South Atlantic League

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Infobox sports league The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganization of the minor leagues. The league temporarily operated for the 2021 season as the High-A East before reassuming its original moniker in 2022.

A number of different leagues known as the South Atlantic League (SAL) have existed since 1904. The most recent SAL adopted the moniker in 1980, having previously been the Western Carolinas League, founded in 1963. All of these have been nicknamed "Sally League".

History

There have been several South Atlantic Leagues in the history of minor league baseball, spanning from 1904 to the present with a few breaks. The league ran from 1904 to 1917 as a class C league, then started up again in 1919, also class C. This time it ran from 1919 to 1930, moving up to class B beginning in 1921. William G. Bramham became league president in mid-1924 and served until 1930. The league was restarted again as a class B from 1936 to 1942, shut down as a result of World War II, and returned in 1946 as a class A league. The AA Southern Association (which never integrated) died after the 1961 season and so the SAL was promoted to AA in 1963 to take its place; a year later the name was changed to the Southern League. Out of the 51 seasons of operation, Augusta, Georgia competed in 46, Macon, Georgia was around for 46, and Columbia, South Carolina was in 45. Charleston, South Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah, Georgia; and Columbus, Georgia; each competed for at least 29 years also, making for a relatively stable lineup.

The South Atlantic League name went unused for 16 years, but in 1980 the Western Carolinas League brought back the name when it sought to change its identity. For nearly 60 years, 1948 through 2007, the dominant figure in the WCL/SAL was league founder and president John Henry Moss, who started the WCL as a young man in 1948, refounded it in 1960 and then led it into the new century. Moss retired at the close of the 2007<ref>Baseball America, December 15, 2007</ref> South Atlantic League season. He died at age 90 on July 1, 2009, at Kings Mountain, North Carolina—a town where he had also been mayor for 23 years.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2005, the SAL had the highest attendance in 101 years with over 3,541,992 fans (while minor league baseball set a second straight record with 41,333,279 attendees). When the league last played a season, in 2019, it had 14 teams, divided into two divisions of seven clubs.

The start of the 2020 season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic before ultimately being cancelled on June 30.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=2020can>Template:Cite news</ref>

As part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganization of the minor leagues, the South Atlantic League was promoted to High-A and temporarily renamed the "High-A East" for the 2021 season.<ref name=JMayo2-12-2021>Template:Cite web</ref> Following MLB's acquisition of the rights to the names of the historical minor leagues, the High-A East was renamed the South Atlantic League effective with the 2022 season.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In July 2024, MiLB announced that the Hub City Spartanburgers will join the South Atlantic League in 2025, replacing the Hickory Crawdads.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

Current teams

Division	Team	MLB affiliation	City	Stadium	Capacity
North	Aberdeen IronBirds	Baltimore Orioles	Aberdeen, Maryland	Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium	6,300
	Brooklyn Cyclones	New York Mets	Brooklyn, New York	Maimonides Park	7,000
	Greensboro Grasshoppers	Pittsburgh Pirates	Greensboro, North Carolina	First National Bank Field	7,499
	Hudson Valley Renegades	New York Yankees	Wappingers Falls, New York	Heritage Financial Park	5,400
	Jersey Shore BlueClaws	Philadelphia Phillies	Lakewood, New Jersey	ShoreTown Ballpark	8,000
	Wilmington Blue Rocks	Washington Nationals	Wilmington, Delaware	Daniel S. Frawley Stadium	6,404
South	Asheville Tourists	Houston Astros	Asheville, North Carolina	McCormick Field	4,000
	Bowling Green Hot Rods	Tampa Bay Rays	Bowling Green, Kentucky	Bowling Green Ballpark	4,559
	Greenville Drive	Boston Red Sox	Greenville, South Carolina	Fluor Field at the West End	6,700
	Hub City Spartanburgers	Texas Rangers	Spartanburg, South Carolina	Fifth Third Park	5,000
	Rome Emperors	Atlanta Braves	Rome, Georgia	AdventHealth Stadium	5,105
	Winston-Salem Dash	Chicago White Sox	Winston-Salem, North Carolina	Truist Stadium	5,500

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South Atlantic League teams (1980–present)

Notes: • An "^" indicates that team's article redirects to an article of an active team in a different league Template:Div col

Template:Div col end

League timeline

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id:line  value:pink
id:bg  value:white
         id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a current league member
         id:Past value:rgb(0.4,0.80,0.67) # Use to indicate a former team
         id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another current league

