As baseball evolved in the mid-to-late 19th century from an amateur pastime into an organized professional sport, fully and openly professional baseball teams arose in 1869. In 1876 a group of these clubs formed the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs. Because of this professional clubs outside the National League responded by forming regional associations of their own.
In the late 1890s, the Western League led by Ben Johnson decided to challenge the National League's position as the sole Major League. In 1900, he changed the name of the league to the [[American League]] and began to make deals to sign contracts with players who were dissatisfied with the pay and terms of their deals with the [[National League]]. This began to concern Patrick T. Powers, president of the Eastern League, and many other league owners. In response to the National-American battle, they agreed to form the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, called the NABPL, or "NA" for short, which today is called Minor League Baseball. <ref>http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/history/</ref><ref>http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/history/timeline.jsp</ref>
==System==
**[[Texas Winter League]] (affiliated with ULB)
==See Alsoalso==
[[Baseball]]
[[Major League Baseball]]
==External Linkslinks==
*[http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?cid=milb/ Official Site of Minor League Baseball]