Miles Wolff — League Executive

The father of modern independent baseball, Miles Wolff was an appropriate choice to be the inaugural member of the American Association Hall of Fame.

Wolff first rose to prominence in the early 1980’s, resurrecting the dormant Durham Bulls and in the span of a decade turned them into a nationally-known brand that broke attendance records and would be forever immortalized by 1988’s Bull Durham. After selling the Bulls in 1990, he turned his attention to independent baseball, founding the Northern League in 1993 as the first fully-independent circuit in professional baseball in decades.

He served as the Northern League’s commissioner from 1993-01, then did the same with the Central League from 2002-05 before being invited to helm the relaunch of the American Association for the 2006 season. Wolff presided over the AA from 2006 until his 2018 retirement, shepherding the league from a mere concept to the product we know and enjoy two decades later.

David Espinosa — Player

David Espinosa landed with the Grand Prairie AirHogs in 2008 after seven years in a pair of MLB organizations. In that first year in the American Association, Espinoza hit .310, earning one more shot at affiliated ball.

Returning to the AirHogs late in 2009, he hit .350 and was named an AA Postseason All-Star in 2010, then hit .324 the following year as the AirHogs claimed the AA title.

He continued to be productive after moving on to Lincoln in 2012-13, then finishing his career between Kansas City, Wichita, and St. Paul over the 2014-15 seasons.

Hanging it up after eight seasons in the American Association, Espinosa retired as the AA’s all-time leader in games (681), hits (801), runs (479), and triples (46); still holding the latter mark to this day.

Espinosa also hit .314 over his time in the Association, which saw him be selected to three All-Star Games and hoist the Miles Wolff Cup for the 2011 Grand Prairie AirHogs and 2014 Wichita Wingnuts; the only titles in both franchises’ histories.

Sam Katz — Team Executive

Rebuffed in two separate attempts to purchase Triple-A franchise and relocate them to Winnipeg in the early 1990’s, Katz turned his attention to the fledging Northern League, purchasing the struggling Rochester Aces after the league’s inaugural 1993 season and moved them to Manitoba for the ’94 campaign.

The Winnipeg Goldeyes were an immediate hit, winning the Northern League title and drawing record crowds, including an all-time independent baseball record 22,081 fans for a 1997 contest at old Winnipeg Stadium. After spearheading the construction of CanWest Global Park (now Blue Cross Park), the club set never-broken Northern League attendance records while continuing to post competitive teams and serve as a model organization.

After moving to the American Association in 2011, Katz’s club won the Miles Wolff Cup in 2012 and again in 2016 and ’17. More recently, he buoyed the franchise through turbulent 2020 and ’21 seasons, electing to take heavy losses by operating the Goldeyes as a road club despite not being able to play home games in Canada for nearly two full seasons due to COVID-19.

Hal Lanier — Manager

It is unusual for an established MLB manager to drop down to independent baseball and it’s even more unusual for them to be successful and stay long-term. Hal Lanier did that over a decade in Winnipeg.

A veteran of ten MLB seasons as a player, Lanier coached an additional ten years in the majors, highlighted by managing the Houston Astros from 1986-88, winning an NL West crown in ’86.

After his MLB job prospects dried up, Lanier came to Winnipeg in 1996 and was immediately successful, reaching the playoffs in his first eight seasons and making five trips to the league finals. He finished his tenure in Winnipeg with a 523-359 (.593) mark.

A winner of 1,681 games over 28 seasons managing (including 20 at the independent level), Lanier had his #22 retired by the Winnipeg Goldeyes on June 12, 2018.

Ben Moore — Player

Sioux Falls has long been viewed as a place where offense rules and pitchers go to die in hitter-friendly Sioux Falls Stadium. Ben Moore, though, proved it’s possible to pitch, and pitch well, in the Birdcage.

After two seasons in the New York Yankees system and three more in the Northern League, Moore arrived in Sioux Falls in 2008, winning 10 games and striking out 106 batters as the Canaries won their only league championship to date.

Moore soon took the reins as staff ace, winning 11 games in 2010, then posting his best season in 2012, going 13-4 with a 2.92 ERA and a league-high 144 strikeouts in 145.0 innings, earning American Association Pitcher of the Year honors. He continued to pitch for the Canaries through the 2014 season before retiring.

In his seven seasons in Sioux Falls, Moore won 55 games, logged 797.1 innings, and struck out 707 batters, all of which were league records at his retirement (and later surpassed) and are all Canaries franchise records.

