The High Plains League is one of the oldest of National Association leagues, having been formed in the early years of the 20th century. Owners from the fledging North Platte Association and the languishing Windy League gathered in a Lincoln, Nebraska, tavern in January, 1909. They quaffed hearty brews and chewed the fat from slaughtered cattle. They talked baseball, business, and the wind that sweeps the prairie. From that meeting came a new league that spanned the great swath of Middle America from Enid, Oklahoma, north to Bismarck, North Dakota.
The league suspended operations only once, in 1934, at the trough of the Dust Bowl Depression, but by 1937, it had returned to operation in a limited capacity. By the end of WWII, the league had reached the ten-team configuration it maintains to this day. Teams have been remarkably stable in the AA High Plains League, mirroring the homogeneity of the region. Five of the league's original franchises remain, though nicknames have changed to reflect the minor-league marketing boom of the 1990s. Still, in middle America tradition and history hold sway, and most of the league's nicknames reflect local ties.
FARMERS |
RANCHERS |