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1 The Rivalry Begins 1913 “It will be war to the hilt with organized baseball from this time forth,” exclaimed J. Edward Krause.“We have the money, and the money will tempt the players we want.”1 The“we”that Krause was referring to was the Federal League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, a new league that began play in 1913. Following the successful completion of the organization’s inaugural season, Krause—president of the league’s Indianapolis franchise—was serving notice that the Federals had their sights set on challenging the supremacy of the two established major leagues, the American and National, in 1914. The Federal League had formed from the remnants of two failed 1912 ventures, the Columbian League and the United States League. The Columbian League was the creation of John Powers, the former head of the Wisconsin League, a lower-level minor league. Powers hoped to compete with the two major leagues by forming an eight-team circuit based in the Midwest, with franchises in Kansas City, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Louisville, and Chicago. Powers was forced to abort his plans prior to the scheduled start of the 1912 season, however, when one of his primary financial backers—St. Louis brewer Otto Stifel—backed out of the venture. Meanwhile, the United States League ambitiously established a national circuit of teams located in New York,Washington, D.C., Reading, Richmond, Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. The league got off to a more promising start than the Columbian, successfully holding its opening day on May 1, 1912. The United States League ultimately shared the Columbian’s fate, however, collapsing in late June due to bad weather and low attendance.2 Despite the failures of the Columbian and United States Leagues in 1912, Columbian founder Powers did not abandon his dream of organizing a third major league.After reaching out to some of the former owners from the two failed circuits to gauge their interest in establishing a new league for 1913, Grow_text.indd 5 12/20/13 11:37 AM 6 chapter one Powers was eventually able to enlist the support of William McCullough, owner of the United States League’s defunct Pittsburgh franchise, and Otto Stifel, the St. Louis businessman whose change of heart had doomed the Columbian League, among others.The founding owners officially organized their new venture—the Federal League—on March 8, 1913. The league established a six-team circuit for its inaugural season, placing franchises in Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Covington, Kentucky (across the Ohio River from Cincinnati). The owners hoped that by locating all of their franchises within relatively close proximity of one another they could reduce travel costs and boost profitability.3 Rather than initially compete head-to-head with the American and National Leagues for playing talent, the Federal League primarily recruited minor league journeymen and local semipro players to fill out its rosters. To attract and maintain fan interest, the new league hired aging, former major league stars to serve as team managers.The Pittsburgh Federals signed former Pittsburgh Pirates star pitcher Charles“Deacon”Phillippe to manage their club, for example, while Cleveland’s team hired the legendary Denton “Cy” Young as its manager. Despite providing what was generally considered to be lower-quality baseball than the two established major leagues, the Federal League nevertheless managed to survive its initial season.While many of its teams struggled financially, only one proved to be completely nonviable, as the league was forced to transfer the Covington franchise to Kansas City forty games into the season.4 By August, the Federal League magnates had grown optimistic enough about their long-term prospects that they began to plan a more aggressive campaign for the 1914 season. During a secret meeting held on August 2, 1913, the owners removed Powers from the league’s presidency. They had become dissatisfied with several aspects of Powers’s administration—including his management of umpires and inability to generate more press coverage for the league—and believed that new, more vigorous leadership was necessary to elevate the Federal League’s stature. In his place, they appointed James A. Gilmore as the league’s new president.5 The thirty-seven-year-old Gilmore had joined the Federal League earlier that summer when a friend persuaded the longtime sports enthusiast to invest in the organization’s Chicago franchise. Gilmore was a consummate salesman. After serving in the Spanish-American War, he honed his craft selling...

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