The Greatest Minor League

Finalist, Casey Award—Spitball“Impressive…definitive work on the Pacific Coast League…a welcome addition”—Booklist“Snelling’s work is a grand and comprehensive history of the entire league over its glory years…highly worthy contribution to this rich legacy”—Nine“There have been a few histories of the PCL written over the years, but Snelling’s work is by far the best. It will be the standard PCL reference for years to come. Player biographies…are excellent. Kudos to Dennis for writing such an interesting book. We highly recommend it”—Pacific Coast League Potpourri“The definitive book on Pacific League baseball”—At Home Plate.com“This is as informative and fun a league history as one could ever hope to read. Snelling covers the Pacific Coast League from its halting, turn-of-the-century beginnings to its long run as a de facto ‘third Major League’ to its protracted turf battle with Major League Baseball as that entity set its sights on westward expansion…. After reading this book, it’s hard to argue with Snelling’s assertion that the PCL truly was the Minors’ ‘greatest league.’”—Benjamin Hill of MiLB.com“I think the title of this book is deceiving. This is not a history of the Pacific Coast League (PCL). This book is almost surely the definitive history of the Pacific Coast League.”—SABR Deadball Era Committee NewsletterIn 1903, a small league in California defied Organized Baseball by adding teams in Portland and Seattle to become the strongest minor league of the twentieth century. Calling itself the Pacific Coast League, this outlaw association frequently outdrew its major league counterparts and continued to challenge the authority of Organized Baseball until the majors expanded into California in 1958. The Pacific Coast League introduced the world to Joe, Vince and Dom DiMaggio, Paul and Lloyd Waner, Ted Williams, Tony Lazzeri, Lefty O’Doul, Mickey Cochrane, Bobby Doerr, and many other baseball stars, all of whom originally signed with PCL teams. This thorough history of the Pacific Coast League chronicles its foremost personalities, governance, and contentious relationship with the majors, proving that the history of the game involves far more than the happenings in the American and National leagues.