1899-1901 American League Winter Meetings: War on the Horizon

October 11-12, 1899
Great Northern Hotel, Chicago

On October 11 and 12, 1899, the Western League held its annual meeting at Chicago’s Great Northern Hotel. After much discussion that was finally settled by a unanimous vote, the circuit chose a new name — the American League of Professional Baseball Clubs.

Though some balked at the idea — Charles Comiskey and Jim Manning chief among them — league President Ban Johnson was convinced a name change was necessary as the addition of Buffalo among their ranks after the 1898 campaign gave them a presence in the East.1 Johnson also cited confusion among many between the Western League and the Western Association, and asserted that his league’s scores were often ignored by newspaper editors who looked upon the Western League as a second-class sectional circuit.2

The meeting began with Johnson awarding the pennant to the Indianapolis Hoosiers, who edged out the Minneapolis Millers by a single game. The Millers actually had one more win than Indianapolis, but three more losses and thus a .613 winning percentage to Indianapolis’s .615. Charles Comiskey’s St. Paul Saints and Connie Mack’s Milwaukee Brewers finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the eight-team league; both men would prove to be influential in the future of the American League.

Johnson, who also served as league treasurer, read the financial report to attending members who included Comiskey, Mack, Matthew Killilea, and F.C. Gress (Milwaukee), James Franklin (Buffalo), Manning (Kansas City), Clarence Saulpaugh (Minneapolis), W.F.C. Golt and Bob Allen (Indianapolis), and G.A. Vanderbeck (Detroit). Manning, Saulpaugh, Golt, Vanderbeck, and Johnson were elected to the Board of Directors, then the group turned to the business of adopting a new name.3

Golt moved that the league be renamed the American League and Franklin seconded it. “The vote was unanimous,” reported the Louisville Courier-Journal, “and the president was instructed to change the constitution of the league to meet the present requirements.”4 Johnson was also asked to appeal to the National Board of Arbitration that it revise the National Agreement and change the drafting period to two years, and double the drafting price from $500 to $1,000. The season’s receipts were divided among the teams and $305 in fines were paid.

They also voted to return to a 140-game schedule, after having reduced it to 125 before the 1899 season, with Opening Day set for a date in late April to be determined. The rule limiting clubs to 25 signed, reserved, and claimed players was retained, but a new rule stating that teams were limited to 10 players claimed each season was adopted. It was also decided that a coupon be placed in a box for each attendee, regardless of the price paid. This was to combat the excessive use of free passes, which was costing the teams money. Starting in 1900 if free coupons exceeded 5 percent of the total attendance, the home team would be obligated to pay the visitors their cut of the regular rate of admission.5

“This meeting has been more than satisfactory,” Johnson told reporters before heading off to hunt quail with Comiskey, Killilea, and Vanderbeck. “I think we have acted wisely in changing the name of our league, and I believe that the public will be satisfied with our new circuit when we open up for business next spring.”6

One of Johnson’s goals was to put teams in Cleveland and Chicago, and when the National League contracted from 12 teams to eight after the 1899 campaign, Johnson saw an opening and dived in head-first. After much discussion, NL magnates had decided that Cleveland, Washington, Louisville, and Baltimore would be bought out. Cleveland would be left without a team for the first time since 1886, but Johnson wanted Cleveland in his league, and Comiskey was a Chicago native who was still popular there and he was anxious to move his St. Paul club to his hometown.

