GARY, IN. 11-13-2010 – The Gary SouthShore RailCats have been admitted to the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball for play in the 2011 season, it was announced today. Joining the RailCats moving from the Northern League are the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, Kansas City T-Bones and Winnipeg Goldeyes.

The move increases the number of teams in the American Association to 14 broken into three divisions: North, Central and South. The division winners and one wild card team will make the playoffs and both rounds will be best-of-five.

“This is a very exciting and significant day for our franchise and fans.” said RailCats Owner Pat Salvi, “The RailCats will look to strengthen an already strong league and have an incredible opportunity to extend the reach of the RailCats brand further than ever before.”

The RailCats will compete in the Central Division with Kansas City, Lincoln, Sioux City and Wichita. The North Division consists of Fargo-Moorhead, Sioux Falls, St. Paul and Winnipeg, while the South Division contains El Paso, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Pensacola and Shreveport-Bossier.

“It’s an exciting day for the American Association,” American Association Commissioner Miles Wolff said. “We’re adding four clubs that have excellent operations on and off the field, and it’s going to make us a very strong 14-team league.”

The four teams entering the American Association have combined to win the last six Northern League Championships including titles by the RailCats in 2005 and 2007.  The teams will compete over a 100-game schedule in 2011, with the complete schedule announced in the near future.