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tm1681 · 06-21-2023, 04:47 PM

1898 BRINGS EXPANSION AND RECONFIGURAITON IN THE MWBA - THE TWO BEST PRO LEAGUES NOW EQUAL IN SIZE

The APBL wasn’t the only league that underwent changes ahead of the 1898 season. During the 1897 offseason the executives of the Midwestern Baseball Association were looking for two teams to add to the league in order to bring it up from fourteen to sixteen and make it equal in size to the senior pro circuit. While previous expansion teams came from the Prairie League - Kansas City, Minneapolis, Omaha, & St. Paul - this time the execs had a couple of teams from the Great Lakes Baseball Conference in mind.

By the end of the 1890s, the Ohioan cities of Columbus and Toledo had grown to be comfortably over 100,000 people each, and that meant they were big enough for MWBA baseball. While the Columbus Capitols and Toledo Mud Hens weren’t the only two notable teams in the GLBC, because of their market sizes they were really the only two teams the MWBA considered adding.

Toledo was an obvious fit on the face of it. Their city was big enough (131,822 as of 1900), their players had won thirteen major individual league awards in the GLBC (Batsman of the Year, Hurler of the Year, MVP), their venue held enough fans (8,100+) even if it was a bit small, and they’d won seven of the sixteen GLBC championships with an all-time record of 960-624 (.606). Columbus had the size (125,560 as of 1900) and their home park sat over 8,800, but success had eluded them. The Capitols had only finished in the top three twice in the history of the GLBC and their all-time record was under .500, so adding them would be placing a gamble that they could compete in the future due to market size.

The two newest MWBA teams:

The two teams were officially added to the MWBA roster at the 1897 Offseason Meetings, which put the MWBA at sixteen teams. However, Columbus and Toledo would be two of the cities furthest to the east of the league’s markets. Simply adding them to the Eastern League would make for nine teams in the EL and seven in the Western League, so the league had to think about how to balance things out. Initially the thought was to move Indianapolis to the Western League, but that would deprive them of games again main rival Louisville as well as contests against teams in two new markets that were relatively close. Then, a plan was floated to move one of the two Chicago teams – the Griffons or Lake Michigan Gales – to the Western League to set up the chance for an all-Chicago Lincoln Memorial Cup, but the two clubs quickly quashed that idea because they liked the extra gate receipts that came with intra-Chicago matchups. Finally, a plan was settled on that would see the two Chicago teams moved to the Western League while the Milwaukee Bavarians moved the other way.

The Bavarians ownership and front office weren’t at all keen on the league’s official idea, which made perfect sense given they’d won all eight Western League titles and four Lincoln Memorial Cups since the MWBA split in two for the 1890 season. There were also travel concerns since the presence of Lake Michigan meant games at Eastern League teams weren't just straight-line train trips from Milwaukee. However, a vote of 13-1 for the proposal meant Milwaukee was going to move to the more competitive Eastern League whether they liked it or not.

With the changes to the MWBA complete, it was now official that the two member competitions of the American Baseball Association were the same size and had the same configuration: sixteen teams split into a pair of eight-team divisions. This meant they could run the same schedule and start offseason business at the same time. This also meant that interleague trades were a possibility, and perhaps even an end-of-year series to see who the best pro team of all was wouldn’t be far off.

With regard to the Great Lakes Baseball Conference, they did what other leagues have done when member clubs have moved up to pro ball or switched leagues: they brought in highly regarded clubs from the amateur fold. The two were a pair of Illinois clubs from Chicago and Rockford. The Chicago club was the Cook County Railriders, founded in 1870 and named for the city’s railway and streetcar systems. The Rockford club was the Rockford Red Oaks, named after the city’s reputation as “The Forest City”.

The newest members of the GLBC:

06-21-2023, 04:47 PM	#57
tm1681 All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 1,093	1898 BRINGS EXPANSION AND RECONFIGURAITON IN THE MWBA - THE TWO BEST PRO LEAGUES NOW EQUAL IN SIZE The APBL wasn’t the only league that underwent changes ahead of the 1898 season. During the 1897 offseason the executives of the Midwestern Baseball Association were looking for two teams to add to the league in order to bring it up from fourteen to sixteen and make it equal in size to the senior pro circuit. While previous expansion teams came from the Prairie League - Kansas City, Minneapolis, Omaha, & St. Paul - this time the execs had a couple of teams from the Great Lakes Baseball Conference in mind. By the end of the 1890s, the Ohioan cities of Columbus and Toledo had grown to be comfortably over 100,000 people each, and that meant they were big enough for MWBA baseball. While the Columbus Capitols and Toledo Mud Hens weren’t the only two notable teams in the GLBC, because of their market sizes they were really the only two teams the MWBA considered adding. Toledo was an obvious fit on the face of it. Their city was big enough (131,822 as of 1900), their players had won thirteen major individual league awards in the GLBC (Batsman of the Year, Hurler of the Year, MVP), their venue held enough fans (8,100+) even if it was a bit small, and they’d won seven of the sixteen GLBC championships with an all-time record of 960-624 (.606). Columbus had the size (125,560 as of 1900) and their home park sat over 8,800, but success had eluded them. The Capitols had only finished in the top three twice in the history of the GLBC and their all-time record was under .500, so adding them would be placing a gamble that they could compete in the future due to market size. The two newest MWBA teams: The two teams were officially added to the MWBA roster at the 1897 Offseason Meetings, which put the MWBA at sixteen teams. However, Columbus and Toledo would be two of the cities furthest to the east of the league’s markets. Simply adding them to the Eastern League would make for nine teams in the EL and seven in the Western League, so the league had to think about how to balance things out. Initially the thought was to move Indianapolis to the Western League, but that would deprive them of games again main rival Louisville as well as contests against teams in two new markets that were relatively close. Then, a plan was floated to move one of the two Chicago teams – the Griffons or Lake Michigan Gales – to the Western League to set up the chance for an all-Chicago Lincoln Memorial Cup, but the two clubs quickly quashed that idea because they liked the extra gate receipts that came with intra-Chicago matchups. Finally, a plan was settled on that would see the two Chicago teams moved to the Western League while the Milwaukee Bavarians moved the other way. The Bavarians ownership and front office weren’t at all keen on the league’s official idea, which made perfect sense given they’d won all eight Western League titles and four Lincoln Memorial Cups since the MWBA split in two for the 1890 season. There were also travel concerns since the presence of Lake Michigan meant games at Eastern League teams weren't just straight-line train trips from Milwaukee. However, a vote of 13-1 for the proposal meant Milwaukee was going to move to the more competitive Eastern League whether they liked it or not. With the changes to the MWBA complete, it was now official that the two member competitions of the American Baseball Association were the same size and had the same configuration: sixteen teams split into a pair of eight-team divisions. This meant they could run the same schedule and start offseason business at the same time. This also meant that interleague trades were a possibility, and perhaps even an end-of-year series to see who the best pro team of all was wouldn’t be far off. With regard to the Great Lakes Baseball Conference, they did what other leagues have done when member clubs have moved up to pro ball or switched leagues: they brought in highly regarded clubs from the amateur fold. The two were a pair of Illinois clubs from Chicago and Rockford. The Chicago club was the Cook County Railriders, founded in 1870 and named for the city’s railway and streetcar systems. The Rockford club was the Rockford Red Oaks, named after the city’s reputation as “The Forest City”. The newest members of the GLBC: Last edited by tm1681; 06-21-2023 at 11:07 PM.