League was the only one to finish. The others closed down early.

World peace returned in 1919, and leagues began to re-emerge, but Sexton and the National Association had yet another battle to fight. At the Winter Meetings in 1919, members voted to abort the National Agreement -- their pact of cooperation with the Major Leagues -- over issues including territorial rights, player limits and salary structure.

The appointment in 1920 of Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis as baseball's first commissioner has been described as the turning point for Major League Baseball, but it had a profound impact on the National Association, as well. By January 1921, Judge Landis had the two sides back together with a new National Agreement, and the Minor Leagues were on their way to a period of peace, growth and prosperity throughout the 1920s. The organization completed its 25th season in 1926 as a sound, stable, well-organized group with 28 leagues and nearly 200 teams.

It remained that way until the Great Depression hit the country after the 1929 stock market crash. As leagues and teams began to dwindle, it became obvious that drastic revitalization was necessary, and that new leaders were needed. An executive committee was put in charge at the 1931 Winter Meetings.

The committee established a promotional department to organize new leagues and new business, including the advocacy of night baseball, and it created a press bureau to organize records and promote the game.

Sexton realized that he had served his time, and agreed to retire at the Winter Meetings in 1932. He had been president for 24 years, the longest tenure of any National Association president to this day. Judge William G. Bramham was elected as his replacement.

The year 1901 was a time of war in the world of baseball and the various minor leagues were like innocent bystanders caught in the middle of a struggle between the National League, which pretty much controlled everything in the game in those days, and the fledgling American League, which was trying to muscle in on the territory.

But the presidents of seven of those minor leagues decided they could not stand by and get run over. It was time to stand up and be counted.

No one stood taller than Patrick T. Powers, president of the Eastern League, and a man who knew his way around in the big time of baseball. When the group got together for the original organizing meeting in Chicago on Sept. 5, 1901, they wasted no time in selecting Powers as the first president.

Powers quickly gave the organization a name -- the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, Inc. It is still the official corporate name to this day, although the organization switched to the less cumbersome and better understood title of "Minor League Baseball" a few years ago.

While the group of seven were ready to take on the all-powerful National League, they knew they didn't have much leverage in the battle. That's why they turned to Powers.

He was not a true "insider" in the National League at the time, but he had the respect of those who were. In his earlier years, Powers had worked for the New York team and developed a reputation for integrity. Along the way, he had become an expert on rules in the governing of the sport, while honing his skills as a negotiator.

More than that, Powers had been active in New York City in the entertainment business, which put him in contact with many of leaders in Major League baseball. Powers operated out of Madison Square Garden with a variety of public amusement enterprises, including bicycle races, which were quite popular at the time.

The presence of Powers in the leadership of the National Association earned instant respect for the new organization, and convinced many in Major League Baseball that it could be worth supporting.

Powers and the others knew that a high priority had to be getting the National League to restore the National Agreement, which would give protection to all leagues involved, particularly in the key areas of contracts and territorial rights. The National League had ended this agreement as part of its war with the American League.

But the achievements that came out of this new union were lengthy and impressive. The NAPBL set up standards for a player draft, a classification system for the different levels of leagues, a reserve list to limit the number of players for each team, and also a salary structure -- plus territorial and contract protection. All remain integral in the structure of the game today.

Powers gave solid leadership to Minor League Baseball, but did not serve a lengthy tenure. He had remained as president of the Eastern League -- which would become the International. A new war was heating up with the creation of the Federal League, a would-be major.

Many of the club owners whom Powers had brought into the game became involved, and wanted the league to become an independent. While many observers believe that Powers' beliefs remained strongly behind the NAPBL, he felt an obligation to the members of his league. He felt the conflict of interest required his resignation as head of Minor League Baseball, and he terminated his presidency in 1909.