As fall crept closer to winter, reports came out of Chicago that the National League fully expected an AL team to call Chicago home in 1900, and James Hart, president of the NL’s Chicago Orphans, claimed the AL would be permitted to put a team there. But Hart wasn’t as accommodating as winter turned to spring. Rumors that Chicago White Stockings/Colts legend Cap Anson wanted to revive the old American Association to rival the National League had Hart willing to allow an AL team in Chicago to keep the American Association at bay. But once it became clear that the Association was a pipe dream, Hart did an about-face, fearing that the “establishment of a club of good ball players, under popular management and in a league that plays fast ball, will make serious inroads into the earning capacity of the much vaunted Orphans.”7

Hart had even gone so far as to threaten to put NL teams in AL cities, although he wasn’t expected to get any support from other senior circuit magnates, especially considering that he’d given Comiskey and Johnson his blessing before changing his tune. The American League was still just a minor league at the time, but Hart was on to something. Writer Bo Needham proved prescient when he wrote in the Detroit Free Press that the NL feared “that too much attention will be bestowed upon the plucky [AL] leaders and that they may branch out into a rival league before many months have passed.”8

But Needham countered that Johnson, Comiskey, et al. would invade the Windy City only because they had little choice. St. Paul gave Comiskey’s Saints little support and Toledo, Sioux City, Columbus, and Omaha had all proved to be lacking in fan enthusiasm, which showed at the turnstiles. Comiskey considered Chicago to be the center of the National League and there was plenty of room on the South Side for another ballpark happy to greet fans who didn’t often get to the West Side of the city, where the Orphans played.9

Putting a team in Cleveland wasn’t much of a concern, either. Stanley Robison, who owned the Cleveland Spiders with his brother Frank before they were dropped from the NL, held his park hostage and swore he’d never rent it to the AL if they invaded Chicago, but Comiskey had ammunition of his own. As much as he wanted to locate to the South Side of Chicago he had on option on Hart’s West Side Grounds and threatened to move there instead, wreaking havoc on the Orphans’ schedule and cutting into their attendance.10

March 16-17, 1900
Great Northern Hotel, Chicago

The American League’s spring meeting was scheduled for March 16, 1900, but Ban Johnson, Charles Comiskey, James Hart, and Tom Loftus, who managed Columbus of the Western League before taking the Orphans’ reins in 1900, held a secret meeting a few days before at the Great Northern Hotel. The meeting was arranged by Loftus, but the other three participants were unaware of it; Johnson and Comiskey thought they were just smoking fine cigars with an old friend, and Hart had no idea that Johnson and Comiskey were in the building.11

Loftus, acting as peacemaker, served rounds of pink lemonade while the men settled their differences. He told Hart straight up that Comiskey was intent on putting an AL team in Chicago and the only option was peaceful understanding and cooperation. Hart said he was well aware that Comiskey was adamant, but agreed to be civil. “No matter what happens we should be on good terms personally,” he told the junior circuit magnates.12

When the American League met on March 16, the Indianapolis News called the gathering “the most important minor league conference in the history of the United States.”13 The paper also reported on the secret meeting, but insisted that no agreement had been reached, it was merely about settling their differences “as men and not mouth-fighting pugilists,” and that Hart was still promising a fight if the AL tried to invade his territory.14 When asked, Johnson was succinct: “The American League will be represented in Chicago this season.” Reportedly, every newspaper in Chicago was on his side.15

But not all were fully on board and Johnson was still maneuvering his chess pieces. The men with Milwaukee, Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago were vocal in their support of Johnson, and Salpaugh of Minneapolis promised his support, although it was believed he wanted to sell his team. Kansas City, Buffalo, and Indianapolis owners refused to commit fully until everyone assembled in a secret session.16

Meanwhile Johnson telegraphed Colonel I.F Whiteside and William W. Douglas, who were trying to secure a team in the yet-to-be revived American Association, and told them that if they were willing to fight for him they’d get an AL franchise in Louisville. “Send representatives to meeting,” Johnson telegraphed. And there was a delegate from St. Louis itching to get in on the action who had thus far been “kept in the background.”17

Whiteside attended the meeting along with Lamar Herndon and H.A. Davis. In addition to Johnson and Comiskey, attendees included J.F. Kilfoyl and Jimmy McAleer (Cleveland), James Burns (Detroit), James Franklin (Buffalo), W.H. Watkins (Indianapolis), Clarence Salpaugh (Minneapolis), James Manning (Kansas City), and Matt Killilea and Connie Mack (Milwaukee).

