THE HEYDAY OF THE FARM SYSTEM, 1930-62

Written by Bill McMahon

mcmahon@uakron.edu

INTRODUCTION:  The idea of stockpiling and developing talent is a fairly obvious one, but it took the major leagues about 50 years to adopt it.  Prior to the 1920’s there had been a few cases of major league ownership of minor league clubs and some “working agreements”, but the first farm system was created by Branch Rickey for the St. Louis Cardinals, beginning with the acquisition of Houston, Ft. Smith, and Syracuse.  By 1930 other teams were following suit, as the cost of buying players was becoming prohibitive. 

Before World War II the Cardinals had the most extensive system, even controlling two whole Class D leagues for a time.  They had so much talent that they could defray expenses by selling surplus players.  The strongest chain in the American League was that of the Yankees, and soon Detroit, Cleveland, and others began to imitate them.  The success of the Cincinnati Reds at the end of the 30’s is attributable to the farm system built by Frank Lane. 

Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis, Commissioner of Baseball, believed the chains to be detrimental to the minors and did his best to undermine them.  In the late 1930’s he released a number of players owned by various clubs.  The major league teams countered by claiming that the minors couldn’t exist without their support and threatened to pull the rug out from under them.  By World War II farm systems were well entrenched with many independent minor league teams in existence.  The war put the issue on hold, as most minor leagues shut down for the duration.

Organized baseball experienced its greatest expansion during the years following WW II.  Landis was gone, and every major league team was developing talent through a farm system.  When Rickey moved from the Cardinals to the Dodgers, the latter team’s system became pre-eminent, and it was the first to include African-American players.  The number of leagues expanded until the early 50’s, when the impact of televised major league contests began to be felt.  Throughout the decade an increasing number of leagues shut down, and executives like Frank Lane advocated using the minors solely for the purpose of developing major leaguers.

Ultimately, Lane’s point of view prevailed.  The classification system was changed so that levels B, C, and D were eliminated, and only enough leagues for the maintenance of four or five team systems remained.  There have been a few independent teams since then, but these are smaller operations at lower levels of play.  

Download the entire article Farm Team Overview and History.doc

For more baseball history, check out these articles

American International College.doc
Eastern League.doc
International League.doc
Pacific Coast League.doc