International Association for Professional Base Ball Players

Name of two defunct Canadian baseball leagues

The International Association for Professional Base Ball Players, commonly known as the International Association, was the name for two separate Canadian American professional baseball leagues that first operated during 1877–1878 (plus an additional two seasons under a different name) and later operated during 1888–1890.

The Association's by laws and constitution required member teams to pay $10 to join the league (plus an additional $15 to compete for the championship) and fan admission was set at 25 cents. Visiting teams were guaranteed $75, plus half of the gate receipts when they exceeded that amount ($75). Pitcher Candy Cummings was the first president of the International Association, while also a player for the Lynn Live Oaks of Massachusetts in 1877. Jimmy Williams of Columbus served as the league's first Secretary.

In 1878, the league lost two teams Guelph and Columbus however, it added the Binghamton Crickets, Hornellsville Hornells, Lowell Lowells and Syracuse Stars. The cities of Buffalo, New York, Hartford, Connecticut, New Bedford, Massachusetts, New Haven, Connecticut, Springfield, Massachusetts and Worcester, Massachusetts also had representatives. Buffalo finished in first place. Bud Fowler, the first known African American player in organized baseball, pitched for the Lynn club in 1878.

The Buffalo Bisons, winners of the 1878 pennant, and the Syracuse Stars seriously hurt the International Association's chances at major league status when they joined the rival National League for the 1879 season. At the same time, the London Tecumsehs dropped out of the league, causing it to be renamed the National Base Ball Association entering the 1879 season. Under that name, it played through the 1880 season before dissolving. The league did not operate from 1881 to 1887.

In 1888, outfielder Patsy Donovan of the London Tecumsehs led the league in batting with a batting average of either .359 (according to the Donovan family web site) or .398 (according to the London Tecumsehs' official scorer C. J. Moorehead in a 1903 copy of The London Advertiser), had 201 hits, scored 103 runs and stole 80 bases. His second season with the Tecumsehs was less successful due to a leg injury. Donovan went on to an outstanding career in Major League Baseball, even playing a significant role in scouting Babe Ruth.

Some baseball historians consider the International Association the first minor league; others point out that the league was conceived as a rival to the National League, now thought of as the sole major league of the era. Statistics of players who competed in the International Association and other early non major leagues, such as the New England League, are grouped as "Other" by the Baseball Reference. com reference site. The Northwestern League of 1883–1884 is regarded as the first true minor league.