In March 1871, ten of the United States' most powerful professional baseball clubs met in Brooklyn, New York. Out of that meeting came the sport's first major league: the National Association of Professional Baseball Players. The Philadelphia Athletics, with a record of 21-7, captured the new circuit's first championship. From the National Association through the American League's inaugural season in the final year of the century, this work is a year-by-year statistical history of the teams and players of the nineteenth century's major leagues. The teams are listed by league, with full rosters and complete statistics for each player. An introductory section for each year places the league in historical perspective. Exhaustive team and player indexes are also included.

Ranking just below the top major and minor leagues in the first half of the twentieth century was another group of quality circuits. The Southern Association, which was formed in 1901 and had teams in several prominent Southern cities, was part of that group. In the mid 1930s, league directors decided to make the old Southern League, which had enjoyed an off-and-on existence since 1885, part of the Southern Association. This work is a complete history of the Southern Association, beginning with 1885, the year the Southern League began, and ending with 1961, the year it went out of business. Each chapter covers one year of the Southern Association's history and contains an essay describing a team, player, or trend in that particular year, and a list of teams in order of winning percentage. Details provided for each team include its record, winning percentage, the number of games it finished behind first place, its manager, and a list of its known players, their positions and statistics. The statistics for hitters include games played, at bats, runs, hits, RBIs, doubles, triples, home runs, walks, strikeouts, stolen bases, and batting average. Pitchers are listed separately and listed in order of games won. Statistics for pitchers include wins, losses, winning percentage, games played and started, complete games, shutouts, innings pitched, hits allowed, walks, strikeouts, and ERAs.

From 1884 to 1953, the International League enjoyed a measure of stability that was the envy of many other minor leagues. With franchises located in cities along the East Coast and Canada - including Newark, Toronto, Baltimore, Montreal, and Providence - the circuit produced a brand of baseball that was only a bit below that of the majors. This is the complete, year-by-year, team-by-team statistical history of the first 70 years of the International League, from its beginnings with the Eastern League in 1854, to 1953 when longtime member Baltimore was forced to relocate its franchise to make way for a major league team. For each season, there is a brief essay that covers the league's highlights and its champion. Full rosters for each team are then provided, with complete statistics for all players.

For over 100 years, the Texas League has been one of the top minor leagues in the Southwest. This work is a statistical history of the Texas League from its inception in 1888 through 1958, when Houston, Fort Worth and Dallas left for higher aspirations in Triple A and major league baseball._

The book is arranged by year, and each chapter begins with a short introduction that also highlights a player, team, or aspect of the game that season. The teams are then presented in standings order, and the author provides statistics for each player (games, at bats, runs, hits, runs batted in, doubles, triples, home runs, walks, strikeouts, stolen bases, and batting average) and each team (wins, loses, winning percentage, and games behind first place). For pitchers, the statistics provided here include wins and losses, winning percentage, games, games started, complete games, shutouts, innings pitched, hits allowed, walks, strikeouts, and earned run averages.

This is a statistical history of the National Hockey League in its first fifty seasons. It provides every statistic for every player for every game, including playoff games. A full introduction puts the tremendous amount of data contained within the book in its historical context, and each chapter then recounts a single season. An explanatory essay illuminating the most important attributes of a particular season introduces each chapter.

This book presents season-by-season information for the original South Atlantic Baseball League, which operated for 60 years in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida. (In 1963, with the collapse of the Southern Association, the league was promoted to Double-A status and renamed the Southern League.) Its each chapter opens with a season summary and is followed by league standings, team records and rosters, and statistics for each player.