The league had started from the ashes of a pair of minor leagues in
1912 known as the Columbia League and the United States League
of Professional Baseball Clubs (USL).1 The
latter was immediately labeled an outlaw league. (Newly elected league
president William Witman stated "We will apply for protection under
the national commission, but we do not expect to get it. We want to show
that we are on the level... For one thing, we won't take contract
jumpers.")
The USL announcement on December 21, 1911 claimed teams would be in New
York, Brooklyn, Reading, Washington, and Richmond with possible franchises
in Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Buffalo. By the time the
schedule was finalized in April, teams were in Chicago, Cincinnati
(Pippins), Cleveland, New York (Knickerbockers), Reading, Richmond
(Rebels), Washington D.C. (Senators), and Pittsburgh.
The USL was a dismal failure. It began the season on May 1, 1912 and
was largely disbanded by the 30th of May with the Pittsburgh franchise on
top with a 16-8 record.2 William Whitman, the
president of the league and owner of the Richmond Rebels, filed for
bankruptcy the next day.
Though both the USL and the Columbian league folded, potential owners
unable to secure an American or National League club were easily found and
another attempt was made in early 1913. (For the record, Indianapolis won
the 1913 Federal League pennant with a 75-45 record.)
In August of 1913, the Federal League announced it was going to expand
eastward and followed it up on November 1st by declaring it would ignore
the reserve clause and sign major league stars. The real declaration of
war came on December 27th when league president John Powers announced that
well-healed Charles Weeghman was in charge of the Chicago franchise and
had secured Joe Tinker to manage it, Three Finger Brown would manage the
St. Louis club, and that a total of eight teams would be fielded.
Only 18 players jumped during 1913 (the AL and NL announced that
players that left their ballclubs would be banned for life), but over 200
did during the next two seasons. The various threats from Major League
officials led to a lawsuit being filed by the Federal League in January of
1915.
Although the Major Leagues refused to recognize the 1913 Federal League
as anything but an "outlaw" league, it is considered a minor
league by historians. The 1914-1915 FL is considered by Major League
Baseball to have been a major league.
Federal League
A rare picture of a
1913 Federal Leaguer: pitcher Tom McGuire.
1914 Season
Also in preparation for the 1914 season,
seven of the eight teams (Baltimore and Buffalo were new to the league)
had new stadiums built (or refurbished) within three months of one
another. The one in Chicago is the only one still standing (more on that
below).
The league was scheduled to field a team in Toronto after Bernard
Hepburn took over the Cleveland Green Sox after the 1913 season, but the
franchise was dropped on the same day (February 13, 1914) that the
Brooklyn team was added. The failure of the Toronto franchise was a
blessing in disguise as it brought new Brooklyn owner Robert Ward into the
league. Ward was well funded and, like Weeghman in Chicago, willing to
spend whatever it took to make the league a success.
Fans flocked to the novelty league at first, but the Boston
'Miracle' Braves of 1914 stole the thunder of the fledgling league and
attendance plummeted near the end of the season.
A month into the season, the Baltimore Terrapins were 17-7 with a St.
Louis and Chicago tied for second at 15-14, but the Terrapins only played
4 games over .500 the rest of the way. St. Louis collapsed and finished
with a league worst 62-89 record. The inaugural season came down to
the final day (October 6, 1914). Chicago
was 87-66 and Indianapolis was
87-65. Indianapolis beat St. Louis
and Chicago lost to Kansas City
to give Indy the pennant.
1915 Pennant Race - Closest Ever!
The second and final Federal League pennant race also came down to the
last day of the season. On October 3, the St.
Louis Terriers were in first place with a 87-66 record while the Chicago
Whales were one and a half games back in second at 85-65 and Pittsburgh
was two games back at 85-66. The Terriers, who controlled their own
destiny, lost to 4th place Kansas
City (playing the spoiler for the second straight season) opening the
door for Pittsburgh or Chicago, who were playing a each other in a
doubleheader. Chicago had won both games of a doubleheader the previous
day dropping Pittsburgh out of first. Pittsburgh would need both games to
pass St. Louis and won the first 5-4 in front of a crowd of 34,212 at what
is now called Wrigley Field. But they lost 3-0 in the "nightcap"
to allow the Whales to pull out an unlikely .001 percentage point victory
in the standings. This is the closest three major league teams have ever
finished to one another.
Even a close pennant race was not enough to keep the league out of the
red and even as the Federal League both contracted (disbanding the Kansas
City and Buffalo franchises on November 9th), expanded into Manhattan
(with a proposed 55,000 seat stadium) and continued to raid both PCL and
major league rosters, they also held secret peace negotiations with the
National League.
Peace in Our Time
On December 22, 1915, owners and officials for the American
League and National League finally came to
terms with Federal League officials and agreed that the FL teams will
retain their players for the purpose of selling them to the highest
bidders and that they would buy out the Brooklyn FL owners for a reported
$400,000. It also gave immunity to all Federal Leaguers who jumped
contracts, though those plump outlaw league contracts were not honored.
Two FL owners were also allowed to buy existing Major League franchises
(the Chicago Cubs and the St.
Louis Browns) and those two owners were allowed to keep as many of
their players as they wanted. Most of the FL players were eventually
re-absorbed back into Major League Baseball. (There is more to this story.
Check out the Baltimore Terrapins
page.)
Very little of the Federal League, besides the official records and a
landmark Supreme Court ruling, remains today. Newark was able to make
use of their FL ballpark for a time, but only two FL parks lasted for as
many as three decades and most did not survive into the 1920s. The
Baltimore Terrapins, whose ownership spent most of the next seven years
fighting all the way to the Supreme Court, sold Terrapin
Park to the Baltimore Orioles of the International League. It was a
fire that destroyed this park in 1944 that led indirectly to Major League
baseball returning to Baltimore.
Federal
League
Opening day parade
for the Chicago Whales, courtesy of the
Library of Congress.
After Charles Weeghman purchased the Cubs, Weeghman
Park became home to the Chicago Cubs. It was later renamed Wrigley
Field a few years after William Wrigley purchased the club in 1919. Marc
Okkonen's excellent book
on the Federal League refers to Wrigley Field as a "silent
monument" to the Federal League. It has not escaped notice that the
Federal League itself was unsuccessful and that the only championship team
to play in that stadium was the 1915 Chicago Whales. Maybe the Cubs luck
has nothing to do with the goat after all!
NOTES: 1. An earlier outlaw league also called the United
States league was set to break the color line as early as 1910. The
founders announced on February 12, 1910 that the league would have teams
in Boston, Providence, Brooklyn, Newark, Trenton, Paterson, Philadelphia
and Baltimore. The league announced that it would allow players of any
color to play. This unfortunately did not actually happen as the Baltimore
owners balked at the inclusion of blacks in the league (the league's
reaction was to move the Baltimore team to New York or Massachusetts). 2. The January 13, 1913 Los Angeles Times states
about the 1912 United States League, "It will be remembered that it
came to a sad end in the summer, though some teams continued to play ball
until the cold weather."
Have any questions about the Federal League? Want to add to the league's story by sharing your recollections? Want to leave a comment about this article? Check out our Federal League forums!
--Patrick Mondout
FEDERALS
Chicago Whales' owner Charles Weeghman, Federal League President James Gilmore, and Whales player/manager Joe Tinker in 1914.
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