Cambridge Canners

The Cambridge Canners, based in Cambridge, Maryland, were one of two charter franchises (along with Salisbury) to field a team in all 16 active years of the Eastern Shore League. They played as the Canners from 1922 to 1928 and again in 1940 to 1941, as the Cambridge Cardinals (a St. Louis Cardinals affiliate) from 1937 to 1939, and as the Cambridge Dodgers (a Brooklyn Dodgers affiliate) from 1946 to 1949. The Canners nickname reflects Cambridge's longtime seafood and produce canning industry on the Eastern Shore.

Jake Flowers got his professional start with the 1922 Canners, leading the league in home runs (14) and runs scored (50); he went on to a major league playing career and later managed the 1937 Salisbury Indians to a pennant, earning Sporting News Minor League Manager of the Year. Future Yankees outfielder George Selkirk, who took over right field after Babe Ruth's retirement, played for Cambridge in 1927.

After World War II, Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey personally invested in a new ballpark for Cambridge, helping convince other major league clubs to reinvest in the Eastern Shore League. The 1949 Cambridge Dodgers were the first professional team for a young Don Zimmer, who remained in a baseball uniform in some capacity until his death in 2014. His Cambridge teammate Joe Pignatano also reached the majors and went on to a long career as an MLB coach.

The Eastern Shore League was a Class D league that ran on the Delmarva Peninsula across three separate stretches: 1922 to 1928, 1937 to 1941, and 1946 to 1949, with teams drawn from Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia.