The History of Every Major League

Including the American Association, Players League & Federal League

Aug 27, 2007

There have been many more than just two major leagues in baseball history. Here is a quick history of all six leagues that qualify as "major leagues."

The National Association of Professional Base Ball (NAPBB) was the first central organization to govern baseball in America. The Association held annual conventions from 1857 through 1870. The first convention consisted of representatives from sixteen teams from New York City. By the late 1860s, however, there were hundreds of member teams, all of whom at least agreed to play by the rules of the game as they were refined each season at the convention.

Although the NAPBB promoted the "way of the amateur," clubs occasionally paid elite players, and as the decade rolled on more and more professionals filtered into the game. In 1869, an Ohio law firm founded the first openly all-professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings. The Red Stockings went on tour, playing collegiate and other amateur teams during the summer of 1869, won 57 consecutive games, and collected record totals in gate receipts.

Although it was the first large central organizing body to govern baseball, the NAPPB was not a major league. That honor belongs to the next circuit on this list.

Due to the success of the Red Stockings, cities from around the country began forming professional teams to get in on the action.

In 1871, club owners from nine NAPBB teams formed a new league, called simply the National Association. The National Association lasted from 1871 through 1875 and is considered the first true professional baseball league.

In early 1876, William Hulbert, who owned the Chicago White Stockings, agreed with five other owners of National Association teams to form a new baseball league that would have greater ownership control, higher ticket prices, the best players and a franchise in every major city. They named the new enterprise the National League, and it consisted of eight teams:

Of these original teams, only two still remain in baseball today, albeit under different trading names. The White Stocking have long since become the Chicago Cubs, and the Boston Red Caps are now known as the Atlanta Braves (after several name changes and two major geographic moves.)

The American Association (AA) was founded by a number of brewery owners and other businessman who offered fans a different type of baseball from the National League. Known as the "Beer and Whiskey League," the AA offered cheaper ticket prices and abundant libations to their fans. The AA lasted 10 seasons and its champions played seven "World Series" against the NL champion. The League ultimately folded, however, partially because the teams lost fans to a rival third circuit, the Player's League.

The Players' League was a short-lived but star-studded professional league that emerged from the Brotherhood of Professional Base-Ball Players, the sport's first players' union.

Brotherhood members, led by future retail magnate John Montgomery Ward, left the National League and formed the Players League in 1890. Such 19th century greats as Hoss Radbourn, King Kelly, Ned Williamson and dozens of others bolted to the new circuit after their Brotherhood failed to change the lopsided player-management relationship of the National League.

The Players' League lasted just one season and folded. All of the greats that had fled the NL returned to the circuit in 1891. For the rest of the century, the National League enjoyed a complete monopoly over major league professional baseball.

During the 1890s and up to the 1900 season, however, a minor league known as the the Western League was responsible for filling major league rosters with the country's best baseball talent. Its president, Ban Johnson, apparently thought the league was really, really good because in January of 1901, he declared the Western League (re-named the American League) as a new major league ready to challenge the NL's monopoly.

The American League and National League eventually met in the first Modern World Series in 1903. The American League is, of course, still around today and has won 60 of those 102 Series.

This was another former minor league team that declared itself a big league ball club. In addition to starting play in 1914, the Federal League also filed suit against the two existing major leagues, alleging violation of the federal antitrust laws. The Federal League lasted only two seasons, then suffered a financial collapse even though it featured great major leaguers such as Joe Tinker, Eddie Plank, Jack Quinn, Three Finger Brown and Mysterious Walker.

The lawsuit had no better luck. The presiding Judge, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, dismissed the case. Four years later, he would be named the first Commissioner of Baseball.

The copyright of the article The History of Every Major League in Baseball is owned by James Lincoln Ray. Permission to republish The History of Every Major League in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.