1898 Western League

This three team rumble is notable for the huge gulf which opened up like a fissure between 5th and 6th places. This should be a more common feature in minor league pennant races, 1900-1910, but it isn't and I've always suspected, with only anecdotal evidence, that minor league presidents of this period systematically intervened to prevent too many cities from falling behind the pack. They could do this by helping engineer player sales from the top teams to the lower teams.

But this was Ban Johnson's league. It's tempting to say that Ban Johnson picked good cities and then left the teams alone in a survival of the fittest fight that eventually turned this Western League into the American League of 1901 which survives to this day. Connie Mack managed Milwaukee (note the late season collapse) and Charles Comiskey managed St. Paul. Both franchises would swerve into what today we know as the Oakland A's and the Chicago White Sox, respectively.

All pennant races with large "fissures" exhibit carousel-type elements due to the "soft-spot" in the schedule when a team could beat up the three tail-enders. Note Milwaukee's climb to third place (early June) before falling back; Kansas City's climb to second place (mid-June); and St. Paul's approach of first place (early July). Indianapolis' winning percentage, as well, spikes high early August and Milwaukee again, shows a winning percentage spike in September.

The league was oriented east-west with 1880's major league cities in the east: Milwaukee, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Columbus. The west took advantage of inter-city rivalries between St. Joseph and Kansas City and Minneapolis and St. Paul. On July 7th, the St. Joseph team was shifted to Omaha, and for 1899 Omaha shifted to Buffalo, NY. Ban Johnson used league funds (something that would be considered "embezzlement" in the 1919 court case against him) in securing the transfer of St. Joseph to new ownership in Omaha. But when Mr. Shuman, the new owner, balked at paying back salaries for players, Johnson slid Mr. Van Brunt, the old St. Joseph owner, back into control of the franchise now located in Omaha.

More maneuvering by Johnson included a threat to the monopolistic National League in early August. John Brush, Cincinnati owner and chairman of the ever-powerful executive committee, commented that the NL would move a team to (his hometown of) Indianapolis where the Western League was enjoying good attendance. Johnson announced if that happened the Western League would become a "rogue league" in 1899 and a team would be placed in Chicago with Cap Anson at the helm. As it was, Johnson only allowed Western League players to report to the NL after September 20, by far the latest report date of any minor league.

For a discussion about the 1899 Western League, see "Game Dots".