Saturday, March 26, 2011

The 1884 Maroons: The Union Ball League

The proposed new National base ball association, to be known as the Union Association, is attracting considerable attention throughout the country. It is claimed that it will consist of clubs from Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Boston, Newark, N.J., and St. Louis, and that its abrogation of the reserve rule will be the means of breaking up the American Association and the League. Mr. Charles Mason, one of the owners of the Athletic Club, said to-day that he did not think the new association would succeed because there were no men of experience or prominence backing it, and because the tripartite associations were too strong to be hurt by the new organization. Secretary Williams agrees with Mason, and does not fear the Union Association. He says at their meeting representatives were present only from two or three cities, and that the talk of a club from Philadelphia entering the Union was absurd. He is sure Dan O'Leary, who already has his entire nine engaged for next year, will not risk anything in the new venture. He also believes that the Brooklyns will not enter.
-The Cleveland Herald, September 14, 1883

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