Johnson urged Whiteside and Douglas to buy the Minneapolis club from Saulpaugh and move it to Louisville, but they were hesitant, fearing a fight with the NL would be too expensive. They had a right to be concerned because Hart kept waffling. A delegation of AL owners met with Hart prior to the March 16 meeting and felt he had never been more “conciliatory.” But he continued to insist to reporters that war was on the horizon if the AL entered Chicago without his consent.18 Clearly Comiskey felt he already had consent, was confident he’d get it, or was preparing for war, for he had already signed a lease on Southside Park and workers had already begun to refurbish it.19

The second day of the meeting proved fruitful as Johnson announced that he’d reached an agreement with Hart and the National League, but not without conditions. They wanted $15,000 for League Park in Cleveland, adoption of a schedule that wouldn’t conflict with NL schedules, and a promise to follow all rules and laws of the National Agreement.20 Hart also wanted the right to draft two of Comiskey’s players at the end of each season and refused to allow the AL team to display “Chicago” on their uniforms.21

Johnson countered with $10,000 and agreed to the rest. As AL magnates headed home they were said to be “jubilant,” “well pleased,” and “in the very best of spirits.”22 Comiskey had already been building his squad and proudly exclaimed that players had been sending him telegrams all winter promising to play their best baseball in the coming summer. “If all these boys make good,” boasted Comiskey, “I don’t see what’s the use of worrying about a pennant; we’ll have them all beat before they begin.”23

Not everyone was happy, though. Whiteside and company were left out in the cold when Saulpaugh admitted he was merely a receiver of the Minneapolis club and hadn’t the legal right to authorize the sale of the team or its players.24 It mattered little because Johnson had bigger plans than putting a team in Louisville. The AL czar had his eyes on St. Louis, Cincinnati, Washington, and Baltimore, the latter to be run by future Hall of Famer John McGraw.25

October 11-12, 1900
Great Northern Hotel, Chicago

After a successful season that saw Comiskey’s White Stockings win the pennant by four games over Milwaukee and make a sizable dent in Hart’s attendance figures, AL owners gathered for their annual meeting in Chicago on October 11 and 12.26 The league voted to eliminate “farming” and to limit clubs to 14 active players — four pitchers, two catchers, four infielders, three outfielders, and one utility player. It was also decided to jettison Kansas City and Minneapolis from the league in favor of Baltimore and Washington, with Kansas City’s Jim Manning rumored to run the latter.27

Initially it appeared that the NL supported the AL’s move into Baltimore and Washington, mostly because it would have no impact on the former and partly because a group was trying to establish a new National Association that would put teams in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston. The AL’s decision would most certainly kill a new National Association and keep Philadelphia, the league’s leader in attendance in 1900, safe from competition. And Johnson would be getting a stronger foothold in the East while shedding further the old Western League stigma.

Of Johnson’s desire to head east, the Chicago Inter Ocean wrote on October 12, 1900, “Moreover, the American Leaguers like to be first fiddles, and could never be induced to play second violincello to a lot of half-baked ‘magnates’ with not enough baseball knowledge to pound sand in rat holes round the diamond.”28 Speculation was that the American League would grow to 10 teams by keeping Kansas City, dumping Minneapolis, and adding Baltimore, Washington, and Louisville to its ranks. Voting at the meeting was 5 to 3 in favor of admitting Baltimore and Washington, but split in regard to Louisville.

