The Western League of 1939-41 was a low-level American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 circuit in Minor League Baseball

Minor league baseball

Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...

. The Class D league was born when the Nebraska State League

Nebraska State League

The Nebraska State League was an American professional baseball league with five incarnations. At least, the name was adopted five times: in 1892, from 1910 to 1915, from 1922 to 1923, from 1928 to 1938 and from 1956 to 1959....

 changed its identity after the season. It is not related to the Class A Western League

Western League (defunct minor league)

The Western League is a name given to several circuits in American minor league baseball. Its earliest progenitor, which existed from 1885 to 1899, was the predecessor of the American League...

 of 1900-37 and 1947-58, a higher-level league that suspended operations during the latter years of the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 through World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

The 1939-41 Western League included teams based in Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

, South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 and Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

. After the United States entered the war, the league did not answer the bell for and was succeeded by its Class A namesake in . The Nebraska State League was revived as a Class D circuit from 1956-59.

Member clubs

• Cheyenne Indians
• Denver Bears
• Lincoln Links
  Lincoln Links
  The Lincoln Links were a Western League and Nebraska State League baseball team based in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. They were affiliated with the St. Louis Browns from 1938 to 1939....
  
  
• Mitchell Kernels
• Norfolk Elks
  Norfolk Elks
  The Norfolk Elks were a Nebraska State League , Tri-State League and Western League baseball team based in Norfolk, Nebraska, USA. They were affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees ....
  
  
• Norfolk Yankees
  Norfolk Yankees
  The Norfolk Yankees were a Western League baseball team based in Norfolk, Nebraska, USA that played from 1940 to 1941. They were affiliated with the New York Yankees.Jim Dyck is the only know major leaguer to play for the team....
  
  

• Pueblo Rollers (Champions, 1941)
• Sioux City Cowboys
• Sioux City Soos (Champions, 1939)
• Sioux Falls Canaries (Champions, 1940)
• Worthington Cardinals