Quote:
Originally Posted by joefromchicago
The association between the Mexican League and the Texas League lasted only two years (1959-60).
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I forgot to nitpick this earlier.
The association between the Mexican and Texas Leagues lasted three seasons, from 1959 through 1961.
For those interested, here are the associations which have existed in minor league baseball history:
1959-1961: Pan-American Association (Texas League and Mexican League)
1971: Dixie Association* (Southern League and Texas League)
1988-1991: Triple-A Alliance (American Association and International League)
In all three of the above the two leagues played interleague regular season contests, and the champions of each league met to determine the grand champion.
*Actually, I disagree with it being considered an association. Most reference works list separate standings for the Southern and Texas Leagues for 1971. But if one looks at the league standings published in contemporary sources such as The Sporting News, as well as the original schedule issued for the league, it's clear the Dixie Association operated as a single 14-team entity for standings and playoff purposes. So I think it's more accurate to regard the Dixie Association as a temporary one-year merger of the Southern and Texas Leagues.
One could arguably also include as an association the independent Northern League from 1999-2002. In that instance the Northeast League technically joined the Northern League, becoming the "East Division" while the existing Northern League clubs became the "Central Division". What's a bit weird is that these "Divisions" were themselves broken down into two divisions (either East and West or North and South). There was no regular season interleague play between the Central and East "Divisions" though the respective champions of each met in a grand final. In OOTP terms it's probably easier to think of it as an association, with the Northern League as one subleague and the Northeast League as the other, but with the association name being "Northern League".
In terms of regular season interleague play, the Carolina and Western Carolinas League played such contests for the 1975 and 1976 seasons, but there was no larger organization comprising both and no playoff was held between the respective league champions. The same is true for the independent American Association and Can-Am Leagues for the 2012-2014 seasons.