Johnson’s circuit seemingly grew stronger as mid-October reports indicated the AL had formed an alliance with the Players Protective Association, a union formed by National League players in New York on June 10 and headed by Pittsburgh catcher Chief Zimmer, Brooklyn first baseman Hughie Jennings, and Boston catcher Boileryard Clarke.29 But other reports had the NL vowing to fight to keep the upstarts out of Baltimore and Washington and hinted that the NL would expand to a 10-team league in 1901.” One thing is certain,” wrote the Indianapolis News, “the National League magnates will not yield their supremacy in baseball without a struggle.”30

But not all was well within the junior circuit. Manning was said to be “violently opposed to a change that will wipe Kansas City off the baseball map,” and was being courted by the National Association, which was more than happy to invade a city that finished fourth in attendance in 1899 with approximately 84,000 fans.31 Buffalo’s attendance figures were abysmal — it drew 56,000 and only Minneapolis drew fewer — and the club’s future was in doubt.

In late October, Johnson and Charles Somers, owner of the Cleveland club and a financial backer who was as instrumental in the success of the AL as anyone, traveled to Washington and Baltimore to look for playing grounds.32 Then Johnson fanned the flames by announcing their intent to travel to New York and Philadelphia as well. By firing a shot across the National League’s bow, he made his intent clear: The American League was striving for major-league status.33

October 30, 1900
Fisher Building, Chicago

The Circuit Committee, composed of Johnson, Comiskey, Somers, and Manning, met to discuss the trip east. The NL Philadelphia Phillies’ majority owner, Colonel John I. Rogers, gave his blessing for an AL move into Philadelphia in a letter that was read to the committee. Pittsburgh’s Barney Dreyfuss also favored a move into those three cities, claiming a healthy rivalry would be good for baseball and would allow the National League to relieve itself of two defunct ballparks.34 Somers wasn’t content with putting teams in those three cities, however, and wanted to invade Boston and Pittsburgh as well.

The Chicago Inter Ocean reported that a deal had already been struck with Philadelphia and that an AL team — the Athletics — would begin play in 1901 and would be made up of the best players from Kansas City and Minneapolis, and six or eight men from the NL. According to the report Johnson agreed to send two AL players to the Phillies at the end of each season, mimicking Comiskey’s deal with Hart. The Eastern half of the circuit was to comprise Baltimore, Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Washington, while the Western half included Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee, though a majority vote would eliminate Indianapolis in favor of Cleveland. The National League agreed to limit its rosters to 16 players so that the American League could build stronger teams for the coming season. That also meant higher salaries than the AL was used to paying, but it was all for the greater good.35

“Players will thus be satisfied, the playing strength of the clubs will be brought up to the proper standard, and the critical fans of Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia will be given the kind of sport they want,” wrote the Chicago Inter Ocean.36 It was also announced that McGraw and Wilbert Robinson would leave the St. Louis Cardinals to run the Baltimore Orioles.

Johnson and his men were scheduled to meet in Chicago on November 20, when their five-year agreement expired, but they voted by mail to extend the agreement another 30 days and wait until after the National League’s annual winter meetings in December so they could more accurately gauge the NL’s attitude toward them.

Meanwhile Indianapolis and Buffalo were losing their tenuous grip as AL franchises, as Cleveland was all but certain to have a team and rumors about invading Boston came to the surface.37 According to some, a move into Boston guaranteed war with the NL and would force Colonel Rogers, in support of Arthur Soden and his Boston Beaneaters, to rescind his consent to allowing an AL team in Philadelphia.38

On December 3, Hart, representing the NL, met with Johnson and officially turned the Baltimore and Washington territories over to the American League. It was a bit of an empty gesture, though. The AL had withdrawn from the National Agreement and was not bound by it; therefore it could act independently and do as it pleased. Of course, that raised the odds of a war between the circuits, and Hart warned that the NL could sign all of Johnson’s players if they chose to.39 The death of the proposed National Association left only two leagues to do battle and all signs pointed to a clash. And the fact that McGraw and Robinson hadn’t yet bought their release from the Cardinals and threatened to take the NL to court if it tried to block their move to Baltimore raised the stakes even higher.

