USBL History Starting in 1885

[RyMACtizzle]

After the success of the Omaha Jacks moving to San Francisco, the USBL began to have more teams move further west. By 1915, there were two teams in Texas and three teams on the Pacific coast. Between 1910 and 1915, five teams relocated to cities further west. This caused realignment in the conferences with Cincinnati and Cleveland both moving to the Atlantic Baseball Conference.

Current USBL (as of Jan 1st, 1915)

ATLANTIC BASEBALL CONFERENCE
Eastern Division
Baltimore Crabbers
Boston Green Sox
Brooklyn Braves
Buffalo Blues
New York Generals (formerly the New York Dukes)

Western Division
Cincinnati Lookouts
Cleveland Grays
Philadelphia Federals
Pittsburgh Steel Miners
Washington Capitals


PACIFIC BASEBALL CONFERENCE
Eastern Division
Chicago Kings
Chicago Mallards
Detroit Buzzards
Minneapolis Trappers (Newark High Points relocate to Minneapolis in 1915, four years after the Millers left town)
St. Louis Americans

Western Division
Dallas Mustangs (Kansas City Mustangs relocate to Dallas in 1913)
Houston Outlaws (Philadelphia Gents relocate to Houston in 1915)
Seattle Tides (Minneapolis Millers relocate to Seattle in 1911)
Los Angeles Blue Sox (Milwaukee Blue Sox relocate to Los Angeles in 1914)
San Francisco Redwoods

[RyMACtizzle]

CUBAN LEAGUE OF PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL
Camaguey Lions
Matanzas Tigers
Oriente Scorpions
Pinar Del Rio Captains
Habana Metros
Santa Clara Pirates

League Notes: Bayamo Fighters merged with Oriente Scorpions after 1910 season. Cienfuegos Devils fold after 1910 season


AMERICAN BASEBALL FEDERATION
New Orleans Pelicans
Louisville Reds (Brooklyn Atlantics relocated to Louisville, KY in 1906)
Hartford Dark Blues (Providence Grays relocated to Hartford, CT in 1905)
Indianapolis Athletics
Toledo Patriots
San Diego Seals(joined in 1911)

League Notes: Texas Colt 45's relocate to Omaha and are renamed Omaha Plainsmen. The team folds after the 1914 season along with the Denver Gold Sox. The Newark Cannons and the Rochester North Stars both folded after the 1910 season.


CANADIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE
Eastern Division
Montreal Saints
Toronto Northmen
Ottawa Governors
Quebec Capitales
Windsor Royals
Toronto Red Leafs (joined from Canadian Association in 1918)
Gatineau Vikings (joined from Canadian Association in 1918)
Nova Scotia Harbours (joined from Canadian Association in 1918)

Western Division
Hamilton Bears
Vancouver Cougars
Manitoba Buffaloes
Edmonton Explorers
Calgary Bows
British Columbia Monarchs (joined from Canadian Association in 1918)
London Rebels (joined from Canadian Association in 1918)
Saskatchewan Walleyes (joined from Canadian Association in 1918)

League Notes: Six teams from the semi-professional Canadian Association joined the CBL as professional full-time teams. The Canadian Association did not allow for its use, likeness or property to be used outside of Canada, so I was not allowed to post any of the history of the Canadian Association on this forum.



ENGLISH BASEBALL ASSOCIATION

English Champions League (formed from the original English Baseball League in 1917)
Birmingham Saints
Bristol Greys
Chelsea Flames
Leicester Kings (join in 1912)
LIverpool Cormorants
Manchester Lions
Middlesex Royals
Newcastle Falcons (join in 1912)
Sheffield Giants
Whitechapel Bulls

English Baseball League (formed as a new league in 1917)
Bradford Bowries
Bromley Bears
Cornwall Britons
Grimsby Dark Blues
North Yorkshire Bulldogs
Nottingham Stags
Southampton Harbours
Sunderland Sparrows
Tottenham Giants
West Yorkshire Blues

Association Notes: The English Baseball Association is formed with the addition of 10 new teams joining as a promotion-relegation system for English professional baseball. The English Baseball League and its history are renamed the English Champions League as the top tier of the EBA pyramid. A new English Baseball League is formed as the second-tier in the EBA pyramid. The 10 new teams make up the EBL in its first year. Each year 2 teams are relegated from the ECL and 2 teams are promoted from the EBL.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

Omaha Jacks / San Francisco Redwoods only won three overall titles between 1900 and 1909 in your dynasty, RyMACtizzle, not four. They were in the overall finals four times, but only won three times in that time span, it seems. Just so you know. CD out.

[RyMACtizzle]

I have the Omaha Jacks winning in 1901, 1903, 1904, and 1909 and losing in 1906. Am I not seeing this correctly or is there some where else I have it wrong?

