The American Association of Professional Baseball will welcome four new members to its Hall of Fame in 2023. Reggie Abercrombie, Ed Nottle, Doug Simunic and Mike Veeck will be officially inducted at the American Association Hall of Fame Luncheon on Tuesday, July 18 at Ballpark Commons in Franklin, WI. The luncheon is one of the events being held as part of the American Association All-Star Game being hosted by the Milwaukee Milkmen at Franklin Field and Ballpark Commons.
Get more information about the All-Star Game: 2023 American Association All-Star Game Information
Reggie Abercrombie
The first player to be inducted, Reggie Abercrombie spent 10 seasons with the Sioux Falls Canaries and the Winnipeg Goldeyes, winning championships in 2016 and 2017 with Winnipeg.
Entering the 2023 season, Abercrombie is the AAPB’s all-time leader in games played (781), runs scored (563), hits (936), home runs (146) and runs batted in (606). He ranks third with 174 career stolen bases with 174 and fifth with 145 career doubles.
Abercrombie had a 20-year professional career, including three seasons in the majors with the Florida Marlins and Houston Astros. He finished his career with over 2,400 hits, 300 home runs and 500 stolen bases. He was the 2016 winner of the American Association Scott Miller/Brian Rose Man of the Year award for his service in the Winnipeg community.
Ed Nottle
Ed Nottle joins the Hall of Fame after his long and successful career as both a manager and owner, piloting the Northern League’s Sioux City Explorers from 1993 to 2000 and again in 2006 and 2007 when the Explorers were members of the American Association. In 1998, Nottle put together an ownership group that purchased the franchise and he served as the managing partner and league director for the club for several seasons.
Nottle won 418 games over ten seasons with Sioux City. In addition, he managed independent clubs in Duluth, Minn.; Brockton, Mass.; and Ottawa, Ontario
Prior to his independent baseball career, Nottle managed in the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics organizations, including eight seasons at the Triple-A level. He was named Baseball America’s minor league manager of the year in 1983. He also played for ten seasons in the Chicago White Sox system.
Doug Simunic
Doug Simunic enters the Hall of Fame after a 25-year managerial career in the American Association and the Northern League. Simunic managed the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks from 1996 to 2017, as well as the Winnipeg Goldeyes in 1994-95 and Rochester (Minn.) Aces in 1993.
The former Triple-A catcher won six league championships (five with Fargo-Moorhead and one with Winnipeg), was named league Manager of the Year six times, and at the time of his retirement, he was the winningest manager in independent baseball history with 1,346 career regular-season victories.
Mike Veeck
Mike Veeck joins the Hall of Fame after owning independent baseball’s flagship club, the St. Paul Saints, and served as a director with the Saints in both the American Association and Northern League, for over 30 years. As a founding member of the first independent league, the Northern League, he set the course for independent leagues across America.
In 28 independent seasons, the Saints drew 7.7 million fans and won five league championships. Initially dismissed by the nearby Minnesota Twins upon their start in the Northern League in 1993, the Saints are now the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate at CHS Field, the team’s 7,000-seat stadium opened in 2015.
Veeck owned parts of six other minor league baseball clubs, with his “Fun is Good” philosophy becoming a major influence throughout the industry.
