The Empire State League, 1905-1908

One of the more obscure minor leagues in this century has been the Class D Empire State League, which operated for at least three full years in the Finger lakes region of central New York.

By 1905, many cities and towns of the state, particularly in the central and western zones, were linked by a network of interurban electric trolley lines which carried passengers from place to place at speeds which could reach 90 miles an hours. Towns in the Finger Lakes area between Rochester and Syracuse and north to Lake Ontario were growing prosperous and confident and the booster spirit manifest in such towns across the country dictated that they had to have their own ball clubs.

So in March 1905 a meeting was held in Auburn to form a league. It would be a “trolley league,” supported by the wealth and by the natural rivalries of the communities involved. Lending impetus to the organization was the tradition of representation in professional baseball experienced by many of these places reaching back to the 1880s.

The league opened the 1905 season with a compliment consisting of Seneca Falls, Oneida (which dropped out July 25 and was not replaced), Cortland (which dropped out of the league July 18 and was replaced by Canandaigua, which in turn dropped out July 27 and was not replaced by another franchise), Rome, Lyons, Oswego, Palmyra (this franchise dropped out of the league on June 15 and was replaced by Geneva on July 2), and Ilion (which was replaced during the season by Fulton). The final standings showed the outcome of the pennant race:

 

Team	W-L	Pct.
Seneca Falls	42-26	.618
Geneva	33-22	.600
Rome	41-30	.577
Lyons	31-35	.470
Oswego	32-44	.421
Ilion-Fulton	20-39	.339

 

So far, no explanation had been found to account for the great discrepancy in games played in the cases of Geneva an Ilion-Fulton in comparison to the rest of the clubs, but this condition continued to hold true in 1906 when Auburn and Penn Yann (later transferred to Syracuse) replaced Rome and Lyons with the final standing as follows:

 

Team	W-L	Pct.
Seneca Falls	48-32	.600
Geneva	47-32	.595
Auburn	37-35	.514
Oswego	40-38	.511
Fulton	30-45	.400
Penn Yann-Syracuse	20-40	.333

 

In 1907, with Lyons back in the league replacing Syracuse, the domination of Seneca Falls ended with a pennant victory for Oswego.

 

Team	W-L	Pct.
Oswego	55-29	.655
Seneca Falls	56-32	.636
Auburn	44-39	.530
Fulton	43-42	.506
Geneva	34-51	.400
Lyons	25-64	.281

 

In its final year, the ESL, operated as an independent circuit and whether or not it competed a full season is not know. Research by Vern Luse indicates that it opened the season with Auburn, Fulton, Geneva, Lyons, Oneida and Oswego with Geneva and Lyons dropping out July 15, replaced by Watertown and Ogdensburg.

In its short history, the league proved to be an avenue of opportunity for several players who reached the major leagues. The best know of these was Jack Graney, long-time Cleveland outfielder who appeared as a pitcher with Fulton in 1906. alan Storke, who opened with Auburn in 1906, finished that year with Pittsburgh and proceeded to establish himself as a solid major league infielder before his death in March 1910.

Much investigation remains to be done before the complete history of this league can be written. On site research in the newspapers of league cities is necessary, because microfilm copies through interlibrary loan, where they exist at all, have so far been impossible to obtain. Player averages need to be compiled and reasons for franchise shifts need to be explained. The mysteries of the 1908 season need solution: why was the league then operating independently of organized baseball and did it complete the season? Finally, why did the league give up after 1908?

Short-lived as it may have been, the significance of the ESL lies in its role as part of a baseball tradition strong in the Finger laks region for more than 100 years, a tradition which produced professional leagues like the first New York State League in the 1880s, the early Can-Am League in the mid-1930s, the Border League in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and presently, the New York-Penn League. The Empire State League, unrecognized and all but ignored, was an early 20th century bridge over which this tradition passed.