Editing Pacific Coast League (section)

==History==

===Formation and early history===
The Pacific Coast League was formed on December 29, 1902, when officials from the California State League (1899–1902) met in [[San Francisco]] for the purpose of expanding the league beyond [[California]]. Six franchises were granted. These were the [[Los Angeles Angels (PCL)|Los Angeles Angels]], [[Oakland Oaks (PCL)|Oakland Oaks]], [[Portland Beavers]], [[Sacramento Senators (baseball)|Sacramento Senators]], [[San Francisco Seals (baseball)|San Francisco Seals]], and [[Seattle Indians]]. A dispute over territories owned by the [[Pacific Northwest League]], in which the PCL had placed franchises, and the PCL's allowing blacklisted players to compete led to the [[Minor League Baseball|National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues]] (NAPBL) labeling the PCL as an outlaw league.<ref name=2017RB>{{cite book |section=Pacific Coast League Year-By-Year Standings |title=2017 Pacific Coast League Sketch & Record Book |publisher=Pacific Coast League |year=2017 |page=141}}</ref>

The mild climate of the West Coast, especially California, allowed the league to play longer seasons, sometimes starting in late February and ending as late as the beginning of December. During the 1905 season the San Francisco Seals set the all-time PCL record by playing 230 games.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title = Records | encyclopedia =Pacific Coast League Record Book | pages =30 | publisher =Pacific Coast League|editor-last= Weiss|editor-first=William J. | year =1969 }}</ref> Teams regularly played between 170 and 200 games in a season until the late 1950s. This allowed players, who were often career minor leaguers, to hone their skills, earn an extra month or two of pay, and reduce the need to find off-season work. These longer seasons gave owners the opportunity to generate more revenue. Another outcome was that a number of the all-time minor league records for season statistical totals are held by players from the PCL.

[[File:Opening Day 1903, Oakland Commuters leaving the Statehouse Hotel for their first PCL game against Sacramento. (17124238308).jpg|thumb|right|The visiting [[Oakland Oaks (PCL)|Oakland Oaks]] prepare to travel to the ballpark on Opening Day 1903 to face the [[Sacramento Senators (baseball)|Sacramento Senators]].]]

The inaugural 1903 season, which consisted of over 200 scheduled games for each team, began on March 26.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-45989 |title=The Formation of the Pacific Coast League |last=Bauer |first=Carlos |publisher=Pacific Coast League |date=March 30, 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617043451/http://www.milb.com/content/page.jsp?sid=l112&ymd=20060308&content_id=45989&vkey=league3 |access-date=February 4, 2024|url-status=live |archive-date=June 17, 2018 }}</ref> The Los Angeles Angels finished the season in first place with a 133–78 (.630) record, making them the first [[List of Pacific Coast League champions|league champions]].

In 1904, NAPBL president [[Patrick T. Powers]] brokered terms with the PCL, clearing it of its outlaw status and designating it as a Class A league. In 1909, the league classification was raised to Double-A. In 1919, with the earlier addition of the [[Salt Lake City Bees]] and [[Vernon Tigers]], league membership reached eight teams for the first time. While the league had experienced little commercial success up to this point, the 1920s were a turning point which saw increased attendance and teams fielding star players.<ref name=2017RB/>

The [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s resulted in a lower quality of play due to the league's salary reduction. Still, a number of top stars, including [[Joe DiMaggio]], [[Ted Williams]], [[Bobby Doerr]], and [[Ox Eckhardt]], competed on PCL teams that decade. Also helping attendance was the introduction of night games. At Sacramento's [[Edmonds Field|Moreing Field]], the Sacramento Solons and the Oakland Oaks played the first night baseball game, five years before any major league night game, on June 10, 1930. The [[Hollywood Stars]] and [[San Diego Padres (PCL)|San Diego Padres]] were added to the league in the 1930s as well.<ref name=2017RB/>

