Editing Appalachian League (section)

==History==
The original Appalachian League existed for four seasons from 1911 to 1914 and was classified as a [[Class D (baseball)|Class D]] circuit.<ref name=SCAppy1>{{cite web|title=Appalachian League (1911 to 1955)|url=https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/l-APPY1|website=Stats Crew|access-date=September 26, 2020}}</ref>  All teams were independent with no [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB) affiliation in the era. The charter Appalachian League teams were the [[Asheville Moonshiners]], Bristol Boosters, [[Cleveland Counts]], [[Johnson City Soldiers]], [[Knoxville Appalachians]], and [[Morristown Jobbers]], playing in the inaugural season.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|title=Minor League Baseball: the Appalachian League (Advanced-Rookie Classification)|url=http://billsportsmaps.com/?p=21368%3E.|website=Billssportsmaps.com|access-date=30 July 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20140731233909/http://billsportsmaps.com/?p=21368%3E.|archive-date=31 July 2014}}</ref> After a six-year absence, the league reorganized for five seasons from 1921 to 1925, and, as before, it consisted entirely of independent teams at the Class D level.<ref name=SCAppy1/> Following an 11-year period of inactivity, the third iteration of the Class D Appalachian League played from 1937 to 1955.<ref name=SCAppy1/> The league went dormant in 1956, but was revived in 1957.<ref name=SCAppy>{{cite web|title=Appalachian League (1957 to 2019)|url=https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/l-APPY|website=Stats Crew|access-date=September 26, 2020}}</ref>

Along with a reorganization of Minor League Baseball in 1963, the Appalachian League reformed and was classified as a [[Rookie League|Rookie]]-level league.<ref name=SCAppy/> In its final years as an MLB-affiliated league, the Appalachian League was one of two "Rookie Advanced" minor leagues along with the [[Pioneer League (baseball)|Pioneer League]]. As such, it occupied the second-lowest rung in the minor league ladder. 
Although classified as a Rookie league, the level of play was slightly higher than that of the two "complex" Rookie leagues, the [[Gulf Coast League]] and [[Arizona League]]. Unlike the complex leagues, Appalachian League teams charged admission and sold concessions. It was almost exclusively the first fully professional league in which many players competed; most of the players had just been signed out of high school and were further along in their development than players in the "complex" leagues. It was a short-season league that competed from late June (when major league teams signed players whom they selected in the amateur draft) to early September.

It continued to operate as a Rookie Advanced league through 2020, with the start of the 2020 season postponed due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] before ultimately being cancelled.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Message From Pat O'Conner|url=https://www.milb.com/milb/news/message-from-minor-league-baseball-president-ceo-pat-o-conner-313052288|website=Minor League Baseball|date=March 13, 2020|access-date=May 5, 2020}}</ref><ref name=2020can>{{cite web |title=2020 Minor League Baseball Season Shelved|url=https://www.milb.com/news/2020-minor-league-baseball-season-shelved|website=Minor League Baseball|date=June 30, 2020|access-date=July 1, 2020}}</ref> Thus, 2019 was the Appalachian League's last season of operation within Minor League Baseball, with the [[Johnson City Cardinals]] winning the league championship. Entering the [[2021 Major League Baseball season]], MLB stated that 29 of its 30 teams had players who had played in the Appalachian League when it was part of Minor League Baseball, with a total of 139 such players on [[Opening Day]] rosters.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/one-hundred-and-thirty-nine-appalachian-league-alumni-on-mlb-opening-day-rosters |title=One hundred and thirty-nine Appalachian League alumni on MLB Opening Day rosters |publisher=USA Baseball |website=MLB.com |date=April 19, 2021 |accessdate=May 29, 2021}}</ref>{{efn|With 26 active players on each MLB roster, the Appalachian League alumni represented 17.8% (139 of 780) of active players in MLB.}}

In conjunction with a contraction of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Appalachian League was converted to an amateur [[Collegiate summer baseball|collegiate summer baseball league]] designed for rising freshmen and sophomores.<ref name=BA2020>{{cite web|last=Cooper|first=J.J.|title=Appalachian League To Operate As Summer Wood-Bat League|url=https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/appalachian-league-to-operate-as-summer-wood-bat-league/|website=Baseball America|date=September 25, 2020|access-date=September 25, 2020}}</ref> The reconfigured league become a part of Major League Baseball's Prospect Development Pipeline, a collaboration between MLB and [[USA Baseball]]. It is scheduled to play a 48-game regular season and continue to host an annual All-Star Game. Each of the league's 10&nbsp;cities will continue to host teams in the new configuration of the Appalachian League.<ref>{{cite web|title=MLB, USA Baseball Announce New Format for Appalachian League|url=https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-mlb-usa-baseball-announce-new-format-for-appalachian-league|website=Major League Baseball|date=September 29, 2020|access-date=September 29, 2020}}</ref>