Hey! Guess what!? The 2015 baseball season is underway! We've been having lots of fun so far with the Mets prodigious win streak, the Cubs and the White Sox calling up phenoms, Kris Bryant and Carlos Rodon respectively, and Royals outfielder Paulo Orlando collecting 3 triples for his first 3 hits in the Major Leagues, the first player since 1900 to pull off that feat (seriously!). 2015 is also a noteworthy season because it marks the 100th anniversary of the folding of the Federal League. What exactly was the Federal League? Glad you asked!

Back a hundred years ago, the Federal League represented a third “major league” option for ballplayers to consider playing for, in addition to the National and American Leagues. The Federal League, started in 1914, was not affiliated with Major League Baseball, did not play any of their pennant winners, and was sort of an “outlaw league,” Players would breach their contracts with their MLB teams to jump ship to the Federal League, Reason? Shocker, for more money. At the end of the 1915 campaign, owners from both the American League and the National League agreed to buy out the bulk of Federal League owners, and thus the league's life was unceremoniously cut short. While the Federal League's life was gone in a heartbeat, that does not mean there weren't any interesting trivia tidbits to come out of it. Here are some of those fun facts!

Did you know that the Chicago Cubs were not Wrigley Field's first tenant? This is totally true! The Chicago Cubs came to existence in 1876, and owned several other team names, White Stockings, Colts, and Orphans, before settling on the Cubs in 1903. They also bounced around a few stadiums before calling Wrigley Field home in 1916. However, what many people don't know is that Wrigley Field, originally named Weeghman Park, was originally built as a Federal League stadium for the Chicago Whales in 1914. Though the Whales ceased operations after 1915 when the League went out of business, Weeghman Park never stopped operations. The Cubs moved into Weeghman Park in 1916, changed the name to Cubs Park in 1920, then to Wrigley Field in 1927, which has remained ever since. Wrigley Field is certainly the largest contribution the Federal League has left on the game of baseball today. 

Did you know that the first lefthanded pitcher to win his 300th game came during a Federal League game? The first pitcher to win 300 games? That would be the righthanded Hall-of-Famer Pud Galvin. Galvin's achievement came on September 4, 1888, while pitching for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys of the National League. After Galvin, seven other players reached the 300-win plateau, and every one of them was righthanded. Now fast forward to 1915, where we'll focus on southpaw Eddie Plank. Plank had played every season of his career, from 1901-1914, for Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics. He ammassed 284 wins for the A's, in addition to two World Series rings in 1911 and 1913. However, when 1915 came around, Plank was in search for a bigger paycheck, and the St. Louis Terriers of the Federal League were very happy to oblige. Pitching for the Terriers on a one year contract, Plank tallied a 21-11 record over 42 appearances, with a 2.08 ERA to go with it. Win #300 came on September 11, 1915 for Plank, as he went 8 innings allowing only 2 runs as his Terriers bested the Newark Peppers.

Though the Federal League was shortlived, its place in baseball history should not be overlooked. For more books on the subject, please visit our catalog.