Anyone Remember: Maryland Fall Basebal League

[comish4lif]

After the Winter League in Hawaii folded up after the 1997 season, someone decided a Maryland Fall League was viable. It lasted a year. But the team in Bowie was called the Bowie Nationals and featured a lanky catching prospect named Jayson Werth.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Bowie_Nationals

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Maryland_Fall_League

[Mr Clean]

After the Winter League in Hawaii folded up after the 1997 season, someone decided a Maryland Fall League was viable. It lasted a year. But the team in Bowie was called the Bowie Nationals and featured a lanky catching prospect named Jayson Werth.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Bowie_Nationals

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Maryland_Fall_League

Wait, I saw Ian Desmond playing in Hawaii one year, probably 2006.  MASN televised some games.

[varoadking]

Wait, I saw Ian Desmond playing in Hawaii one year, probably 2006.

Were you living there or visiting?

[Mr Clean]

Were you living there or visiting?

Saw it on MASN.

[Clever]

And Milton Bradley led the league in hitting with a .330 avg. 

[comish4lif]

The HWB league first began play in 1993. Funded by Major League Baseball the league drew players from the MLB, Nippon Professional Baseball, the Korea Baseball Organization, and independent leagues. Games were played in Hawaii from October to December.

The HWB league first folded after the 1997 season as it was too heavily reliant on its limited funding from MLB.

In 2006 the league returned for its sixth season. It was the only winter league to feature both top Japanese and American talent. However, this new league folded following the 2008 season when the contract with MLB had expired. MLB is now looking to establish a league in Arizona that would not challenge the competing Arizona Fall League.[1]