Original Northern League incarnations (pre-1993)
A foremost Northern League was formed around 1902, but folded within 1905. Occasionally of its member teams joined a Northern Copper Country League in a following month, so joined the Central International League in 1912. This league was renamed the Northern League a as a result season, however a league once more disbanded because of a want of workforce in the period of World War I.

A league did non re-emerge until 1933. It did non work in the period of 1943, 1944 and 1945 because of a want of workforce in the period of World War II, and eventually folded once againside in 1971.

Modern Northern League (1993-)
A todays incarnation was created within 1993 through the efforts of the first commissioner Miles Wolff. Wolff began the league fallowing numbers of midwestern cities contacted him (across his affiliation using Baseball United states of america) request how else it may develop a minor league team. When camping a few of the two, virtually all notably Wade Stadium within Duluth, he started contacting likely owners to run a league.

A league began within 1993 sustaining Sestet teams: Duluth-Superior Dukes (Duluth, Superior WI), Rochester Aces (Rochester, Minnesota), St. Paul Saints (St. Paul, Minnesota), Sioux Falls Canaries (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), Sioux City Explorers (Sioux City, Iowa) and Thunder Bay Whiskey Jacks (Thunder Bay, Ontario). A prospects for the league were originally "cloudy." Several estimated an early dying especially around St. Paul in which competition using a Minnesota Twins lead many local sportswriters to assume it the "beer league."

As a matter of fact a league was, overall, quite an profits using sole of these franchise, Rochester, failing to attract important crowds. A under the weather Aces franchise was sold to an creator around Winnipeg, Manitoba (Sam Katz) and renamed a Winnipeg Goldeyes.

A share of the profits of the league is the structure of the teams by having each wage caps & roll system. Teams come permitted those days are gone than Four veterans (5+ years sales person own experience) & compulsory to keep close at hand at least when numbers of greenhorn. A rest of the roll come manufactured higher of players by having various years of own experience (enrolled when LS-1 to LS-Five for "limited service).

The league expanded from six to eight teams with the addition of franchises of the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (Fargo, North Dakota) and Madison Black Wolf (Madison, Wisconsin). After the 1998 season the Whiskey Jacks, originally with the second best attendance in the league, was sold and became the Schaumburg Flyers (Schaumburg, Illinois) in 1999.

In 1999 its eight teams merged with the Northeast League, which had begun in 1995. During these years the original Northern League franchises made up the Northern League Central and the Northeast League teams became the Northern League East. In 2002 expansion in the Central added the Joliet JackHammers (Joliet, Illinois) and Gary SouthShore RailCats (Gary, Indiana).

When the four-year agreement ended at the conclusion of the 2002 season the relationship was ended the Northeast League was reestablished as a separate league (which later refomred as the Can-Am League). It was the final year that Miles Wolff remained associated with his creation. Mike Stone replaced him as league commissioner.

During this same period two more teams struggling with attendance and difficult stadiums relocated. In 2001, the Madison Black Wolf became the Lincoln Saltdogs (Lincoln, Nebraska) while in 2003 the Duluth-Superior Dukes became the Kansas City T-Bones (Kansas City, Kansas).

In 2004 expansion to Alberta was announced creating the Calgary Vipers (Calgary) and Edmonton Cracker-Cats (Edmonton) doubling the size of the league over 12 years.

After the 2005 season, the St. Paul Saints, Sioux Falls Canaries and Lincoln Saltdogs left the Northern League to establish their own independent minor league. The new league hopes to play interleague games with the remaining Northern League teams. Following that, on October 4th, 2005, the Sioux City Explorers also ended their membership in the league.

Over 12 seasons over two dozen players have been signed from the Northern League to play in major league baseball. These include players such as J. D. Drew, Kevin Millar, Jeff Zimmerman, and Rey Ordoñez. Several former MLB players have played in the league including Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd, Darryl Strawberry, Jack Morris, Pedro Guerrero, and Leon "Bull" Durham. Former MLB players and coaches have also coached or managed in the Northern League including Hal Lanier, Wayne Terwilliger, Matt Nokes, and "Contaminated" Al Gallagher.