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bar:1  color:Past from:01/01/1980 till:12/31/1984 text:Anderson Braves (1980–1984)
bar:2  color:Full from:01/01/1980 till:end text:Asheville Tourists (1980–present)
bar:3  color:Past from:01/01/1980 till:12/31/2020 text:Charleston Royals / Rainbows / RiverDogs (1980–2020)
bar:4  color:Past from:01/01/1980 till:12/31/1992 text:Gastonia Cardinals / Expos / Jets / Tigers / Rangers (1980–1992)
bar:5  color:Full from:01/01/1980 till:end text:Greensboro Hornets / Bats / Grasshoppers (1980–present)
bar:6  color:Past from:01/01/1980 till:12/31/1987 text:Macon Peaches / Redbirds / Pirates (1980–1987, 1991–2002)
bar:6  color:Past from:01/01/1991 till:12/31/2002 text:Macon Braves (1991–2002)
bar:7  color:Past from:01/01/1980 till:12/31/1982 text:Shelby Pirates / Mets (1980–1982)
bar:8  color:Past from:01/01/1980 till:12/31/1994 text:Spartanburg Phillies / Traders / Spinners / Suns / Phillies (1980–1994)
bar:8   color:Full from:01/01/2025 till:end text:Hub City Spartanburgers (2025–present)
bar:9  color:Past from:01/01/1981 till:12/31/1986 text:Florence Blue Jays (1981–1986)
bar:10  color:Past from:01/01/1981 till:12/31/1983 text:Greenwood Pirates (1981–1983)
bar:11  color:Past from:01/01/1983 till:12/31/2004 text:Columbia Mets / Capital City Bombers (1983–2004)
bar:11  color:Past from:01/01/2016 till:12/31/2020 text:Columbia Fireflies (2016–2020)
bar:12  color:Past from:01/01/1984 till:12/31/2015 text:Savannah Cardinals / Sand Gnats (1984–2015)
bar:13  color:Past from:01/01/1985 till:12/31/1991 text:Sumter Braves (1985–1991)
bar:14  color:Past from:01/01/1987 till:12/31/2020 text:Charleston Wheelers / AlleyCats / West Virginia Power (1987–2020)
bar:15  color:Past from:01/01/1987 till:12/31/2000 text:Fayetteville Generals / Cape Fear Crocs (1987–2000)
bar:16  color:Past from:01/01/1987 till:12/31/1992 text:Myrtle Beach Blue Jays / Hurricanes (1987–1992)
bar:17  color:Past from:01/01/1988 till:12/31/2020 text:Augusta Pirates / GreenJackets (1988–2020)
bar:18  color:Past from:01/01/1991 till:12/31/2008 text:Columbus Indians / Red Stixx / Catfish (1991–2008)
bar:19  color:Past from:01/01/1992 till:12/31/1995 text:Albany Polecats (1992–1995)
bar:20  color:Past from:01/01/1993 till:12/31/2020 text:Hagerstown Suns (1993–2020)
bar:21  color:Past from:01/01/1993 till:12/31/2024 text:Hickory Crawdads (1993–2024)
bar:22  color:Past from:01/01/1995 till:12/31/2020 text:Piedmont Phillies / Boll Weevils / Kannapolis Intimidators / Cannon Ballers (1995–2020)
bar:23  color:Past from:01/01/1996 till:12/31/2020 text:Delmarva Shorebirds (1996–2020)
bar:24  color:Full from:01/01/2001 till:end text:Lakewood/Jersey Shore BlueClaws (2001–present)
bar:25  color:Past from:01/01/2001 till:12/31/2020 text:Lexington Legends (2001–2020)
bar:26  color:Past from:01/01/2001 till:12/31/2003 text:Wilmington Waves / South Georgia Waves (2001)
bar:27  color:Past from:01/01/2003 till:12/31/2009 text:Lake County Captains (2003–2009)
bar:28  color:Full from:01/01/2003 till:end text:Rome Braves / Emperors (2003–present)
bar:29  color:Full from:01/01/2005 till:end text:Greenville Bombers / Drive (2005–present)
bar:30  color:Past from:01/01/2009 till:12/31/2009 text:Bowling Green Hot Rods (2009)
bar:30  color:Full from:01/01/2021 till:end text:Bowling Green Hot Rods (2021–present)
bar:31  color:Full from:01/01/2021 till:end text:Aberdeen Ironbirds (2021–present)
bar:32   color:Full from:01/01/2021 till:end text:Brooklyn Cyclones (2021–present)
bar:33   color:Full from:01/01/2021 till:end text:Hudson Valley Renegades (2021–present)
bar:34   color:Full from:01/01/2021 till:end text:Wilmington Blue Rocks (2021–present)
bar:35  color:Full from:01/01/2021 till:end text:Winston-Salem Dash (2021–present)

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text:^"South Atlantic League Timeline"

> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following three options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. Template:Font color Template:Font color <# </timeline>

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