===A near-major league===
During the first half of the 20th century, the Pacific Coast League developed into one of the premier regional baseball leagues. The cities enfranchised by the other two high-minor leagues, the [[International League]] and the [[American Association (20th century)|American Association]], were generally coordinated geographically with the major leagues, but such was not the case with the PCL. With no major league baseball team existing west of [[St. Louis]], the PCL was unrivaled for American west coast baseball. Although it was never recognized as a true major league, its quality of play was considered very high. Drawing from a strong pool of talent in the area, the PCL produced many outstanding players, including such future major-league [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Hall of Famers]] as [[Joe DiMaggio]], [[Ted Williams]], [[Tony Lazzeri]], [[Paul Waner]], [[Earl Averill]], [[Bobby Doerr]], [[Joe Gordon]], and [[Ernie Lombardi]]. Amid success experienced after [[World War II]], league President [[Pants Rowland]] began to envision the PCL as a third major league. During 1945 the league voted to become a major league.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gE4aAAAAIBAJ&dq=pacific%20coast%20league%20logo&pg=3796%2C2074056|title=Pacific Coast League Votes to Become a Major League|date=December 5, 1945|newspaper=The Milwaukee Journal|access-date=July 29, 2013|location=Milwaukee, Wisconsin|page=L6|agency=AP}}</ref> However, the [[American League]] and [[National League (baseball)|National League]] were uninterested in allowing it to join their ranks.<ref name=2017RB/>

While many PCL players went on to play in the major leagues, teams in the league were often successful enough that they could offer competitive salaries to avoid being outbid for their players' services. Some players made a career out of the minor leagues. One of the better known was [[Frank Shellenback]], whose major league pitching career was brief,<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/shellfr01.shtml |title=Frank Shellenback Statistics and History |work=Baseball-Reference.com |year=2012 |access-date=May 15, 2012}}</ref> but who compiled a record PCL total of 295 wins against 178 losses. (It should be mentioned, however, that Shellenback's long career in the PCL was largely due to his use of the spitball, banned in the major leagues in 1920, not the competitive salaries offered by PCL clubs.){{citation needed|date=June 2022}} Many former major league players came to the PCL to finish their careers after their time in the majors had ended.

In 1952, the PCL became the only minor league in history to be given the "Open" classification, a grade above the Triple-A level. This limited the rights of major league clubs to draft players from the PCL, and was considered an act toward the circuit becoming a third major league.<ref name=2017RB/>

===Sudden decline===
The shift to the Open classification came just as minor league teams from coast to coast suffered a sharp drop in attendance, primarily due to the availability of major league games on television. The hammer blow to the PCL's major league dreams came in 1958 with the arrival of the first MLB teams on the west coast (the [[Los Angeles Dodgers]] and [[San Francisco Giants]]). As a result, three of the PCL's flagship teams (the [[Los Angeles Angels (PCL)|Los Angeles Angels]], [[Hollywood Stars]], and [[San Francisco Seals (baseball)|San Francisco Seals]]) were immediately forced to relocate to smaller markets. The [[Oakland Oaks (PCL)|Oakland Oaks]] had moved to Canada two years before the Giants arrived. The [[San Diego Padres (PCL)|San Diego Padres]] and [[Seattle Rainiers]] suffered the same fate when they were displaced by major league teams, the new [[San Diego Padres|Padres]] and the [[Seattle Pilots|Pilots]], respectively, in 1969. Additionally, the PCL lost customers to the major league teams which then occupied the same territory. The league never recovered from these blows. The Pacific Coast League reverted to Triple-A classification in 1958, where it remained, and soon diminished in the public eye to nothing more than another minor league.

===Moving beyond the coast===
The PCL began to spread out across the nation, and internationally, in the 1950s. Previously, [[Salt Lake City]] had been the easternmost city in the league. In 1956, the [[Oakland Oaks (PCL)|Oakland Oaks]] relocated to [[Canada]] where they became the [[Vancouver Mounties]], the circuit's first international team. Two years later, the [[Los Angeles Angels (PCL)|Los Angeles Angels]] moved to become the [[Spokane Indians]] and the [[San Francisco Seals (baseball)|San Francisco Seals]] became the [[Phoenix Giants]].<ref name=2017RB/>

The league continued to expand throughout the country in the 1960s. Clubs representing new cities during the decade included the [[Dallas Rangers]], [[Denver Bears]], [[Eugene Emeralds]], [[Hawaii Islanders]], [[Indianapolis Indians]], [[Oklahoma City 89ers]], [[Tacoma Giants|Tacoma]]/[[Phoenix Giants]], and [[Tucson Toros]]. From 1964 to 1968 the PCL swelled to twelve teams. The [[Albuquerque Dukes]] and [[Vancouver Canadians]] were a few of several teams to begin play in the 1970s.<ref name=2017RB/> Several new teams arrived in the 1980s, such as the [[Calgary Cannons]], [[Colorado Springs Sky Sox]], [[Edmonton Trappers]], and [[Las Vegas Stars (baseball)|Las Vegas Stars]], but the league began to stabilize as franchise relocations became less frequent.<ref name=2017RB/>

