1901 Western Association

A bizarre carousel won by Grand Rapids capped the history of the Western Association before it evolved into the American Association. Grand Rapids, a fill in town from the 1900 Canadian League, opened the season well but did so poorly at the gate that it transferred June 3rd to Wheeling before dipping below .500. Grand Rapids fans however got a second chance for pennant fever when Louisville transferred operations there July 2 and the team survived Dayton's 33-4 late August spurt.

The feature of the season was the record put up by Indianapolis. A 43-18 start and a 14-61 finish. Reportedly the team moved to "Mathews" around July 10th, but I don't show any cities by that name. Being twenty games over .500 and twenty games under .500 in the same season is extremely rare. Only the 1890 Philadelphia AA club has done it on the major league level. Then, in 1902 Indianapolis would win a hard-fought pennant over Louisville. Indy's drop-off is so immense that it fuels the positive turn-arounds for two sub-.500 teams: Toledo and Fort Wayne.

This league really is the Interstate League of 1900: but made stronger by moving into ex-Western League territory (when Ban Johnson's Western League became the American League) and ex-Central League territory (available at the moment as those cities would re-organize by 1903). Big city additions gave this league entity it's new stature. Indianapolis and Grand Rapids entered the league from the AL of 1900, and Louisville entered one-year after being kicked out by the National League. Only centrally located Marion, OH, is the uninspired addition. It would go by 1902 and never appear in the AA.