1899 Interstate League

New Castle overcame a 10.5 game deficit on 7/23 and won their final forteen games in a row to snatch this outrageous vapors race. Jack Glasscock's Fort Wayne club turned out to be the only consistant club in the league and managed thrid place on that basis as Toledo finished the 16-19 after a seventeen game win streak gave them what looked to be a delayed blowout by early August.

Like the Western League in 1898, the neatness of the "fissure" lies in the fact that the first division teams represent half the eastern cities and half the western cities. In this way no homestand or road trip allows any team to take advantage of any scheduled soft spots. Mansfield's collapse in late June is interesting. During that same period, Toledo had their win streak and Wheeling, Dayton, and Grand Rapids all put on short spurts - it's tempting to suggest all took advantage of Mansfield's slump.

The Grand Rapids team actually foreclosed July 20th and league president Charles Powers aggressively moved the franchise into Western League territory at Columbus: this lasted only ten days before the team retreated fifty miles west to finish the season in nearby Springfield, OH.

Two interesting forfeits on July 27 dotted the landscape: Charles Strobel's Toledo club refused to finish the July 27 game against New Castle because someone stole a bat, and Glasscock, in the Fort Wayne at Youngstown game, unleashed a spew of cuss words in front of the ladies day grandstand that prompted many to get up and leave. As the umpire reprimanded Glasscock, a Fort Wayne player winged at bat at him from the bench.