===Further expansion===
In 1998, the Pacific Coast League took on five teams from the disbanding [[American Association (20th century)|American Association]], which had operated in the Midwest, and a sixth franchise was added to the league as an expansion team, thus providing the scheduling convenience of an even number of teams. The addition of the [[Iowa Cubs]], [[Nashville Sounds]], [[Oklahoma RedHawks]], [[Omaha Royals]], [[New Orleans Zephyrs]], and the expansion [[Memphis Redbirds]] grew the league to an all-time-high 16 clubs.<ref name=2017RB/> Despite its name, the league now extended well beyond the Pacific coast, stretching from [[Western Washington]] to [[Middle Tennessee]]; half of its teams were located east of the [[Rocky Mountains]].

The league's presence in Canada diminished and ended in the early 2000s, as the Vancouver Canadians moved to Sacramento to become the [[Sacramento RiverCats|RiverCats]] in 2000 (however, a short-season A club replaced that one there), the Calgary Cannons moved to [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], to become the [[Albuquerque Isotopes]] in 2003, and the [[Edmonton Trappers]], the circuit's final Canadian team moved to [[Round Rock Express|Round Rock]] in 2005. Of the cities represented in the PCL in its heyday, only [[Salt Lake City]] and [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] remain, and even these were represented by franchises different from those that originally called these cities home. In 2005, the Pacific Coast League became the first minor league ever to achieve a season attendance of over 7 million. In 2007, league attendance reached an all-time high of 7,420,095.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pacific Coast League: Attendance|url=http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?y=2007&t=l_att&lid=112&sid=l112|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304091751/http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?y=2007&t=l_att&lid=112&sid=l112|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 4, 2016|website=[[Minor League Baseball]]|publisher=Minor League Baseball|access-date=September 17, 2015}}</ref>

In 2019, the team previously known as the [[Colorado Springs Sky Sox]] relocated to [[San Antonio|San Antonio, Texas]] and continued play in the PCL as the [[San Antonio Missions]], assuming the identity of a team which had previously competed in the Double-A [[Texas League]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.milb.com/pacific-coast/news/san-antonio-to-join-pcl-beginning-in-2019/c-237847412/t-209979204|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806022314/https://www.milb.com/pacific-coast/news/san-antonio-to-join-pcl-beginning-in-2019/c-237847412/t-209979204|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 6, 2017|title=San Antonio to join PCL beginning in 2019|website=Pacific Coast League|date=June 21, 2017|access-date=June 21, 2017}}</ref> This move was accompanied by realignment in the American Conference. Nashville and Memphis moved to the Northern Division, and Oklahoma City and San Antonio moved to the Southern Division.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sounds Announce 2019 Home Schedule|url=https://www.milb.com/nashville/news/sounds-announce-2019-home-schedule-288363954|website=Nashville Sounds|publisher=Minor League Baseball|date=August 1, 2018|access-date=August 1, 2018}}</ref> In a further move, the [[New Orleans Baby Cakes]] relocated to [[Wichita, Kansas]] where they became known as the Double-A [[Wichita Wind Surge]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Wichita Rolls out a Logo Finalist for New Baseball Team, but No Name|url=http://www.kake.com/story/41130105/wichita-rolls-out-a-logo-finalist-for-new-baseball-team-but-no-name-1|website=KAKE|date=October 2, 2019|access-date=October 7, 2019}}</ref>

===Takeover by Major League Baseball===
The start of the 2020 season was postponed due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] before ultimately being cancelled on June 30.<ref>{{cite news |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 news |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> As part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganization of the minor leagues, the Pacific Coast League was reduced to 10 teams and temporarily renamed the "Triple-A West" for the 2021 season.<ref name=JMayo2-12-2021>{{cite web|last=Mayo|first=Jonathan|title=MLB Announces New Minors Teams, Leagues|url=https://www.mlb.com/news/new-minor-league-baseball-structure|website=Major League Baseball|date=February 12, 2021|access-date=February 12, 2021}}</ref> Following MLB's acquisition of the rights to the names of the historical minor leagues, the Triple-A West was renamed the Pacific Coast League effective with the 2022 season.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.milb.com/news/minor-league-baseball-historical-league-names-to-return-in-2022|title=Historical League Names to Return in 2022|website=Minor League Baseball|date=March 16, 2022|access-date=March 16, 2022}}</ref>