Dec 17, 1891-One League
Submitted by BTGrimes on Thu, 12/17/2009 - 6:00am |
| And then there was one INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - The National League was left standing as the only major league TODAY in BASEBALL (1891) when the American Association folded. The National League announced at its winter meetings in Indianapolis that four AA teams, the Baltimore Orioles, St. Louis Browns, Louisville Colonels and Washington Senators would be absorbed by the NL making it a 12-team league. Several other American Association teams had been absorbed by the NL in previous years; the Pittsburgh Alleghenys (now the Pirates), Cleveland Spiders (defunct), Cincinnati Red Stockings (now the Reds) and Brooklyn Bridegrooms (now the Dodgers). The American Association had challenged the National League as a second major league from 1882 to 1891. The two leagues even had seven World Series during those years. While the American Association wasn't viable enough to survive, the National League must have felt threatened by it, which is why it eventually absorbed several teams. The National League's monopoly of major league baseball didn't last long. In 1900 it dropped the four American Association franchises it absorbed in 1891. The Baltimore Orioles, St. Louis Browns and Washington Senators became members of the new American League. The Louisville Colonels folded as a major league team. The Colonels surfaced again as a minor league team in the American Association which existed from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997, but it was not connected to the original AA. Contributing sources:
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