Member teams (2006)
Calgary Vipers *Edmonton Cracker-Cats *Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks *Gary SouthShore Railcats *Joliet JackHammers *Kansas City T-Bones *Schaumburg Flyers *Winnipeg Goldeyes

Former teams (1993-2005)
Rochester Aces (became Winnipeg Goldeyes 1994) Thunder Bay Whiskey Jacks (became Schaumburg Flyers 1999) Madison Black Wolf (became Lincoln Saltdogs 2001) Duluth-Superior Dukes (became Kansas City T-Bones 2003) Lincoln Saltdogs (left league after 2005 season) Sioux City Explorers (Left league after 2005 season) Sioux Falls Canaries (left league after 2005 season) St. Paul Saints (left league after 2005 season)

League champions (1902-)
1902 Winnipeg Maroons 1903 Winnipeg Maroons 1904 Duluth White Sox 1905 Duluth White Sox 1906 Calumet Aristocrats 1907 Winnipeg Maroons 1908 Brandon Angels 1909 Duluth Dukes 1910 Eau Claire Bears 1911 Superior Blues 1912 Winnipeg Maroons 1913 Winona Pirates 1914 Duluth White Sox 1915 Fargo-Moorhead Graingrowers 1916 Winnipeg Maroons 1917 Fargo-Moorhead Graingrowers 1918-1932 LEAGUE DID NOT OPERATE 1933 Superior Blues 1934 Fargo-Moorhead Twins 1935 Winnipeg Maroons 1936 Jamestown Jimmies 1937 Duluth Dukes 1938 Superior Blues 1939 Winnipeg Maroons 1940 Grand Forks Chiefs 1941 Wausau Lumberjacks 1942 Winnipeg Maroons 1943-1945 LEAGUE DID NOT OPERATE 1946 St. Cloud Rox 1947 Aberdeen Pheasants 1948 Grand Forks Chiefs 1949 Eau Claire Bears 1950 St. Cloud Rox 1951 Eau Claire Bears 1952 Superior Blues 1953 Fargo-Moorhead Twins 1954 Fargo-Moorhead Twins 1955 St. Cloud Rox 1956 Duluth-Superior White Sox 1957 Winnipeg Goldeyes 1958 Fargo-Moorhead Twins 1959 Winnipeg Goldeyes 1960 Winnipeg Goldeyes 1961 Aberdeen Pheasants 1962 Eau Claire Braves 1963 Grand Forks Chiefs 1964 Aberdeen Pheasants 1965 St. Cloud Rox 1966 St. Cloud Rox 1967 St. Cloud Rox 1968 St. Cloud Rox 1969 Duluth-Superior Dukes 1970 Duluth-Superior Dukes 1971 St. Cloud Rox 1972-1992 LEAGUE DID NOT OPERATE 1993 St. Paul Saints 1994 Winnipeg Goldeyes 1995 St. Paul Saints 1996 St. Paul Saints 1997 Duluth-Superior Dukes 1998 Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks 1999 Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs 2000 Adirondack Lumberjacks 2001 New Jersey Jackals 2002 New Jersey Jackals 2003 Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks 2004 St. Paul Saints 2005 Gary Southshore Railcats

League Sites
[http://www.northernleague.com/ Northern League web site] [http://www.nlfan.com/ nlfan.com (Northern League Fan) website]

Team Sites
[http://www.calgaryvipers.com/ Calgary Vipers website] [http://www.crackercats.ca/ Edmonton Cracker-Cats website] [http://www.fmredhawks.com/ Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks website] [http://www.railcatsbaseball.com/ Gary SouthShore RailCats website] [http://www.jackhammerbaseball.com/ Joliet JackHammers website] [http://www.tbonesbaseball.com/ Kansas City T-Bones website] [http://www.flyersbaseball.com/ Schaumburg Flyers website] [http://www.goldeyes.com/ Winnipeg Goldeyes website]

Former Team Sites
[http://www.superiorwi.us/dsdukes/ Duluth-Superior Dukes Tribute website]