With McGraw and Robinson in Baltimore, Manning in Washington, and Mack in Philadelphia, Johnson had strength in the East. And Arthur Irwin was hell-bent on signing a lease on Charles River Park in Boston, which was available because the previous owner, Thomas McCarthy, either forgot to make a payment or couldn’t afford to. Putting a team in Boston would be a major coup as the Beaneaters had drawn over 200,000 fans per season for six straight years, including 334,800 in 1897.

A few days before the NL was set to meet, Johnson announced that if it failed to remodel the National Agreement to his liking he’d create one himself that encompassed all of baseball, including the minor leagues.40 This rankled NL magnates even more, especially those who felt they’d been duped. Rogers agreed to allow a minor-league team in his city, but was incensed when he learned the AL intended to operate as a major league and vowed to fight the “carpetbaggers.”41

The National League held its Winter Meetings December 10-14, 1900, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City. Its Board of Arbitration, which included Rogers (Philadelphia), John T. Brush (Cincinnati), Hart (Chicago), Robison (St. Louis), and Soden (Boston), met with National League President Nick Young and declared that Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis were protected by the National Agreement and “thus protected from any AL move into them without National League acquiescence.”42

On December 12 it was reported that Johnson, stationed in Philadelphia, sent a communication to NL magnates reiterating that the American League would not accept the National Agreement in its present form and that if the NL didn’t accept the AL as a full partner in “baseball affairs,” the American League would govern itself under its own constitution.43 Johnson wanted to deliver the ultimatum personally, but NL magnates sent word that he could stay in Philadelphia “until hell froze over.”44

“The [National League] then compounded their problem by telling the players, who were trying to organize and wanted some minor reforms in the standard player contracts, to go to hell, too.”45 NL solons listened to the players’ demands, delivered by Harry Taylor, former Louisville first baseman and now legal counsel for the Protective Association of Professional Baseball Players, and appeared to be amenable until Taylor presented a sample contract that included a dozen previously unmentioned provisions. Rogers, himself an attorney, was outraged at Taylor’s tactics and Brush insisted an agreement to the group’s terms would “destroy the National League.”46

Chief Zimmer and Hughie Jennings asked for a final conference with the NL, but were rebuffed by Soden, Rogers, and Brush, who told them they’d relay anything the players had to say to the others. Then Zimmer, Jennings, and Clark Griffith flew to Philadelphia and met with Johnson, who was open to all of their demands.47

January 28, 1901
Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago

The principal concerns of the January meeting were to finalize the clubs that would comprise the American League, adopt a new 10-year agreement, and give majority control of each team to the league. Charles Somers (Cleveland), James Manning (Washington), and Ban Johnson of the Circuit Committee recommended that Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington be officially admitted into the league, with Buffalo, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and Minneapolis being dropped.48 The report was accepted almost unanimously, with James Franklin of Buffalo being the only dissenter. His “vigorous protest” fell on deaf ears, however, and he was expected to receive compensation from the sale of his players to the other AL teams and possibly co-ownership of the Boston club.49

Other business included the transfer to the league of 51 percent of each team’s stock in addition to leases on their grounds, as well as options to purchase each franchise in the event an owner wanted to sell. Charles Comiskey (Chicago), Connie Mack (Philadelphia), and John McGraw (Baltimore) were to form a Rules Committee; Comiskey, McGraw, Manning, and Matt Killilea were appointed to the board of directors; and a 140-game schedule was adopted, although a start date wasn’t announced out of a speculated deference to the National League.50

Not surprisingly there was also some mild controversy, although it was handled with aplomb. A representative of the Milwaukee club of yet another American Association that failed to get off the ground was skulking around the hotel in hopes he could entice Hugh Duffy to take the reins of that team rather than pilot the AL’s Brewers. A man approached Duffy and introduced himself as “Mr. West” before inquiring about his services. “While I have not signed a contract,” Duffy explained to West, “I have given my word of honor to Mr. Killilea … that I will sign a contract for the coming season, and my word is as good as my bond.” Duffy punctuated his stance by telling West, “I am with the American League first, last and all the time.”51

