History -- The Federal League VI

Benny Kauff later signed with the Giants and enjoyed a handful of solid, though not spectacular seasons before being banished from the game (he was charged with auto theft, acquitted by the court and was banished anyway because Landis figured that he was probably guilty, he handled the Joe Jackson matter with similar “logic”).

Promising hurler Russ Ford never played in another major league game after the Feds closed up shop. Chifed pitcher Claude Hendrix who led the league in wins in 1914 with 29 victories won 20 with the Cubs in 1918, yet despite that his post Federal League ledger read 57-61. Gene Packard who won twenty in both his Federal league seasons won only 37 more while pitching in the N.L.

Tom Seaton who in his first two National League and one Federal League campaign was a fine 68-38 went 25-27 thereafter before he too was blacklisted. George Suggs who won twenty in 1910 with the Reds and 24 in 1914 with the Baltimore Feds won 11 the following year, again with

Roush: Only HOFer that debuted in FL

Baltimore and never threw a pitch in the majors again.

Federal League slugger Edward Zwilling played in only 35 games with the Cubs following a superlative Federal League career batting an anemic .113.

By in large, the majority failed to make any real contribution back in the organized baseball fold, but there were exceptions. Jack Tobin, who began his major league career with the Federals went on to play through 1927 accumulating a lifetime batting mark of .309. Tobin topped 200 hits in four consecutive seasons (1920-1923) garnering 236 hits in 1921. If you never heard of him it is probably because he spent the large part of his career with the moribund St. Louis Browns.

The real jewel of the Feds was unquestionably Edd Roush. He, like Tobin debuted in the Federal League, however unlike Tobin, you will find Roush’s visage gracing the Hall-of-Fame.

There has been much debate whether the Federal League should be considered a major league or not. Hall-of-Fame baseball chronicler Fred Lieb felt that it wasn’t, and the quality of players would seem to add credibility to his claim. Despite all the ink generated by the “player raids” that the Feds inflicted on organized baseball, the majority of players signed by the Feds were of about AAA level. Still the same argument cam be made against the maiden seasons of Ban Johnson’s American League, still it is considered a major league.

The most telling factor in this controversy was the attitude of the fans of that era. In Baltimore, Kansas City, Buffalo, and Indianapolis the Federal League inflicted great damage to the International League and American Association franchises, these leagues being what is now known as Triple A.

Why?

The fans in those cities viewed the Federal League as “major league baseball’ so for the purpose of this article, we’ll let the fans’ decision stand.

So was the Federal League just another failed league? Not necessarily. The Federal League wasn’t brought down because it was poorly organized and financed. It should not be classified along with the United States League, the Colombian League or the Continental League. Why? First, the timing was wrong.

The American League, had just come on the scene less than two decades

Rickey: Tried to emulate Feds

previously. The Federal League couldn’t do anything about World War I and the death of Robert Ward was untimely as well. One of the greatest arguments that a third league would have been viable is that it has been attempted since. In retrospect, various parties have looked back on the Federal League experience and realized that it was merely victimized by bad timing and other circumstances.

So they have been embolden to try again. Since the Federal League withered fourteen teams have been added to the major league fold. The Sporting News of November 23rd 1944 ran an article which stated:

“Insistence by Clarence Rowland, Pacific Coast League president, that his loop soon should assume major league status, and the recent outburst of Bill Klepper, Portland business manager, expressing belief the Pacific Coast League should demand recognition as a third major or become an outlaw circuit, ...”

That is to say, again, just like the Feds, operate outside organized baseball. This too, was not a hare brained scheme. Ponder for a moment; many in that era considered the PCL as the west coast version of the majors, there are major league teams now out west; the Seattle Mariners, the California Angels, the Oakland A’s the San Diego Padres, the San Francisco Giants, the Los Angeles Dodgers, right there you have a major league operating strictly on the west coast!

Branch Rickey’s Continental League forced the first round of expansion in 1961-1962. When the Dodgers and Giants pulled up stakes and went west, there was much discussion about forming a new major league so a second big league team could be placed in New York City. In the New York Daily News, November 14th 1958 carried the headline:

“New York is going to promote a third major baseball league. Stymied in its efforts to get a National League team to return to the city, the mayor’s baseball committee, headed by Bill Shea yesterday announced it would begin immediately to attempt formation of a new major league.”

They were looking to place teams in Houston, Fort Worth, Dallas (three in Texas!), Toronto, Atlanta, Denver, Miami, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Detroit, and several west coast cities. Interestingly, the committee felt that they could operate this “new league” outside organized baseball ... just as the Feds did! The concept had considerable support from politicians in New York City, still miffed by Walter O Malley’s and Horace Stoneham’s west coast defections. Democratic representative of Brooklyn Emanuel Celler said:

“I hope they can get a third league started, it would inject some competition into baseball’s present monopoly.”

By the way, Celler was chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee that was investigating baseball’s anti trust immunity and considering remedial legislation. Branch Rickey chimed in:

“America is ready for a third major league, the cities are there, the population is there and the desire is there.”

Rumors of player raids were reawakened. We do well to ask ourselves that why any discussions were necessary unless they felt that the Federal League just might have succeeded had circumstances had been different? That maybe, just maybe, a third major league might succeed. So, eighty years after the league went under, its spirit lives on. Back in 1996 there was discussion of a new majors ... the United Baseball League ... once again the specter of player raids have risen from the dead, and in eighty years the question remains unanswered:

“Can a third major league survive?”

Only time will tell.