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

Okay, I'll check again, may not have seen one of the franchise's names, or noticed it, in the related screenshot, somehow. If I was mistaken, as I often am about many things in my life, then I apologize for thinking that way here. I don't always notice certain things right away easily, unfortunately. CD out.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

Okay, I saw three Omaha wins and one San Francisco win. That probably threw me off here, somehow. Happens sometimes when I see things that I mix up certain things, to be sure. Probably that's at least partly, if not entirely, due to my Asperger's Syndrome, I think. CD out.

[RyMACtizzle]

There were a lot of changes to the baseball landscape in 1920 in the United States. The United States Baseball Hall of Fame inaugurates its first class and breaks ground on a facility in Washington, D.C. Since it was America's game, the thought was the HOF should be in America's Capital. The U.S Baseball Hall of Fame will eventually move to fifth floor of the Smithsonian Museum of American Sports in 1965.

Also, changing the landscape of baseball in America, the USBL founds the American Baseball Association, a new baseball association to use a development environment for its teams. It is classified as Class A, under the premise it is a minor league compared to the major league status of the USBL. The American Baseball Association's Class A is made up of 3 independent leagues, the Atlantic League, the Southern League and the Western Baseball League.

Showing the growth of the sport in the United States, the Association of Collegiate Athletics (ACA) begins to loosely organize the sport of baseball at the collegiate level. There is no end of year tournament, but competition between schools is now commonplace. The ACA will eventually be replaced by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1950 and the first postseason tournament will be held, the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.


Current Universe Layout - 144 teams

USBL - 20 teams

Cuban League - 8 teams

Canadian Baseball League - 14 teams

English Champions League - 10 teams

English Baseball League - 10 teams

American Baseball Federation - 4 teams

American Baseball Association - Class A - 20 teams

Association of Collegiate Athletics - 54 teams

[RyMACtizzle]

Atlantic League
Buffalo Lions (Baltimore Crabbers)
Jersey City Aces (Cleveland Grays)
New Haven Robins (Seattle Tides)
Newark Cannons (Brooklyn Braves)
Providence Bluebirds (Houston Outlaws)
Rochester Explorers (NY Generals)
Syracuse Bears (St. Louis Americans)
Worcester Admirals (San Francisco Redwoods)



Southern League
Atlanta Blue Sox (LA Blue Sox)
Louisville Rebels (Chicago Mallards)
New Orleans Pelicans (Providence Lookouts)
Richmond Generals (Detroit Buzzards)



Western Baseball League
Akron Stallions (Dallas Mustangs)
Columbus Kings (Chicago Kings)
Denver Miners (Pittsburgh Steel Miners)
Indiana Racers (Buffalo Blues)
Milwaukee Coyotes (Boston Green Sox)
Omaha Tigers (Minnesota Trappers)
Portland Warriors (Philadelphia Federals)
Toledo Patriots (Washington Capitals)

[RyMACtizzle]

Ivy League
Brown Bears
Columbia Lions
Cornell Big Red
Dartmouth Big Green
Harvard Crimson
Penn Quakers
Princeton Tigers
Yale Bulldogs



Patriot League
Army Black Knights
American Univ Eagles
Boston Univ Terriers
Fordham Rams
George Washington Colonials
Holy Cross Crusaders
Navy Midshipmen
The Citadel Bulldogs



Missouri Valley Conference
Drake Bulldogs
Iowa State Cylcones
Kansas Jayhawks
Kansas State Wildcats
Missouri Tigers
Nebraska Cornhuskers
Oklahoma Sooners
Oklahoma A&M Cowboys (will become Oklahoma State)



Southern Conference
Arkansas Razorbacks
Auburn Tigers
Clemson Tigers
East Carolina Pirates
Florida State Seminoles
Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Kentucky Wildcats
Maryland Terrapins
Mississippi A&M Aggies (will become Mississippi State)
Mississippi Rebels
Mississippi Southern Southerners (will become Southern Miss)
South Carolina Gamecocks
Tulane Green Wave
Virginia Cavaliers



Western Conference
Illinois Fighting Illini
Indiana Hoosiers
Iowa Hawkeyes
Michigan Wolverines
Minnesota Golden Gophers
Northwestern Wildcats
Ohio State Buckeyes
Purdue Boilermakers
Wisconsin Badgers

[RyMACtizzle]

Pacific Coast Conference
California Golden Bears
Oregon Ducks
Oregon State Beavers
Stanford Indians
Washington Huskies
Washington State Cougars


NOTES: I tried to go back and look at older nicknames and official school names. Also, I know not all of the conferences were as they were in 1920, but for the most part I tried to get as close as I could while still staying relatively small in teams. Teams play an unbalanced schedule outside of their conference, but they should all play the same amount of conference games. Teams play anywhere from 20 to 30 games. There will be a small number of new conferences and teams added until there is around 100 teams by 1950. Currently, there are 54 teams recognized by the ACA. By 1980, there will be around 170 teams and most of the current conferences in their 1980s form. Then the first batch of realignment in 1995. Followed by another round of major realignment in 2010, and finally the current conference changes getting ready to take place in 2024.

