Lansing Senators

The Lansing Senators, based in Lansing, Michigan, take their name from the city's status as the Michigan state capital. The "Senators" name had already been used by earlier Lansing clubs, including an 1895 Michigan State League team that featured Hall of Famer Bud Fowler, one of the first Black professional baseball players, and a Southern Michigan League club that won the 1910 pennant, before the name was used again for the Class B Central League entry that played in 1921 and 1922.

In 1921, under managers Newt Hunter and Jesse Altenburg, Lansing finished well back of the pack, 21.5 games behind the pennant-winning Ludington Mariners in the six-team league. Pitcher Lawrence Reno led the Central League with 133 strikeouts that year.

Hunter returned alone as manager in 1922, and the Senators improved to 60-67, good for fifth place, though still 15.5 games behind Ludington. Lansing missed the playoffs, which the Grand Rapids Billbobs won over Ludington for the title. The Central League did not return to play in 1923.

The Senators name returned to Lansing once more in 1941, in the Michigan State League's final season, after a 19-year gap, before professional baseball left the city entirely until the Lansing Lugnuts arrived in 1996.

The Central League itself was a Class B circuit that ran, often sporadically, from 1903 into the 1930s (with a later 1948-51 revival), fielding teams mostly from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.