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Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange
No, I don't really know how much of a difference there is. But for what it's worth MLB does classify each as a separate level, so presumably there is some sort of difference between them.
Note that short season leagues are a relatively recent invention. While the creation of the Rookie classification in 1963 had those leagues playing short seasons from the start, Class A short seasons didn't start until 1965-67. And before 1963 there were almost no short season leagues at all; the first ones that I'm aware of are the Nebraska State League of 1956-59 and the Appalachian League of 1957-62, both of which were officially Class D leagues but played short seasons.
Prior to those leagues, all U.S. and Canadian based minor leagues played full length seasons of 120 games or longer, with many playing seasons of 140 or 154 games. The higher class leagues sometimes played seasons longer than the majors; the PCL famously played 200+ game long seasons early in its history, while the AA and IL played 168 game seasons for many years before reducing to 154 games. In 1965 the higher level minors schedules were reduced to 148 games or less, and eventually that settled down into the current 140-144 game range that all but the short season leagues now play.
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Thanks, LGO. That did help, and makes me want to read more books on the minors.