Minor League baseball in the Sunbelt : the historical geography of the Southern League of Professional Baseball Clubs

The Southern League of Professional Baseball Clubs has been in existence since 1964. Although a history of the league has been recently completed, there has yet to be a study about the changes in the league's geographical structure. Over the last thirty years, twenty-one different cities have been home to Southern League ballclubs. This thesis proposes to examine the historical geography of the league from its promotion to Double-A status in 1964 through the 1999 season while examining the relationship between the location of the ballparks, both past and present.

The study will focus on the historical trends of franchise shifts to larger cities within the South and will focus on shifting of the ballpark locations to suburban sites or sites with excellent freeway access. Since its inception in 1964, this latest incarnation of the Southern League has migrated from small Southern cities to some of the largest metropoli the South has to offer. In addition, the sites of Southern League ballparks have gradually shifted from locations near their downtowns to suburban sites with easier automobile access. This move to the suburbs is not a strike against the great history of baseball, but a response to the changing geography of the Southern city, both in population distribution and economic dominance. The move to the suburbs mirrors the movement of retail, corporate and other entertainment establishments that have been part of the suburban landscape for decades.