Trophies boast histories too
For many professional baseball players, the Commissioner's Trophy is not the first postseason prize they have played for. As Minor Leaguers, many played for League Championships, trying to win the Governors' Cup, the Mills Cup, the Bobby Bragan Championship Trophy or one of the other assorted awards given to Minor League champions.
The International League's Governors' Cup is the oldest rotating trophy still passed around to a Minor League champion. Former league president Frank Shaughnessy unveiled the idea of a multi-club postseason championship tournament"in 1933, citing the desire to keep the level of fan interest high in more than one or two markets as the season wound down. The league's new playoff format would allow four teams to qualify for postseason play.
Shaughnessy sought the help of the IL's supervisor of umpires, silversmith W.B. Carpenter, who created a magnificent covered cup of solid silver attached to a wooden base. The governors of the states and Canadian provinces represented by IL clubs (then New York, New Jersey and Maryland along with Quebec and Ontario) sponsored the trophy, giving it the name Governors' Cup. The trophy has been appraised at more than $3,000.
"The International League was around for 49 years prior to the birth of the Governors' Cup in 1933, but it has always been a symbol of the league's stability and longevity," says IL president Randy A. Mobley.
The trophy was passed to the league's postseason champ for the next 55 years. In 1988, the original cup was retired and given to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. A new trophy was created, modeled similarly to the first and given annually to the league's playoff winner. This season the trophy resides at Buffalo's Dunn Tire Park, home of the defending IL Governors' Cup champion Bisons.
Attached to the trophy's base are plaques noting all of the previous Cup holders and their managers as well as figurines of pitchers. A batter figure sits atop the Cup.
Two of Minor League Baseball's Double-A loops have recently named championship trophies after influential former league presidents.
Southern League clubs compete for the Billy Hitchcock Southern League Championship Trophy after the award was named for the circuit's former president at the Baseball Winter Meetings in New Orleans in 2003.
Hitchcock presided over a period of stellar growth for the Double-A SL from 1971-1980. During his tenure, the league grew from seven clubs to 10 (adding teams in Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville), began divisional play and created a split-season schedule. He also followed Shaughnessey's earlier idea in the IL by doubling the league's postseason qualifiers. The ex-Major League player and manager saw the league top one million fans in attendance for the first time during the 1978 campaign.
Much like the IL's Governors' Cup, the Hitchcock Trophy is a silver cup attached to a wooden base. A plaque on the base displays the Southern League logo and a picture of Hitchcock during his managerial days with Atlanta. The base also features four figurines of eagles, while an athlete raising a championship banner adorns the top of the cup.
The Texas League also named its championship trophy after a former league president before the 2004 postseason, when the award was re-christened the Bobby Bragan Texas League Championship Trophy at the 2004 TL All-Star Game in Midland. As part of this decision, a new trophy was created after various designs had been used over previous years.
Bragan, currently an executive with the Texas Rangers, has left his mark on the Texas League since joining the Fort Worth club as player-manager in 1948. He led the team to first-place finishes in his first two years with the club, including a League Championship in his debut.
After five years with the club, he returned to the Majors (he played in the bigs from 1940-48), where he coached and managed several teams. Bobby returned to the Texas League in 1969 as the loop's president and ran the circuit until December 1975, when he was elected president of the National Association (now Minor League Baseball).
The former Texas League great was a natural choice for the league trophy according to current TL head, Tom Kayser.
"Bobby Bragan was a great name in Texas League history," Kayser said. "After serving as a player, manager and league president, he was good for baseball on so many levels in the state of Texas and the Texas League."
The trophy created for the Texas League champion is unique in that it is two pieces. The base of the piece is a large wooden block that contains plaques with the names and years of every champ dating back to 1888. The actual trophy features the league logo and the logo of the title team topped by a baseball. The two pieces fit together to create the Bobby Bragan Trophy, which is given to the league champ following the final game of the postseason. A new top portion is created annually and stays with the championship club. The base is held by the champion until a new pennant winner is crowned.
The Class A Advanced Carolina League was one of the first Minor Leagues to name its championship trophy after a former league official. The eight teams in the loop play for the Mills Cup, honoring former league president James B. Mills, the predecessor to current boss John Hopkins.
Mills took over the reins of the Carolina League in 1977, when the circuit had just four teams and was on the verge of collapse. He made a bold move to add two teams in 1978, despite the fact there were not enough Major League affiliations for each of them. Two more clubs were added in 1980. Among those added to CL membership during Mills' tenure were clubs in Kinston, N.C., Alexandria, Va., Durham, N.C. (now in the IL), and Hagerstown, Md. (SAL).
"James B. Mills, along with the league's Board of Directors, was credited for doubling the size of the Carolina League during the late 1970s and early 1980s, helping it develop into the stable, successful league it is today," says Hopkins. The league named the Cup after Mills during the 1987 season.
Similar to the IL's Governors' Cup, the Mills Cup is a gold cup attached to a solid wood base. The base contains a plaque engraved with the names of previous Carolina League champions.
Most of the other Minor Leagues have some type of award that the championship club retains for a year before it is passed to the next season's pennant winner.
So come September, when you think the Red Sox, Braves, Cardinals and Indians are the only clubs competing to celebrate a championship with a shiny trophy, realize that there are other Red Sox (Pawtucket), Braves (Mississippi), Cardinals (Springfield) and Indians (Kinston) among 160 teams doing the same at the Minor League level.