The (English) Baseball League (est. 1888): A History

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Baseball League 1901
First Division Top Systems

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Baseball League 1901
Second Division Results

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Baseball League 1901

Second Division Promoted Team: Glossop Hillmen

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Baseball League 1901

Second Division Promoted Team: Clapton Orient O's

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Baseball League 1901
Second Division Final Table

Clapton Orient win promotion over Fulham on the basis of their 5-1 head-to-head record against the Cottagers.

One non-league club challenged the three clubs needing to seek re-election to the Second Division in the vote for League membership. Voting (number of votes):

33      Woolwich Arsenal       Re-elected to the League
31	Sheffield United       Re-elected to the League
29	Stockport County       Re-elected to the League
?       Hull City              Not elected to the League

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Baseball League 1901
Second Division Team Batting and Pitching

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Baseball League 1901
Second Division Award Winners

Baseballer of the Year and Batsman of the Year: Alistair Bolton




Pitcher of the Year and Newcomer of the Year: Ernest McGrady

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Baseball League 1901
Second Division League Leaders

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Baseball League 1901
Second Division Top Game Performances

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Baseball League 1901
Second Division Top 20 Batsmen and Pitchers

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Baseball League 1901
Second Division Top Systems

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Baseball League 1901
Second Division Financial Report

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Players Hopping Mad Over Wage Cut

As the first season following the League’s decision to reduce wages has concluded, an air heavy with anger, frustration and despair hangs over British professional baseballers, and to their detriment if they are not careful.

The very best baseballers have withstood wage cuts approaching forty per cent and merely average players by roughly ten per cent, as numerous clubs had claimed operating losses stemming from reduced turnover, due to dissipating gates over the prior few seasons. Advocated by representatives of a number of small and medium-sized League clubs, chief among them Newton Heath, Manchester City and Burton United, the hope is that by controlling wage bills, greater equality of competition will be encouraged, thus leading to greater interest among paying supporters and ultimately increased gate. It is also assumed that the best players will have no financial motive to move clubs, and thus the gap between rich and poor can be reduced.

Equality of competition is also the goal behind changes regarding the transfer of players, and the board report of Messrs. J. C. Clegg, Charles Crump and C. W. Alcock, made so long ago as September last, was adopted with one unimportant alteration. The desire of the board was that clubs and professionals should be able to make more permanent engagements than is now possible, and that when a player’s term is approaching a close his club should have special facilitates for retaining his services, while, on the other hand, a player should be quite free to join another club. The chief recommendations are :—That no larger fees be demanded than the amounts paid by clubs on acquiring players; that a player may be registered for any period agreed upon; that clubs may not retain professional players without payment, or amateurs unless they play regularly.

None of these changes have exercised baseballers quite so as has the wage cut. Some players have grumbled that the clubs, operating in secrecy, may not have been entirely above board regarding their finances. But that is of little use to their cause, as there is no sense of compulsion among club owners to let their books fly open for the scrutiny of all. British baseballers have few options at their disposal. The only other country in the world with an active professional baseball league is America, where the National League lords over all others, and whilst that league pays quite handsomely in comparison to the League here, the prevailing view from across the sea of even the best players of the British game is not at all charitable.

British baseballers may be incensed and, as one wag is rumoured to have opined, no amount of achievement awards will make up for the reduced wages. But given the choice between the pits and the pitch, it is obvious which even the most stubborn baseballers will choose, and club owners know this quite well. The wage cut is here to stay, and the player will simply have to adapt.

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The 1902 Baseball Season At Last!

Another winter —cold, dark, rainy, typically English —is almost behind us, and the first sure sign of spring, the inauguration of the Baseball League season, is upon us once more!

As the game continues to capture the imagination of the British public, the very best players of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland —and one very good player from the Gold Coast of Africa —make their way back to the clubs that have established themselves as the best in all the land, to ply their trade at the highest level possible in this part of the globe. And, with the first club from the capital now playing in the greatest loop in the land, that of the First Division of the League, baseball has truly become the national summer pastime of choice for Britons. One can only conclude that it will not be long before we establish our game as the equal or superior of any other in the baseball world.

We know the stars who will be playing. Hodgson of Burslem Port Vale. Clark of Sunderland. Whittington of Stoke. Morgan of Newcastle United. Fulton of Bolton. And do not forget Bolton of Liverpool in the lower level, he who is the greatest batsman this country has ever produced. Never before has baseball been so replete with the potential for drama and anticipation as it is for this season.

Nineteen hundred and two may come to establish some added stability in the game. No Central League clubs were accepted for admission into the League for this season, maintaining the same thirty six clubs from last year to this, and officials are said to be keen to diminish the perception of chaos attended to League affairs through financial troubles, lawsuits, clubs winding up and the like. The Newton Heath club came close to a terminal fate upon being served a winding up order in January, given their crippling debt of £1,500, but investment in the club by four local businessmen in return for operational control saved the club and maintained their First Division status. Their first order of business was the change the club’s name to Manchester United; whether this augurs well for the club’s future success on the pitch and in the ledgers remains to be seen.

Look for the best team performances in the first level to come out of Newcastle, Stoke, Bolton and Sunderland once again. In the Second Division, the London club Fulham are the odds on favourite among the punters, with Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Liverpool all looking stronger in their bids to return to the top tier. However, unlike football, one can not always foretell the League table before the first pitch ensues. Baseball is a sport in which supposedly mediocre clubs can ride the tide of good fortune and health to go top of the table in any given year. That is the beauty of this summer game. The games must be played

Play ball!

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Baseball League 1902: Clubs

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Baseball League 1902: Club Locations


First Division



Second Division

[joefromchicago]

Glad to see that your recent hiatus was only temporary. Keep up the good work!

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Originally Posted by joefromchicago

Glad to see that your recent hiatus was only temporary. Keep up the good work!

Thanks--I've been working on creating and launching my SABR committee website so that's been keeping me occupied. I still plan to see this dynasty all the way through. It just might take a couple or three years to get there.

[StLee]

Welcome back!

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Baseball League 1902
First Division Results