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THE END OF THE NBBO SIGNALS A NEW BEGINNING

As the 1880s progressed, the NBBO was running into a problem. Owing to the Northeastern United States’ – as well as that of the overall United States' – quickly-growing population, more cities and towns expressed the desire to have ball clubs that were a step up from the amateur ranks, and they had enough people going to games to make it happen.

Toward the end of the decade NBBO executives realized that the above meant the 48-team, 2-league format it had run since 1857 wasn’t going to be feasible for much longer. There were at least two towns in New York that wanted in, and enough in New England that the region could conceivably be split off into its own league. It was then that NBBO commissioner Charles Spalding had an idea: have New York City, the Northeast, and New England each be separate, but associated, competitions and turn the NBBO into more of an organizational governing body.

During 1888 National Base Ball Organization Winter Meetings, it was agreed that the NBBO would split into three competitions starting in the new decade:

• The New York Metropolitan League (NYL), covering the New York City clubs
• The Northeastern League (NEL), covering Upstate New York, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania
• The New England Baseball Association (NEBA), covering Massachusetts & greater New England

The three competitions could then add new entrants as they wished, which would allow for more baseball in more cities to be played further into the year at a higher-than-amateur standard.

The NBBO received a bigger boost when meetings with the other two notable semi-professional competitions, the Great Lakes Baseball Conference (GLBC) and the Baseball League of the American Prairie (PL), proved fruitful, and both agreed to move under the NBBO umbrella for 1890. This meant that 1890s would see the National Base Ball Organization turn from a competition into an organizing body for the non-professional sport in the entire United States, and should other semi-pro leagues pop up they would likely join as well.

The last year of the NBBO’s single competition was a closely-contested one, for the most part. In the New York League, Eckford (53-31) won the Brooklyn Championship by 3 games over Nassau County, Yonkers (53-31) won the New York City Championship by 2 games over Manhattan, and Binghamton (50-34) won the Upstate New York Championship by 2 games as well, besting Utica. In the Northeastern League, Olympic B.C. (52-32) took the Coastal Championship by 4 games over Philadelphia and Sons of the Ocean (56-28) also took their regional Championship, New England, by 4 over the Cantabrigians.

However, the Lancaster Dukes won the Inland Championship by no less than 16 games thanks to a record of 61-23 and the best lineup in the league, and it looked to many like they would be the final NBBO champions. Instead, they were taken down 3-1 in the Northeastern League Championship Series by Sons of the Ocean in a stunner, and it was the Sons of the Ocean who would be crowned the NBBO’s last victors after besting Eckford of Greenpoint in the Tucker-Wheaton Cup, winning it for the fourth time. This was perhaps a fitting end to the NBBO given that SotO were the NBBO’s first champions back in 1857.

The final list of NBBO finalists & champions (Tucker-Wheaton Cup winners are highlighted in blue):

BEFORE PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL





AFTER PROFESSIONAL SPLIT





NOTE: In 1889, Batting Averages were .274 for the NYL and .273 for the NEL, while Earned Run Averages were 3.64 for the NYL and 3.66 for the NEL.

All totaled, there were 33 Tucker-Wheaton Cups awarded. 18 went to clubs in the Northeastern League, 15 went to clubs in the New York League, and Sons of the Ocean won it more times (four) than anyone else. Orange BBC/Manhattan Orangemen made more Tucker-Wheaton Cup appearances than any other club with nine, but unfortunately for them they only won it three times.

With five semi-pro leagues on the books for 1890 a fair playoff wouldn’t be feasible, but it wouldn’t surprise if the TWC was revived before long…