Moore’ #25 was retired by the Canaries on July 14, 2018, at which time he was in the midst of a three-year run (2017-19) as the Sioux Falls pitching coach.

Curt Smith — Player

A native of Curucao, Smith arrived in Lincoln in 2011 after three seasons in the St. Louis Cardinals organization and promptly hit .335, earning him another affiliated shot over 2012-13. After being released again, he returned to Lincoln, only to re-join the Cardinals’ organization in 2014.

Out of affiliated ball once and for all, Smith went back to the Saltdogs in 2015 to begin a six-year run (eight years in all) in Lincoln that was interrupted only by Lincoln’s cancelled 2020 season. Smith was a rare longtime Indy ball stalwart who only played for one team, as he never suited up for another independent club besides Lincoln.

Smith played in 666 games for Lincoln, hitting .309 with 151 doubles, 96 home runs, and 441 RBI, earning Midseason and Postseason All-Star honors twice apiece.

Further showing his loyalty, after retiring in 2021, he remained in Lincoln, where he still resides to this day.

Jeff Bittiger — Player/Team Executive

Jeff Bittiger enjoyed parts of four seasons in the majors (fun fact: his lone MLB hit was a home run) and won the 1987 World Series with the Minnesota Twins, but the biggest impact of his 23-year playing career came in the independent ranks.

In the Northern League’s inaugural 1993 season, Bittiger arrived in Rochester, Minnesota and stayed with manager Doug Simunic for a decade, following him to Winnipeg (1994-95) and Fargo-Moorhead (1996-02) before finally throwing his final pitch at age 40.

Bittiger went 58-25 with a 3.60 ERA in his independent baseball career, including going 12-1 with a 1.94 ERA for the 1998 RedHawks, earning Northern League Pitcher of the Year honors. He also was honored as Baseball America’s Independent Player of the Decade for the 1990’s.

After retiring, he served as the RedHawks pitching coach in 2003, then transitioned into player personnel in 2004, the same year Fargo-Moorhead retired his #35. He continued in that role for the rest of his life, building four league championship rosters, most recently the 2022 Miles Wolff Cup championship team.

Bittiger tragically passed away due to cancer at age 63, just days before he was inducted into the American Association Hall of Fame at the 2025 All-Star Game in Fargo.

Rick Forney — Manager

Rick Forney finished his playing career with four excellent seasons (1997-00) in the Goldeyes rotation, winning 33 games and making two Postseason All-Star teams. Retiring after the 2000 season, he stayed on as fellow AA Hall of Famer Hal Lanier’s pitching coach for the next five seasons, then took over the reins from Lanier for the 2006 season.

Over the next 17 seasons, he led the Goldeyes to an 887-753 (.540) record. After a slow start to his managerial career that even led to public calls to oust or even demote him for Doug Simunic, Winnipeg stayed the course and Forney hit his stride when the Fish joined the American Association in 2011.

That season began a remarkable six-year run with five playoff appearances and Miles Wolff Cup titles in 2012 and again in 2016-17, making Winnipeg the first three-time champion in AA history.

After turbulent 2020-21 seasons where Forney kept the Goldeyes in the playoff race despite spending all of 2020 and most of ’21 on the road due to COVID-19 border restrictions, he led Winnipeg back to the postseason one more time in 2022 before stepping down that fall to helm the Atlantic League’s York Revolution. True to form, he has won two more championships and has yet to miss the playoffs in his first three years with the Revs.

Marv Goldklang — Team Administrator

While 2023 American Association Hall of Fame inductee Mike Veeck may have been the public-facing genius behind the meteoric rise of the St. Paul Saints, it was Marv Goldklang’s visionary ways behind the scenes that paved the way for the iconic franchise to flourish.

Goldklang was widely mocked and expected to quickly fail when he made the decision in 1993 to start an independent minor league team less than 15 miles from the Metrodome and Minnesota Twins, playing out of a ramshackle ballpark in an industrial park in St. Paul.

Undeterred, he (and minority owner Bill Murray) brought Veeck in to turn the Saints into an attraction never seen in minor league baseball to that point. Soon the club was packing Midway Stadium every night, winning three of the first four Northern League titles, and attracting players like Darryl Strawberry and Jack Morris.

He made the decision to take his Saints over to the fledging American Association in 2006, then spearheaded the construction of state-of-the-art CHS Field, which opened in 2015 in time for his club to set AA and independent baseball attendance records that still stand.

The ballpark put the Saints in position after the 2020 season to be invited as the new Triple-A affiliate of the Twins, leaving the American Association after an incredible 28 seasons of success at the independent level.

