Federal League

Federal League

By Patrick Mondout

The Federal League (FL) was a short-lived attempt to start a third major league to compete with the American and National Leagues in the mid-1910s.

At a glance... FEDERAL LEAGUE League Facts Established 1913 (as Federal League) 1914 (as a major league) Disbanded 1915 President John T. Powers (1913) James A. Gilmore (1914-15) Clubs Baltimore Terrapins (1914-1915) Brooklyn Tip Tops (1914-1915) Buffalo Blues (1914-1915) Chicago Whales (1913-1915) Cleveland Green Sox (1913)* Covington Blue Sox (1913)** Indianapolis Federals (1913-1914)*** Kansas City Packers (1913-1915) Newark Peppers (1915) Pittsburgh Filipinos/Rebels (1913-1915) St. Louis Terriers (1913-1915) * Disbanded ** (moved to KC in June 1913) ***(moved to Newark in 1915) Pennants 1914 Indianapolis Federals 1915 Chicago Whales

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.")

See also: Federal League Stadiums, 1914 Attendance, Other Defunct Leagues.

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.

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."

Federal League sources/bibliography:
The Federal League of 1914-1915 by Marc Okkonen.
The Formation, Sometimes Absorption and Mostly Inevitable Demise of 18 Professional Baseball Organizations, 1871 to Present by David Pietrusza.
May the Best Team Win: Baseball Economics and Public Policy by Andrew Zimbalist.
Total Baseball: The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia by John Thorn, et al.