Federal League - Legacy

Legacy

One of baseball's most famous ballparks was originally built for a Federal League team: Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs, began its long life as Weeghman Park, the home of the Chicago Whales. Marc Okkonen, in his book on the Federal League, referred to Wrigley as a "silent monument" to the failed Federal League experiment. Otherwise, few visible remnants were left by the short-lived nature of the Federal League. The Baltimore entry sold their facility to the Baltimore Orioles of the International League, who renamed it Oriole Park and played there for nearly 30 years before it was destroyed by fire in 1944, a seemingly disastrous event that would actually begin the path toward Baltimore's return to the major leagues 10 years afterward. The Newark ballpark was also used for minor league ball for a short time. The other Federal League ballparks were demolished quickly, including the home of the Pittsburgh Rebels, Exposition Park, which had actually been the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League until they moved into Forbes Field in 1909.

The other "silent monument" to the Federal League is a famous legal decision. In 1922, the Supreme Court ruled in Federal Baseball Club v. National League (brought by the Terrapins, one of the teams which had not been bought out), that Major League Baseball and its constituent leagues were primarily entertainment, not conventional interstate commerce, and thus were exempt from the Sherman Antitrust Act. This exemption remains intact over 80 years later, although it has been eroded somewhat by subsequent court rulings and legislation regarding specific issues.

Of the locations of teams in the Federal League, five currently have MLB teams. Those are Baltimore, Chicago, Kansas City, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. Brooklyn has a New York-Penn League team, known as the Brooklyn Cyclones. (The major league Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, although the New York Mets have been located in the adjacent borough of Queens since 1964.) Buffalo has an International League team, known as the Buffalo Bisons. Indianapolis also has an International League team, known as the Indianapolis Indians. Newark has a team, the Bears, in the independent Atlantic League.

There is at least one achievement of note that happened in Federal League play. Eddie Plank, pitching for the St. Louis Terriers, won his milestone 300th game on September 14, 1915 at St. Louis' Handlan's Park, becoming the first 300-game winning left-hander in the history of major league baseball and one of only five as of 2008. However, that milestone was not acknowledged by Major League Baseball until 1968.

The Federal League was the last serious attempt at creating a "Third Major League" outside the established structure of professional baseball in the U.S. There was one further attempt at creating a third league – the Continental League in 1959 – but its founders had hoped to find their place within the purview of organized baseball. The Continental League disbanded in 1960 without ever playing a game, making the Federal League the last such league to ever take to the field.