Dan Moushon — League Administrator

While Miles Wolff is (rightfully) considered the father of independent baseball, Dan Moushon may as well be the trusted uncle who you could always count on to lend a hand.

Joining the Northern League in 1994, Moushon worked under and alongside Wolff for nearly a quarter-century, including serving as President of the American Association from its founding in the fall of 2005 until his departure from the league in 2017.

He has continued to stay involved in baseball, serving as president of the Appalachian League since 2018 and guiding the league’s successful transition from an MLB-affiliated circuit to a collegiate summer baseball loop.

N. Bruce Thom — Team Administrator

Without “The General,” it’s possible there would’ve been no Newman Outdoor Field and no Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. Fargo was initially targeted as a potential site for the Northern League’s inaugural 1993 season, but the lack of a suitable ballpark ended those efforts.

Thom persevered, though, and was able to lead the effort to approve the construction of Newman Outdoor Field and the awarding of the RedHawks franchise for the 1996 season. Serving as the team’s president from it’s inception, he later led an effort to purchase the franchise in 2004.

He remained owner and chairman of the RedHawks for the rest of his life, presiding over the team’s move to the American Association in 2011 and all six of their championships, including the 2022 Miles Wolff Cup.

Thom died in January 2025, just a few months before he was inducted into the American Association Hall of Fame at the All-Star Game in the ballpark he was instrumental in building.

Jim Abel — Team Administrator

Fittingly with the All-Star Game in Lincoln, a man who is a critical reason for the Lincoln Saltdogs even existing will be inducted. Lincoln made a push to be one of the inaugural Northern League cities in 1993, but the failure to acquire funds to bring a local facility up to professional levels torpedoed those efforts.

However, Jim Abel was able to help secure a partnership between the city of Lincoln and the University of Nebraska to build Haymarket Park for the 2001 season, with his family’s construction company NEBCO playing a key role in building the facility.

Under his ownership, the Saltdogs enjoyed immediate financial and on-field success, reaching the Northern League Finals in their inaugural season and regularly ranking among the league’s attendance leaders.

After bringing his franchise over to the American Association to help found the league in 2006, the Saltdogs continued to enjoy tremendous success over the league’s first decade, culminating in the 2009 American Association championship.

Chris Coste — Player/Manager

A Fargo native, Chris Coste’s career led him to unimaginable heights, but it also led him back home, enjoying success both as a player and manager for his hometown Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks.

As a catcher, he was a mainstay in the RedHawks’ first four seasons (1996-99), hitting .322 with 44 homers and 221 RBI at catcher, being named a midseason and postseason All-Star in the Northern League three times each before finally earning the call to affiliated baseball.

He went on to reach the Major Leagues, making his MLB debut in 2006 at 33 years old and playing four seasons at the highest level. He served as the backup catcher on the Philadelphia Phillies’ 2008 World Series championship team and hit .272 over 299 career MLB games.

After retiring and briefly working in television for the Phillies, Coste returned to the RedHawks as hitting coach and bench coach in 2018, then moved into the manager’s chair in 2020 and has remaining in that role ever since. He has led Fargo-Moorhead to a 332-268 (.553) mark as of June 30, reaching the playoffs and finishing with a winning record in each of the last five seasons. He has piloted Fargo-Moorhead to the Miles Wolff Cup Finals twice, falling in 2021, but finishing the job by hoisting the Cup in 2022.

Nate Samson — Player

After eight years in the Chicago Cubs organization, Nate Samson first came to the American Association in 2013, signing with Winnipeg. After moving on to Sioux City the following season, he was signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks midseason and was back in affiliated ball for another season and a half.

Returning to the X’s once and for all in 2016, he immediately established himself as a star, slashing .350/.424/.483 with 30 doubles, six homers, 68 RBI, and 31 stolen bases, earning AA Player of the Year honors. He continued to star in 2017-18, hitting well over .300 and earning Postseason All-Star bids in both seasons.

After his 2013 campaign in Winnipeg, Samson spent 2014-19 and 2021-22 with the Explorers, with the 2020 campaign in St. Paul in between while the X’s were on hiatus for the season. He moved on to Lincoln at the tail end of 2022 and played the entire 2023 season for the Saltdogs, the final season in his 18-year career.

In ten years in the American Association, Samson played in 698 games, slashing .299/.351/.399 with 133 doubles, 38 home runs, and 405 RBI, while stealing 125 bases. He is second in AA history with 815 career hits and was a midseason and postseason All-Star three times each.