Michigan, Ohio & Indiana Cities You Never Knew That Once Had MLB Baseball Teams
Many people say that when segregation ended in Major League Baseball, it became what it had always claimed to be, a national pastime. Finally, nothing would ever get in the way of the best players just being able to play each other, regardless of race, color, or creed.
But going back to the original days of major league baseball, there were actually many different leagues throughout the country that were forming, and there were teams in cities you never would’ve even thought had a professional baseball team before. In fact, it may surprise you that the Kalamazoo Lassies were not the only professional baseball team that Kalamazoo had.
Indeed, there are dozens of leagues and hundreds of teams that are all but history and teams that you may have never even heard of before. There are some teams who did amazing and some teams that were just OK. But regardless, these teams definitely deserve some kind of recognition, because you’ve most likely never even heard of most of these.
Take for instance the East-West League which was an American Negro baseball league that operated during the time of segregation. It may shock you to know that the best team in the league was the Detroit Wolves, whose win percentage during the one year it existed was .839%.
The team had 26 wins and five losses, which was good enough to give them the title of the best team in the league. That’s just one of the great teams from Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, that you’ve never heard of. here are all the teams that I could find from defunct major baseball leagues: