In 1912, baseball promoter John T. Powers formed an
independent professional league known as the
Columbian League. However, the withdrawal of one of the organization's primary investors caused the league to fail before ever playing a game. Undaunted, Powers tried again the following year, creating a new league with teams in
Chicago,
Cleveland,
Pittsburgh,
Indianapolis,
St. Louis, and
Covington, Kentucky. He named the organization the Federal League, and served as its first president. Because it did not abide by the National Agreement on player payment in place in
organized baseball, the Federal League was called an "outlaw league" by its competitors. The Federal League's outlaw status allowed it to recruit players from established clubs, and it attracted many current and former players from the major as well as minor leagues. In 1913, the Federal League played as an independent six-team minor league. In its first season Powers initially served as president, but he was soon replaced by
James A. Gilmore, under whose leadership the league declared itself a major league for the 1914 season. Other financiers of the League included oil baron
Harry F. Sinclair, ice magnate
Phil Ball, and
George S. Ward of the
Ward Baking Company. As a major circuit, the Federal League consisted of eight teams each season. Four of the teams were placed in cities with existing major league baseball teams (Chicago, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Brooklyn). The other four teams were placed in areas without a current major league club (Baltimore, Buffalo, Indianapolis and Kansas City). In the first year, 1914, some of the teams had official nicknames and some did not, but either way, sportswriters were inclined to invent their own nicknames: "ChiFeds," "BrookFeds," etc. By the second season, most of the teams had "official" nicknames, although many writers still called many of the teams "-Feds." In order for the Federal League to succeed, it needed Big League players.
Walter Johnson signed a three-year contract with the Chicago team, but the Senators'
Clark Griffith went personally to Johnson's home in Kansas and made a successful counter-offer. Major League players that jumped to the Federal League included
Bill McKechnie,
Claude Hendrix,
Jack Quinn,
Russell Ford,
Tom Seaton,
Doc Crandall,
Al Bridwell, and
Hal Chase. The Federal League also recruited Big League names to manage the new teams.
Joe Tinker managed the Chicago team,
Mordecai Brown managed the St. Louis team and
Bill Bradley managed the Brooklyn team. In 1914, the
Colonial League began to operate as a
Class C level league based in
Southern New England. In April,
Alexander Bannwart drew notice by acquiring
Big Jeff Pfeffer to manage the team in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and by May, it was suspected that Bannwart was working as an agent of the Federal League, which Bannwart denied. Upon these news reports, some of the founding members of the Colonial League resigned, fearing banishment by the
National Baseball Commission. At the April 1915 league meeting, Coppen was re-elected as president and Bannwart was elected secretary. Walter S. Ward, the treasurer of the
Brooklyn Tip-Tops of the Federal League and George S. Ward's son, was elected as the league's treasurer. The Colonial League reorganized itself as a
farm system for the Federal League and voluntarily withdrew itself from organized baseball. The Federal League had close pennant races both years. In 1914, Indianapolis beat out Chicago by 1½ games. 1915 witnessed the tightest pennant race in Major League history, as three teams (Chicago, St. Louis and Pittsburgh) fought into the last weekend of the season. On the season's final day, Sunday, October 3, Chicago split a doubleheader with Pittsburgh, winning the darkness-shortened seven-inning nightcap, 3-0; this combined with St. Louis' 6-2 win over Kansas City, knocked Pittsburgh back to third (albeit just a half-game behind), with Chicago and St. Louis in a virtual tie for first. But since the Whales (86-66) played two fewer games than the St. Louis Terriers (87-67), they were awarded the pennant based on their slightly better winning percentage (.566 to .565). Pittsburgh, with one game unplayed, ended up at 86-67 (.562). During the 1914–15 offseason, Federal League owners brought an antitrust lawsuit against the American and National Leagues. The lawsuit ended up in the court of Federal Judge (and future
Commissioner of Baseball)
Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who allowed the case to languish while he urged both sides to negotiate. Swift action might have made a difference, but without the lawsuit going forward, the Federals found themselves in deepening financial straits. After the 1915 season, the owners of the American and National Leagues bought out half of the owners (Pittsburgh, Newark, Buffalo, and Brooklyn) of the Federal League teams. Two Federal League owners were allowed to buy struggling franchises in the established leagues: Phil Ball, owner of the
St. Louis Terriers, was allowed to buy the
St. Louis Browns of the AL, and
Charles Weeghman, owner of the
Chicago Whales, bought the
Chicago Cubs. Both owners merged their teams into the established ones. The Kansas City franchise had been declared bankrupt and taken over by the league office after the close of the regular season, and the Baltimore owners rejected the offer made to them. They had sought to buy and move an existing franchise to their city, but were rebuffed, and sued unsuccessfully. ==Legacy==