Baseball legend and lore seems to revolve around the legendary teams such as the Yankees, Red Sox and Giants, legendary names like Ruth, Jackson and Ryan, but without the farm leagues where would all of that talent have developed and seeds of legends been planted?
The American Association is one of those many farm league that has developed talent dating back to its formation in 1902. Bob Gibson, Whitey Ford, Duke Snider, Casey Stengel, Warren Spahn and Mickey Mantle are just of few of the legendary players and managers that came up through the ranks of the The American Association and moved into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bill O’Neal in a lifelong baseball fan and has written several books documenting the history of baseball including “The Texas League, The Pacific Coast League,” “The International League,” and “The Southern League.” O’Neal has also written a number of books on Western Americana and served two terms as Texas State Historian.
