Maine State League

The Maine State League was a Class D level minor league baseball league that played in the 1907 and 1908 seasons. The eight–team Maine State League consisted of teams based in Maine and New Hampshire. The Maine State League permanently folded after the 1908 season.

Maine State League

Sport	Minor league baseball, Class D
Founded	1907
Ceased	August 28, 1908
No. of teams	9
Country	United States
Most titles	1 Portland Blue Sox (1897) Bangor Cubs (1907) Bangor White Sox (1908)

History

An independent league called the Maine State League briefly played in the 1897 season, beginning play on May 20, 1897, and folding on July 5, 1897. The six teams were the Augusta Kennebecs (14–8), Bangor Millionaires (12–19), Belfast Pastimes (10–16), Lewiston (15–14), Portland (21–6) and Rockland (10–19).[1][2][3]

The Maine State League was formed for the 1907 season as an eight–team Class D minor league under the direction of president Fred K. Owen. The Maine State League began play in the 1907 season hosting franchises from Augusta, Maine (Augusta Senators), Bangor, Maine (Bangor Cubs), Biddeford, Maine (Biddeford Orphans), Lewiston, Maine (Lewiston), Manchester, New Hampshire (Manchester), Portland, Maine (Pine Tree Capers), a second team in Portland (Portland Blue Sox) and Waterville, Maine (Waterville).[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][3]

The 1907 Maine State League began play on May 24, 1907. The league lost several franchises before the season concluded. Both Manchester and Waterville folded in June, Manchester with a 1–7 record and Waterville with an 8–14 record. The Augusta franchise disbanded on July 29, 1907, with a 27–28 record. Lewiston was 24–24 when that franchise folded on August 3, 1907.[14][15][16][17]

With four teams remaining, the Bangor Cubs won the 1907 Maine State League Championship, finishing with a 47–31 final record, as the league held no playoffs. The Bangor Cubs were followed in the standings by the Biddeford Orphans (30–27), Portland Blue Sox (39-41) and Pine Tree Capers (27–32) in the 1907 standings. The Augusta Senators (27–28), Lewiston (24–23), Manchester (1–7) and Waterville (8–14) all folded before the completion of the season.[14][17][3]

Returning to play in what ultimately was their final season of 1908, the Maine State League was a six–team league, maintaining the Class D level. Augusta, the Bangor White Sox, Biddeford, and the Portland Blue Sox comprised the 1908 league members who finished the 1908 season, as Pine Tree and York Beach disbanded during the season.[18][19]

The Maine State League began play on June 10, 1908. Lewiston moved to Augusta after twelve games. Pine Tree (15–13) and York Beach (10–15) both disbanded on July 19, 1908. When Portland withdrew on August 28, 1908, the Maine State League permanently folded. The Portland Blue Sox were in 1st place with a 32–20 record when disbanding. Portland finished ahead of the Bangor White Sox (31–22), Lewiston/Augusta (20–26) and Biddeford (18–30) in the standings. However, since Portland folded, Bangor was awarded the 1908 Maine State League Championship.[20][19][21][22][3]

1907–1908 Maine State League teams

Team name	City represented	Ballpark	Year(s) active
Augusta Senators	Augusta, Maine	Augusta Driving Park[23]	1907 to 1908
Bangor Cubs (1907) Bangor White Sox (1908)	Bangor, Maine	Maplewood Park[24]	1907 to 1908
Biddeford Orphans	Biddeford, Maine	Waterhouse Field/St. Louis Field[25]	1907 to 1908
Lewiston	Lewiston, Maine	Unknown	1907 to 1908
Manchester	Manchester, New Hampshire	Unknown[15]	1907
Pine Tree Capers	Portland, Maine	Back Cove Park[26]	1907 to 1908
Portland Blue Sox	Portland, Maine	Back Cove Park[26]	1907 to 1908
Waterville	Waterville, Maine	Colby College[27]	1907
York Beach	York Beach, Maine	Unknown	1908

Maine State League standings

1897

Team Standings	W	L	PCT	GB	Managers
Portland	21	6	.778	-	NA
Lewiston	15	14	.517	7	NA
Bangor Millionaires	12	19	.387	11	Jack Sharrott
Belfast Pastimes	10	16	.385	10.5	NA
Rockland	10	19	.345	12	NA
Augusta Kennebecs	14	8	.636	NA	NA

1907

Team Standings	W	L	PCT	GB	Managers
Bangor Cubs	47	31	.603	-	Fred Paige/Happy Iott
Biddleford Orphans	30	27	.526	6.5	Charlie Allen/John Guiney
Portland Blue Sox	49	52	.485	9.0	Charlie Robinson
Pine Tree Cappers	37	42	.458	10.5	Pop Williams
Augusta Senators	27	28	.491	NA	Paul Wreath
Lewiston	24	23	.511	NA	Heald
Waterville	8	14	.364	NA	George Boardman
Manchester	1	7	.125	NA	Phenomenal Smith/Conner

[17][3]

1908

Team Standings	W	L	PCT	GB	Managers
Portland Blue Sox	32	20	.6015	-	F. Driscoll
Bangor White Sox	31	22	.585	1.5	Happy Iott
Lewiston/Augusta	20	26	.435	89.0	Michael McDonough
Biddeford	18	30	.375	12.0	Charlie Allen
Pine Tree	15	13	.536	NA	Pop Williams
York Beach	10	15	.400	NA	NA

[19][3]

References

1. "1897 Maine State League (MSL) on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
2. "1897 Maine State League (MSL) Standings on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
3. "Maine State League - BR Bullpen". www.baseball-reference.com.
4. "Maine State League (D) Encyclopedia and History". Baseball-Reference.com.
5. "1907 Maine State League". Baseball-Reference.com.
6. "1907 Augusta Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
7. "1907 Biddeford Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
8. "1907 Bangor White Sox Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
9. "1907 Lewiston Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
10. "1907 Manchester Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
11. "1907 Pine Tree Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
12. "1907 Portland Blue Sox Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
13. "1907 Waterville Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
14. "1907 Maine State League (MSL) on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
15. "1907 Manchester Roster on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
16. "1907 Waterville Roster on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
17. "1907 Maine State League (MSL) Standings on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
18. "1908 Maine State League". Baseball-Reference.com.
19. "1908 Maine State League (MSL) Standings on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
20. "1908 York Beach Statistics on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
21. "1908 Atlantic Association (AA) on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
22. "1908 Lewiston Statistics on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
23. "Augusta Driving Park in Augusta, ME history and teams on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
24. "Maplewood Park in Bangor, ME history and teams on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
25. "Unknown in Biddeford, ME history and teams on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
26. "Back Cove Park in Portland, ME history and teams on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
27. "Unknown in Waterville, ME history and teams on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.