The Cardinals and the minor leagues
The Cardinals franchise is often credited with developing the modern concept of the
farm system under Branch Rickey in the early twenties. After several years of scouting
players, only to have other teams buy them at a higher price, Rickey decided the
time had come to implement a scheme he had been considering for a while. He convinced
club owner Sam Breadon to move the Cards into Sportsman's Park in 1920 as tenants of
the AL Browns, and then sold Robison Field (formerly New Sportsmans Park, where Chris
Von der Ahe moved the club in 1893) to the city of St. Louis. (Beaumont High School
was built on the site.) The money from the sale was used to purchase shares in
three mionr league clubs - Ft. Smith in the Western Association, Houston in the
Texas League, and Syracuse in the International League.
At that point, major league clubs owning part or all of some minor league clubs
was not unusual. Nor was the practice of placing players with minor league clubs
for a few years to prepare them for the majors that uncommon, although it was done
on a player-by-player basis for players who were expected to be brought up to the
majors after a period of time. Rickey's plan was on a larger scale. He was the first
set up a hieracrchical system for player developement, with teams at all levels.
Players would move up the chain, with only the best making it to the majors.
By 1926, the system paid its first dividends, as the Cards won their first World
Championship since the days of the Browns in the 1880s. The 1926 club featured a
lineup dominated by players who came up through the burgoning system - Jim Bottemly,
Chick Hafey, Taylor Douthit, Tommy Thevenow, Les Bell, Ray Blades, Flint Rhem, and
Bill Hallahan, to name a few.
By the end of the twenties, the Cardinals controlled all or part of between 5 and 10
clubs, while the majors as a whole owned or controlled 29 minor league clubs. In
the 1930s, the Cards system reached its maximum extent, topping out at bewteen 25
and 35 clubs (depending on which sources you believe) late in the decade. This talent
pool fuelled the Cards to their first World Series title in this century in 1926
and ensured continued success through the next two decades. The success of the
Cardinals farm system may best be illustrated by the 1942 World Championship team,
which had only two players who were not developed in the Cardinals farm system.
In addition, the Cardinals were able to trade or sell excess talent from their
system to improve the club. (Rickey received a percentage of all player sales, which
probably contributed in part to the number of sales during this period.)
The size of the farm system shrunk down to less than ten clubs during the war years
of 1943-1945. In the latter half of the 40s and well into the 50s, the Cards maintained
at least 15 clubs in the minors, continuing the practice that had made the team a
dominant club in the Natinal League. (One of the few franchises with as many or more
clubs than the Cardials throughout the 40s and 50s was the Dodgers - then under Branch
Rickey - who also had a fair amount of success during that time span.) By 1961, all
but one major league club had trimmed back their farm system to under 10 teams (that
club, the Dodgers, trimmed down below ten in 1962), and through the 60s most clubs
maintained between 5 and 9 farm clubs each year. The Cards reached a low of 5 clubs
in 1963, and again from 1974-1976 and 1979-1980. For most of the 1980s and 1990s
they maintained seven or eight clubs, and in 1996 they dropped to the current level
of six clubs (AAA, AA, 3 A, Rookie)
Cardinals minor league affiliates as of the start of the 2001 season
AAA - Memphis (Pacific Coast League)
AA - New Haven (Eastern League)
A - Potomac (Carolina League)
A - Peoria (Midwest League)
A - New Jersey (New York-Penn League)
Rookie - Johnson City
Minor league stat database
The minor league database also contains stats for the Cardinals' minor league farm clubs
from 1990 through 2001. Choose a team and enter a season to see the roster and stats for
that club. (A year outside the range for that club will be adjusted to the first or last
season for that club in the Cardinals minor league system.) Thus far, stats are mostly
complete back through 1998, and before 1998 the AAA club and some of the AA clubs have
been entered.
This is a partial listing of Cardinals affiliates from the 1960s to the present
broken down by classification level. I'm not sure at what point the modern scheme
(using AAA, AA, and A) came into being; I do know that at one point leagues were
classified by A, B, C, and D. Some leagues have also changed classificatin through
the years, so I only feel comfortable assigning them through the early 1960s or so.
Triple A
| Columbus (American Association) | 1926-1954* |
| Omaha (American Association) | 1955-1959* |
| Rochester (International League) | 1927-1960* |
San Juan** (International League)
Charleston (International League) | 1961 |
| Atlanta (International League) | 1962-1963 |
| Jacksonville (International League) | 1964-1965 |
| Tulsa (Pacific Coast League) | 1966-1968 |
| Tulsa (American Association) | 1969-1976 |
| New Orleans (American Association) | 1977 |
| Springfield (American Association) | 1978-1981 |
| Louisville (American Association) | 1982-1997 |
| Memphis (Pacific Coast League) | 1998-Present |
* From 1927 to 1959, the Cards had a team in both the American Association and the
International League. I assume both clubs were AAA level.
** Franchise moved from San Juan to Charleston May 19,1961
Double A
| Houston (Texas League) | 1925-1942
1946-1958* |
|
| Tulsa (Texas League) | 1959-1965 |
| Arkansas Travelers (Texas League) | 1966-2000 |
| New Haven Ravens (Eastern League) | 2001 |
* I'm not sure at what point this became classified as AA, but I'm pretty sure
it was the AA club by the 1960s. I also don't know if there were other AA clubs
at any point. Arkansas was the only one from the mid-1960s onward, as far as I
can tell.
Single A (Partial listing)
| St. Petersburg Cardinals (Florida State League) | 1966-1996 |
| Potomac Cannons* (Carolina League) | 1997-Present |
* Known as Prince William from 1997-1998
| Springfield (Midwest League) | 1982-1993 |
| Madison (Midwest League) | 1994 |
| Peoria Chiefs(Midwest League) | 1995-Present |
| Erie (New York-Penn League) | 1981-1987 |
| Hamilton, Ontario (New York-Penn League) | 1988-1992 |
| Glenn Falls (New York-Penn League) | 1993 |
| New Jersey Cardinals (New York-Penn League) | 1994-Present |
| Sarasota (Gulf Coast League) | 1964-1976 |
| Gastonia (Western Carolina League) | 1977-1979 |
| Gastonia (South Atlantic League) | 1980-1982 |
| Macon (South Atlantic League) | 1983 |
| Savanah (South Atlantic League) | 1984-1995 |