March 20-21, 1901
Hotel Lafayette, Philadelphia

The American League’s final meeting of 1900-1901 was expected to bring “surprises” as player signings, possible rules changes, and the final schedule were to be announced.52 “For the next few days the eyes of the baseball world will be closely glued to the Quaker City,” reported the Chicago Inter Ocean, “for developments of the most interesting kind are anticipated at the meeting.”53 In reality the only surprise was Ban Johnson and Charles Comiskey’s delayed arrival made late by a train wreck that blocked the tracks somewhere between Chicago and Philadelphia. The meeting, scheduled to begin early in the afternoon of March 20, began at 8:30 that evening instead.54

Attendees included Johnson, Comiskey (Chicago); Benjamin Shibe and Connie Mack (Philadelphia); James Manning, W.F. Hart, and W. Needham (Washington); George Stallings and James Burns (Detroit); J.F. Kilfoyle, Joe Gavin, and James McAleer (Cleveland); Wilbert Robinson, Harry Goldman, S. Miles Brinlay, Sydney Franks, and Conway W. Sams (Baltimore); Charles Somers (Boston); and Hugh Duffy and F.C. Gross (Milwaukee).

The first order of business was to settle on the schedule, or at least the most important dates. Opening Day was slated for April 24 with Washington opening in Philadelphia, Boston in Baltimore, Cleveland at Chicago, and Milwaukee at Detroit.55 Decoration Day (May 30) had Baltimore at Detroit, Philadelphia at Cleveland, Boston at Chicago, and Washington at Milwaukee. July 4 featured Washington at Philadelphia, Baltimore at Boston, Chicago at Cleveland, and Detroit at Milwaukee. The NL was scheduled to start its season nearly a week before, on April 18, but there were still 56 dates that conflicted with the AL and almost half were in Boston.

Team rosters were announced, but were incomplete due to players jumping from the National League to the American, then back again. Reports had as many as 50 players jumping to the AL, but it was speculated that between 15 and 25 would actually stay. And although it had been previously reported that the Rules Committee would come up with a few new wrinkles, Mack, Comiskey, and McGraw announced that no changes would be forthcoming. “After careful consideration of the playing rules of 1900,” their statement read, “we are of the opinion that no changes at present would add to the interest of the game, as the playing rules of 1900, as enforced by the umpires of the American League, gave fast, clean baseball entirely satisfactory to its patrons.”56

 

Notes

1 Bo Needham, “Old League Is Now the New,” Detroit Free Press, October 15, 1899: 30.

2 Ibid.

3 “No More Western League,” Louisville Courier-Journal, October 12, 1899: 6.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 “Rough on Al Reach,” Chicago Inter-Ocean, October 13, 1899; A handful of reports had the American League voting to switch from the Reach ball it had used in the past in favor of the Spalding ball. Some speculated that it proved there was harmony between the AL and National League because Albert Spalding had heavy influence over the NL. James Hart, president of the Chicago National League club, admitted he expected that an AL team would be calling Chicago home as early as 1900. Other reports had the move made out of spite for Al Reach, who was said to be a central figure in reviving the American Association. Research by others, however, shows that Reach was a friend of the AL and helped Johnson get a foothold in Philadelphia by involving his business partner, Benjamin Shibe, who became president of the Athletics.

7 Bo Needham, “National League Magnates Must Declare for Peace or for War, as the American League Has Forced the Issue,” Detroit Free Press, March 4, 1900: 7.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

10 Ibid.

11 “It May Mean Peace,” Chicago Inter Ocean, March 15, 1900: 8.

12 Ibid.

13 Hal W. Reed, “Leagues in Battle Array,” Indianapolis News, March 16, 1900: 2.

14 Ibid.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.

17 Ibid.

18 “Waiting for Showdown,” Louisville Courier-Journal, March 17, 1900: 10.

19 Ibid.

20 “Looks Like Peace,” Chicago Inter Ocean, March 18, 1900: 10.

