Inter-American League

The Inter-American League was a high-level circuit in minor league baseball that played only three months before folding during the 1979 season. Conceived as an official Class AAA minor league composed of six clubs unaffiliated with Major League Baseball farm systems, the Inter-American loop was headed by the respected Roberto Maduro, former owner of the AAA Havana Sugar Kings and a longtime scout and front-office executive active in Latin American and major league baseball.

The six teams were located in the United States, Panama, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. They were the Caracas Metropolitanos, Panama Banqueros, Puerto Rico Boricuas, Maracaibo Petroleros de Zulia, Miami Amigos and Santo Domingo Azucareros.

On June 17, 1979, the Panama and Puerto Rico teams disbanded, leaving the league with only four clubs. Thirteen days later, the entire league folded. The Miami Amigos, led by future major league manager Davey Johnson, were in first place with a 51-21 mark (.708) when the league shut down.

References

*Johnson, Lloyd and Wolff, Miles, editors: "The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball." Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 1997.