I also went in and tried to find the name of the stadiums that the teams played in in 1920. Suprisingly, there is not a lot of info on college baseball history prior to 1950. So, in some cases I made up the name or used the name of the 1930-1960 stadium names.

I use Roto's and TXRangers uniforms for most of the college stuff. TXRanger has a bunch of vintage logos and uniforms I use until 1980. Then I switch to more modern uniforms using Rotos. Check their stuff out, it's incredible.

[RyMACtizzle]

1925
USBL expansion to 24 teams.
American Baseball Federation ceases operations
English Baseball League expands to 16 teams


1930
USBL adds a second level of minor leagues, Class B
National Baseball League is formed as the third-tier of English Baseball Association with 20 teams.
ACA adds the Southwest Conference with 6 teams.


1935
Cuban League expands to 10 teams
Japan Professional League is founded with 8 teams.
National Baseball League of Mexico is founded with 8 teams.
ACA adds the Southeastern Conference with 6 teams breaking off from the Southern Conference and 4 new teams joining.

So by 1935, there will be around 225 teams in the universe.

[RyMACtizzle]

[RyMACtizzle]

Spurgeon "The Surgeon" Lewis
Dominated the hitters of the USBL every year for nearly two decades. He led the majors in strikeouts for twelve consecutive years. He won the Pitching Triple Crown in back-to-back years in 1903 and 1904. Lewis pitched only for the Washington Capitals during his USBL career. His individual success was rightfully earned as he only saw two winning seasons from the Capitals in his first 12 seasons. Washington was routinely one of the worst teams in the Atlantic Conference. At the end of his career, the Capitals began to have some success with back-to-back 100+ win seasons in 1914 and 1915, including taking home the 1914 American Cup. Spurgeon won the last of his Pitcher of the Year Awards at the end of the 1915 season, while helping the Capitals to another Western Division Title. The Pitcher of the Year Award was renamed in honor of him after his enshrinement in 1921.




Martin Parsons
Martin Parsons was considered one of the best hitters in the early years of professional baseball. He lead the league in at least three categories each year for 20 out of his 24-year career. He led the league in OBP eighteen times, Walks seventeen times, Runs Scored fourteen times, Stolen Bases twelve times. When he retired in 1919, he was the Career leader in Runs, Walks, Stolen Bases, On-Base Pct. and WAR. He was also in the Top 5 of five more career categories.




George Smolarek
George Smolarek is often considered the best hitter in baseball history. His much talked about determination and drive mostly came from trying to outdo his contemporary Martin Parsons. While they were not enemies by any stretch of the word, they were not friends either. Smolarek would not lead any statistical categories during the time Parsons was in the WBC from 1912-1917. At his inauguration speech, he mentioned how much this ate him during his playing days. Smolarek would have plenty to be proud about as he was the leader in nine different career batting statistics when his playing days were over, including Average, Home Runs, Hits, RBI. He also had the highest single season USBL batting average at the time of his enshrinement at .397.




Kasch Kurtz
"The King of K" was a dominant force in major league baseball's early history. In the ten year span from 1895 to 1904, there was not a more feared pitcher in baseball. Kurtz would win 5 Pitcher of the Year Awards in that span, while going 182-58 with 2,316 Strikeouts and ERA of 2.19. He led the Omaha Jacks to six titles in that span. His 1.24 ERA in 1897 is still considered the lowest single season ERA in major league history. He never had a losing record in any season as a starter, and would go on to finish his career with 270 wins and 3,376 strikeouts.




Kit Rigdon
"King Kit" was the first superstar of baseball. People would travel from hundreds of miles to see him play. His was a celebrity of the time, presidents would woo Rigdon in the hopes of an endorsement to help them with their popularity. Team owners would raise ticket prices when Rigdon and his Boston Baseball Club would come to town. He would lead the league in homeruns eight times throughout his career and finish with 392 for his career, the most all-time at the time of his retirement by nearly a hundred homeruns. While he was already 31 years old when the USBL was founded and on the downside of his career, he would still draw the largest crowds for opposing teams. Rigdon was still one of the best players in the USBL despite his age as he would go on to win Player of the Year in 1904 at the age of 35.

[darkcloud4579]

Astounding works on the csvs and your exports and the amount of detail you've invested here is mind blowing. Thanks for sharing it with us!