21 Benjamin G. Rader, Baseball: A History of America’s Game (Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2002), 88.

22 “Looks Like Peace.

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid.

25 “Maybe a Baseball War,” Baltimore Sun, August 24, 1900: 6.

26 Attendance at Chicago National League games dropped from 4,143 per game in 1899 to 3,228 per game in 1900. The White Stockings drew approximately 124,000 fans for an average of just under 1,800 per game. Newspapers reported that Hart’s club drew only 248,000 paying customers and that admissions weren’t enough to pay expenses.

27 “Baseball Magnates Meet,” Fort Scott (Kansas) Monitor, October 14, 1900: 1; in the case of farming it was avowed that no American League player could be sent to another minor league and that no National League team could lend players to the AL.

28 “Plans of Magnates,” Chicago Inter Ocean, October 12, 1900: 8.

29 “May Extend the Circuit,” Chicago Inter Ocean, October 15, 1900: 8; “Ball-Players’ Union Solid,” Baltimore Sun, July 16, 1900: 6.

30 “Big League Will Fight,” Indianapolis News, October 19, 1900: 13.

31 “Baseball Patronage,” Topeka Capital, October 20, 1900: 2; “Sporting News and Comment,” Detroit Free Press, October 21, 1900: 18.

32 Somers was reported to have invested $5 million in the American League and helped half of the teams get off the ground. It was written of him “Somers’… open checkbook were the legs upon where the American League learned to walk.” See Fred Schuld, “Charles W. Somers,” in David Jones, ed., Deadball Stars of the American League (Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books, Inc., 2006), 390.

33 “Baseball League Expands,” Topeka Capital, October 26, 1900: 2.

34 “Would Like League Changes,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, October 28, 1900: 10; Rogers later denied that he’d sent a letter to Johnson and claimed he sent a newspaper clipping of an interview he gave in which he stated his support for an AL team in Philadelphia.

35 “Deals in Baseball,” Chicago Inter Ocean, October 21, 1900: 8.

36 Ibid.

37 “Baseball Talk From the East,” Louisville Courier-Journal, December 2, 1900: 11.

38 “Will It Invade Boston?” Indianapolis News, December 3, 1900: 2.

39 “Big League Acts at Last,” Indianapolis News, December 4, 1900: 5.

40 “Now Up to Big League,” Indianapolis News, December 7, 1900: 2.

41 “Rogers Ready to Fight,” Indianapolis News, December 7, 1900: 2.

42 Transcript of December 1900 meeting, cited by William Lamb, “The National League Winter Meetings of 1900-1901,” in this volume.

43 “Equal Rights or War,” Indianapolis News, December 12, 1900: 6.

44 Irving Vaughan, “Veteran President Describes Formation of American League, Early Days,” Chicago Tribune, February 24, 1929: A3.

45 Glenn Stout and Richard A. Johnson, Red Sox Century (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000), 6.

46 Transcript of December 1900 meeting, cited by William Lamb, “The National League Winter Meetings of 1900-1901,” in this volume.

47 “Equal Rights or War,” Indianapolis News, December 12, 1900: 6.

48 “The American League Meeting Assembled in Chicago at Noon,” Washington Evening Star, January 28, 1901: 2.

49 Ibid.; Two days after the meeting the Buffalo Evening News reported Franklin’s displeasure with the American League and especially Ban Johnson, who he said would “cut the players’ throats as quickly as he did that of Mr. Franklin.”

50 “The American League Meeting …” Washington Evening Star, January 28, 1901: 2.

51 Ibid.

52 “Storm Center in East,” Chicago Inter Ocean, March 20, 1901: 8.

53 Ibid.

54 “American League Meeting,” Harrisburg Independent, March 21, 1901: 5.

55 Chicago beat Cleveland, 8-2, but the other three AL games were rained out and had to be rescheduled.

56 “American League Meeting Ended,” Buffalo Enquirer, March 22, 1901: 4.