1898 New York State League

For the sheer, enjoyable avriciousness of it, few leagues come close to John H. Farrell's New York State League, 1894 to 1919. For dirty politicians/team investors; mathamatically impossible pennant race finishes; and the pathos of ex-major league characters stringing out their careers: look no further than this league.

This was the last year this league displayed its Erie Canal roots as canal boom towns alone made up the western circuit: small Palmyra, tiny Lyons, never-ready-for-prime-time Oswego, miniscule Canandaigua. As the year played out, competition from eastern independant teams devastated league attendance and ownership in Palmyra and Lyons abandoned their franchises.

The idependant team that caused the most panic was Charles Faatz's (the brother of ex-major leaguer Jay Faatz) Gloversville team, a team that actually stole the heart of the Palmyra lineup: Nadeau, Molesworth, Dolan, Stout, Gillen, and Thatcher. Mid-August, the NYSL suspended those players, moved the over-.500 Lyons team to Gloversville to compete head to head with Faatz, and moved Palmyra's "replacement" lineup of yannigans to nearby Johnstown.

Within four days of the 8/13 franchise shifting, nil attendance numbers coming out of Gloversville proved the idea flunked and that Faatz had won. The stillborn Gloversville and Johnstown teams were disbanded and the league reduced to six teams. But the neccessity of an eastward movement of the league took hold, and the cities of Binghamton, Schenectady, Troy and Albany joined the league in 1899.

Ironically, the two other canal towns staged a fantastic pennant race fight: Oswego seemed ready to win a hover victory over Canandaigua, but lost on the final day. Rome, the team which would win in 1899, started this year 0-10 with the following lineup:

Ellis, 3b

Odwell, p

Pleiss, lf

Werner, 1b

Rogers, c

OÕBrien, ss

Stout, 2b

Schroeder, cf

Connors, rf