History of the Baseball Premier League

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This dynasty will chronicle the history of the Baseball Premier League in the United States. The point of divergence is an earlier formation of the National Association of Professional Baseball Players.

September 1870--Eight baseball clubs form the National Association of Professional Baseball Players (NAPBP) during a meeting in New York. The teams target Spring of 1871 as the first baseball game. in the National League

October 1870--10 additional baseball clubs request admittance to the NAPBP.

Early November 1870--All 10 clubs are rejected from admittance but with consideration for possible expansion after the initial 1871 season. The main reason for rejection is worry about increased travel costs to these more western teams. The owners of the 10 clubs are furious.

Late November 1870-- 8 of the 10 rejected clubs meet in St. Louis, MO and reach agreement in the formation of the Western National Association of Professional Baseball Players (WNAPBP).

Mid-December 1870--The NAPBP and the WNAPBP have very tense meetings for a week in Chicago, IL. Out of these meetings the two sides reach agreement to coexist in a larger league called the National Association League with NAPBP League known operationally as the Eastern League and the WNAPBP league known as the Western League. Additionally, both leagues agree to have their league winners play in a championship. League agrees to start play April 4th 1871 and play 144 games.

January 1871--Leagues codify baseball rules. A few articles start to appear in the New York Times as Eastern team owners start to criticize Western team owners for not agreeing to the balanced and shorter
84 game schedule.

Late January 1871--Bickering between leagues becomes a daily back and forth.

Early February 1871--The Eastern League receives 25 applications for admittance into the NAPBP after the 1871 season. They approve 8 applications.

Late February 1871--Western team owners are furious as they were not consulted before the NAPBP expanded and there is concern that the Eastern League will start expansion into Western League territory.
Western owners meet in St. Louis and request a joint meeting with the NAPBL in early March in Chicago.

March 1871--Joint National Association League meeting takes place. The first day of meetings are canceled as the owners brawled drunkenly in the hotel lounge.

1st week of March 1871--A week of meetings end with teams agreeing to meet every Spring and Winter to have open discussions about potential expansion areas. Additionally, the Eastern League compromises with the Western League and will not allow the newly admitted 8 teams to play in the Eastern League as long as an National Association Commissioner is from an Eastern League team. The teams approve on the Boston Beacons owner Ivers Whitney Adams as the new National Association League President, provided he divest his majority ownership of the Boston Beacons. Adams later sells enough of his ownership to own 49% of the Beacons.

As part of the Adams Compromise, the newly admitted 8 teams will remain part of the NAPBP but will not be allowed to actually play, nor are they allowed to play in direct competition.


2nd Week of March 1871--The 8 teams immediately plan to sue and in a three way compromise between the 8 teams in NAPBP purgatory, the NAPBP (Eastern League), the WNAPBP (Western League), a Junior Baseball Circuit is created that allows the 8 teams to play in. As part of the Junior Circuit compromise, the Western League immediately started seeking applications and pursuing potential owners to play in the Western League of the Junior Circuit. Teams in Junior Circuit contractually are given first consideration for possible expansion teams.
Junior Circuit teams will be allowed to start play in April.


3rd Week of March 1871--WNAPBP is vigorously pursuing potential owners with 7 of 8 teams approved and founded.

1st day of April 1871--Final team, the New Orleans Spiders is founded in the Junior Circuit.

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Teams of the National Association League

Eastern League
Baltimore Atlantics
Boston Beacons
Brooklyn Robins
New York Knights
Philadelphia Statesmen
Queens Green Dragons
Troy Haymakers
Washington Trojans

Western League
Chicago Captains
Cleveland Lakers
Ft. Wayne Deacons
Keokuk Corn Kings
Louisville Bourbons
Rockford Forest Cities
St. Louis Brown Shoes
St. Louis River Pilots

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Teams of the Junior Baseball Circuit

Eastern League
Elizabeth Singers
Hartford Dark Blues
Middletown Unions
New Haven Elm Cities
New York Giants
Philadelphia Aristocrats
Pittsburgh Alleghenies
Syracuse Stars

Western League
Cincinnati Showboats
Columbus Buckeyes
Dallas Bulls
Houston Black Sox
Indianapolis Blues
Kansas City Monarchs
Milwaukee Grays
New Orleans Spiders

[toxicavenger74]

"We had all these guys, kings in their own world, but here they are faced with the unknown, this game called baseball, they were scared, but you would never know."

-- Excerpt from the 1901 business book "Best Showboat In Town" by Hollis Davis, Owner of the Cincinnati Showboats



"On March 31st, I'm working on the docks for Shipbuilder Jeremy King, on April 1st I'm manager of the New Orleans Spiders for baseball owner Jeremy King. America is place of strange opportunity."

--Personal Diary of Miguel Herrera, 1st Manager of the New Orleans Spiders



"What isn't known, is that the Brown Shoes were originally not going to play in St. Louis, they only moved there after I put my foot down with the Eastern League owners during our December 1870 meeting. They wanted us to just wait on them, that the money would be better if we just waited on them to expand. I told them $%^&$#, that we formed the Western League and we were going to kick their !@#$%$ whenever we got the chance and the River Pilots at least were going to make their own way. A week later the Brown Shoes owner Tong Wang announces they are moving from Memphis to St. Louis to compete directly with the River Pilots. Why would they do that? They did that because Boston owner Ivers Adams and Cincinnati owner Hollis Davis heavily influenced him to do so. Was it a payoff, was it something else. Don't know. But It was payback time for me it looked like. Payback time for my loud Texan mouth and loud Texan attitude. But what they didn't realize was that every time we played them we were going come at them with the fury of God's own thunder "

--Excerpt from a speech given at that University of Texas Campus Opening, September 15th, 1883 by Gregory Hale--1st owner of the St. Louis River Pilots



"Hollis didn't much care for Hale, he blamed him for the Showboats exclusion from the initial formation of the Western League. But Hale's accusations of paying Tong Wang to move his team to St. Louis are ridiculous" --Excerpt from Cincinnati Inquirer 1899 Interview with Former Commissioner Ivers Whitney Adams

"I had somebody explain the game to me in between innings"--Dallas Morning Sun locker room interview with 1B Ernest Herbert of the Dallas Bulls, member of the Junior Baseball Circuit, Western League after the 1st game of the 1871 season.