They all started here. Learn more about how icons of the game like Hank Aaron, Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, Rickey Henderson and Nolan Ryan navigated a path from the Minor Leagues to Cooperstown.

Minor League History
Take a look back at the iconic teams, leagues and players of Minor League Baseball

Did you know a manager once returned to a Minor League game as a mascot after he was ejected? How about a 27-strikeout no-hitter? We've got even more crazy stories, too!

Future Hollywood actors and even the guy the Heisman Trophy is named after have connections to the Minor Leagues. Learn more about some of the most memorable characters of MiLB.

Explore the history of Minor League teams and leagues spanning more than 100 years.

- Robinson first made mark in the Minor Leagues
- In Jersey City, statue marks Jackie's triumph
- Minor Leagues sparkled with 'new' stars in 1949
- Minors was last test for Gilliam, Howard
- The year after Jackie, Ritchey integrated PCL
- Negro Leagues star Jethroe tore through Triple-A
- Newcombe, Campanella battled racism with optimism
- Paige added to legacy during stint in Minors
- 'Prince' Joe Henry could wow a crowd
- Walker's interests were far and wide
- 'Dandy' of a player never reached bigs
- Tugerson made pitch for integration in '53
- Batboy barreled way into Hall of Fame
- Class D trailblazer Jones turned to teaching
- Integration spread from field to stands in South
- Questions plague Peeples' trailblazing story
- Charles: 'Blacks had to be twice as good'
- Hoskins broke barriers in Texas League
- Allen's final days in Minors marked by fear, racism
- Minors legend Jones still holds batting record
- Fowler: A 19th-century baseball pioneer
- Roosevelt Stadium key in baseball history
- McCord still works for good of the game
- Robinson's legacy enhanced by sculpture
- Blue Rocks celebrate Hall-of-Famer Johnson
Tim Tebow made the unlikely transition from NFL quarterback to professional baseball in 2016 when he signed a Minor League contract with the Mets. Look back at his journey through baseball.
Before he was the top overall selection in the 1983 NFL draft, John Elway was a 22-year-old starring in the outfield and at the plate in the New York-Penn League.
In February 1994, four months after the first of his three retirements from the NBA, Michael Jordan signed a Minor League contract with the White Sox. Look back on his season in the Double-A Southern League.
MiLB has been around since the 1870s and its teams have been celebrating championships for nearly 100 years across the U.S. and Canada. Take a look back at which clubs earned trophies over the years.
Take a look at every no-hitter thrown in the Minor Leagues since 2005, when MLB became MiLB's official statistician
Mission accomplished! MiLB set a Guinness World Record for most signatures on a piece of sports memorabilia in 2025 after building an 8-foot replica game ball and sending it on a tour of the U.S., offering fans a chance to add their name to history. Commissioner Rob Manfred added the final autograph on July 29, 2025 at MLB's headquarters in New York.
The Montgomery Biscuits, donning Gray Sox apparel, defeated the Birmingham Barons, suited up as the Black Barons, as the Minors paid tribute to the legendary Negro Leagues at Rickwood Field in 2024
Before breaking the Major League color barrier in 1947, Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson led the Montreal Royals to the International League and Little World Series titles while hitting .349/.468/.462.
Before he was an icon, before he established himself in the uppermost echelon of the game's greatest players, Hank Aaron was a skinny teenager from Mobile, Alabama, with Major League dreams.
In 1954, Joe Bauman was a small-town guy playing for a small-town team. But that year he belted 72 home runs while batting .400/.535/.916 to cement his place in Minor League history.
Built in 1910, Rickwood Field is the oldest baseball stadium in the country. And it's being preserved through a unique partnership between the Birmingham Barons and Friends of Rickwood Field.
The longest game in the history of professional baseball took place in 1981 between the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings and Pawtucket Red Sox -- a 33-inning marathon took more than eight hours over two different days to complete. Look back at this unique and highly celebrated event.












