[ArquimedezPozo]

The success of the Federal League in 1915 turned heads around baseball. They drew fans - around 240,000 on average, far short of the AL and NL but still respectable. Walter Johnson's Whales drew 390,000 to Weeghman in 1915, more than 50% higher than the last place Cubs, and even the lowest attendance FL team, Milwaukee's Brewers, outdrew the three lowest attendance AL clubs, the Athletics, Browns, and Senators. It escaped no one's notice that two of those clubs lost premium talent to the Federals before 1915.

And that exodus continued. While the Federal League continued to mostly pull from minor and independent leagues, additional stars came over in the 1915-1916 offseason.

The first of these was the irascible but endlessly popular Napoleon 'Nap' Lajoie, who at 41 had just been forced into retirement by the miserly Connie Mack. Lajoie's heart was still in the game, though, and when the last place Kansas City Packers of the Federal League came knocking, Lajoie gave them a shot.

Catcher Roger Bresnahan had been released by the Cubs toward the end of 1915, despite serving as manager in addition to his playing duties. The Whales saw a chance and signed him early in the offseason, not missing a chance to try to cut further into the Cubs' fanbase.

But Lajoie and Bresnahan were at the end of their careers, looking for a final shot. The Federals had signed such players before. It was when the Red Sox tried to sell Tris Speaker - winner of the 1915 AL MVP and one of the best to ever play the game, a level contract after he nearly took them to the championship that everything changed.

The Baltimore Terrapins had finished 71-83 in 1915, 17 games out of first. But Baltimore was a great baseball town, and the largest in the country without a Major League franchise until the Federal League came along, and they were willing to bank on the league's continued success. They heard rumblings from Boston early, and swooped in before Speaker's contract dispute was public knowledge. By the New Year, they'd gotten his signature on the largest contract yet signed by any ballplayer: five years, $75,000. The move not only took another of the AL's brightest stars, it sent a message: the Federal League wasn't going away any time soon.

So 1916 dawned with the established leagues facing their greatest crisis in a dozen years. As reserve clause conflicts resulted, more and more, in major losses, a few owners began to whisper that perhaps, to save their leagues, they would have to give the players more power...

Historical Note: in reality, Tris Speaker had a good but not great 1915, and the Red Sox tried to get him to agree to a pay cut. When Speaker refused, he was traded to Cleveland. Speaker's performance in game during 1915 made that storyline impossible, so a few changes were made here. The Nap Lajoie and Roger Bresnahan stories are true up until the Federal League got involved. Real 1915 attendance figures were used above for the AL and NL.