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Federal League

For other uses, see Federal league (disambiguation).

Federal League
SportBaseball
Founded1913
FounderJohn T. Powers
Ceased1915
PresidentJames A. Gilmore
No. of teams8
CountryUnited States
Last
champion(s)		Chicago Whales
Most titles(2) Indianapolis Hoosiers
James A. Gilmore of the Federal League c. 1913
William E. Robertson, president of the Buffalo, New York Federal League baseball team the Buffalo Blues.
C. C. Madison in 1915, owner of the Kansas City, Missouri baseball club of the Federal League, the Kansas City Packers.

The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season as a minor league in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from 1914 to 1915.

The Federal League came together in early 1913 through the work of John T. Powers, and immediately challenged the operations of organized baseball as a minor league playing outside of the National Agreement. After James A. Gilmore succeeded Powers as league president, the league declared itself to be a major league. Playing in what detractors called the "outlaw" league allowed players to avoid the restrictions of the organized leagues' reserve clause. The competition of another, better paying league caused players' salaries to skyrocket, demonstrating the bargaining potential of free agency for the first time since the war between the AL and NL.

Notably, six years prior to his founding of the Federal League, John T. Powers took the field to umpire a league game in Goldfield, Nevada on 7 August 1907 with two revolvers strapped around his waist. The local sheriff showed up and disarmed him, before allowing the game to proceed.[1]

Interference by the National and American Leagues in their operations caused the Federal League to fold after the 1915 season. This resulted in a landmark federal lawsuit, Federal Baseball Club v. National League, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the Sherman Antitrust Act did not apply to Major League Baseball.[2] The Federal League left its mark on baseball history in the field now known as Wrigley Field, which was originally built for the Chicago Whales Federal League team. The league itself and many sports writers considered it a major league during its existence; organized baseball recognized its major league status in 1968.[3][4] Not including certain periods of the Negro leagues, it would be the last independent major league outside the established structure of professional baseball to make it to the playing field, and would be the last serious attempt to create a third major league until the abortive Continental League of 1960.

  1. ^ "Armed Himself to Umpire Game" (PDF). Diamonds in The Dusk. 448.
  2. ^ "259 U.S. 200". law.resource.org. Public.Resource.Org. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
  3. ^ Thorn, John (May 4, 2015). "Why Is the National Association Not a Major League … and Other Records Issues". Our Game. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  4. ^ "WAS THE FEDERAL LEAGUE REALLY A MAJOR LEAGUE?". thenationalpastimemuseum.com. May 5, 2019. Retrieved November 21, 2019.

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