The Formation of the UNBA

United National Baseball Association

The Formation of the UNBA

The UNBA was formed in October of 1900 when two leagues: the United Baseball Association and the National Organized Baseball League consolidated their respective leagues to each of their strongest eight ballclubs. The leagues then merged to create a strong association of sixteen professional ballclubs in order to be at the forefront of all professional baseball leagues and associations in the world. The winner of each league would compete in best of seven game series that would determine the champion of the world.

A bronze cup was commissioned to be built for the world champions. This cup was finished shortly before the 1902 world championship series. This trophy was christened the Competitors’ Cup and is awarded to the world championship team for one year. The world champion's team name and date of victory is engraved underneath the base of the trophy.

Before the Merger

The United Baseball Association was a group of 10-20 teams from the time of its formation in 1886, until the merger that formed the UNBA. The UBA did not place restrictions on player movement, set schedules, or name a league champion. Rather the UBA served as an enforcing body for a unified set of rules and regulations, in addition to being a collective for teams to easily find opponents.

The St Louis Paddle Steamers (Today the St Louis Steamers) were the best team during the initial year of 1886. This was followed by a great year by the now defunct Park Athletic Club in 1887. The Ohio Taylors (Today the Ohio Royals) were clearly the best team during the years of both 1888 and 1889. The Cleveland Grizzlies joined the league in 1890 and signed the 23 year old talented center fielder Jeff Burrell away from the Boston Artillery (now defunct) along with several other talented east coast players and created a talented team that would dominate the 1890 and 1891 seasons. The Chicago Crusaders would emerge during the 1892 season as the new power within the UBA and go on to continue its winning ways throughout the 1893 and 1894 seasons.

The 1895 and 1896 seasons were marked by a large increase in the quality of play as both the Pittsburgh Panthers and the Cleveland Grizzlies would boast talented rosters. The Grizzlies’ Jeff Burrell would play his best ball of his career during these two years dominating the league at his position and at the plate. However the Grizzlies would fall short compared to the Pittsburgh Panthers who completely dominated the game of baseball during the same two years. The Panthers traveled the country and throughout the course of those two seasons they won over 80% of their games against all comers. Gary Aiken, the Panther’s ace pitcher struck out batters with his effective fastball and wicked curveball. Pittsburgh employed some of the first baseball strategies such as shifts and encouraged a high rate of attempted steals during a ball game. In 1897 the dominate Pittsburgh Panthers were outshone by the rising force of the Detroit Titans who with a younger roster were able to win more games during the course of the season. In 1898 the Cleveland Grizzlies would once again rise to the top with the help of a slight renaissance from the now 31 year old Jeff Burrell. The Illinois Packers would control the 1899 season winning more games than the talented St. Louis Steamers. In 1900 the Packers would fade and allow the St. Louis Steamers to step into the spotlight one last time before the UBA would merge with the NOBL.

The National Organized Baseball League formed in 1893 with six teams, four of which joined the UNBA in 1901. Those four teams are the Boston Brotherhood, Baltimore Runners, Manhattan Thunder, and Washington D.C. Executives. The NOBL was an organized league with league appointed champions and rules restricting player movement in addition to a set of rules and regulations regarding the game.

During its first season the Boston Brotherhood won the inaugural 1893 league championship. The Manhattan Thunder won the league championship during the 1894 and 1895 seasons. The Boston Brotherhood then claimed the 1896 championship with a large lead over the other teams in the league. During these early years the league championship was solely contested between Boston and Manhattan. The 1897 and 1898 seasons were dominated by the Adrian McCarthy led Pennsylvania Scarlets who cruised to back to back championships. The 1899 championship was won by the Brooklyn Beermen in a 5 game championship series (one of the first Championship series), 3-1 against the Boston Beetles. In 1900 the Manhattan Thunder defeated the Boston Brotherhood 3-2 for the league championship.

NOBL

1893: Boston Brotherhood

1894: Manhattan Thunder

1895: Manhattan Thunder

1896: Boston Brotherhood

1897: Pennsylvania Scarlets

1898: Pennsylvania Scarlets

1899: Brooklyn Beermen

1900: Manhattan Thunder

During these early years there was a high turnover of players due to low paychecks and as a result it was rare for a player to stay on one team for a career. Many players bounced from team to team collecting paychecks for individual weekends or even games. This led to many changes in the talent levels on particular ballclubs. Teams rarely ended the season with the same players they employed at the beginning of the season. The Pittsburgh Panthers of the 1895 and 1896 seasons were a marked difference, the most complete team of the early years was able to maintain most of their key players for their two year run before they eventually succumbed to their own players moving on to more lucrative paychecks.