International League

The International League (IL) is a minor league baseball league which operates in the eastern United States and Canada. Like the Pacific Coast League, it plays at the AAA (Triple-A) level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. The league was created from the mergers of member teams from three precursor leagues, the Eastern League, founded in 1884 (which brought Richmond, Virginia), the New York State League, formed in 1885 (which brought Rochester, New York and Syracuse, New York), and the Ontario League, also organized in 1885.

1900-1929

Buffalo returned to the League in 1901, succeeding Springfield when the American League decided to operate in Boston, Massachusetts instead. In 1902, Jersey City and Newark replaced Syracuse and Hartford and in 1903 Baltimore, Maryland, ousted by the American League, succeeded Montreal. However, the season was scarcely a month old when the Worcester membership was moved to fill the void in Quebec.

Related Topics:
Boston, Massachusetts - Baltimore, Maryland - Quebec

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For the next 11 years the landscape of the International League remained unchanged. Everywhere, the public flocked to ball games as never before. New stadiums were built with the aid of funds from trolly car companies and new leagues blossomed all over the country.

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For the International League, this era came to an end in 1911 when Pat Powers relinquished the presidency to Ed Barrow. In 1914, the Federal League was organized by a group of wealthy men who decided the time was ripe for a third major loop. Three International League cities were invaded; Baltimore and Buffalo in 1914, and Newark in 1915, earning the International League the title of "The Belgium of Baseball". Though Buffalo held out and remained in the International League, the Baltimore franchise moved to Richmond and Newark to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Related Topics:
Ed Barrow - Federal League - Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

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Barrow received assurance that if organized baseball won the fray he would head a third major league. But that was not to be. The great baseball war ended as have all the others, in compromise and consolidation. The Baltimore Feds alone were dissatisfied with the results of the deal and carried their battle into the U.S. Supreme Court where organized baseball, in 1922, won the historic decision handed down by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, that the game was not subject to Federal Anti-Trust Law. The end of the Federal League saw Newark return from Harrisburg in 1916. When Richmond elected to stay in the league, Jack Dunn had to buy up the Jersey City franchise and bring Baltimore back into the fold.

Related Topics:
U.S. Supreme Court - Oliver Wendell Holmes - Federal Anti-Trust Law - Jack Dunn

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World War I in 1917 brought to its wake a fresh crisis for the International League. Attendance fell and club exchequers barely carried through the war. Financially feeble, 1918 the league was compelled to reorganize as the New International League. Ed Barrow, his salary halved, stepped down. Richmond, Providence and Montreal dropped out in favor of Jersey City, Binghamton, New York and Syracuse. Syracuse, though, found support wanting and moved to Hamilton during the year.

Related Topics:
World War I - New International League - Binghamton, New York

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During this hectic war year the International League was the only minor league to complete its season, and a search for sound, reliable cities began. In 1919 Reading, Pennsylvania succeeded Hamilton and in 1920 Akron, Ohio and Syracuse replaced Newark and Binghamton. In 1921 Newark reacquired the Akron franchise. John Conway Toole began an eight-year administration as League President, succeeding John Farrell and David Fultz who themselves had followed Barrow. Over the next few years, the League settled down and changes became infrequent, though there was a Newark-Providence-Newark shuffle in 1925-26. In 1928 a triple shift ended with Syracuse out and Montreal in.

Related Topics:
Reading, Pennsylvania - Akron, Ohio - John Conway Toole - John Farrell - David Fultz

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