I am reading "Farewell to the Last Golden Era: The Yankees, the Pirates and the 1960 Baseball Season" and the first chapter has a blockbuster piece of info that I can't believe I never heard of before: Branch Rickey and Bill Shea (of Shea Stadium) announced in 1960 that they were forming a third Major League, the Continental League with franchises in NY (building began at Shea Stadium for this team), Buffalo, Toronto, Denver, Dallas, Atlanta, Montreal, and Minneapolis-St. Paul. 

Ford Frick, the Commissioner, officially welcomed it given that Senator Kefauver otherwise threatened to hold anti-trust hearings on MLB's monopoly. 

It did not happen in the end, but several of the subsequent expansions or team moves (Senators to the Twin Cities) had their origins in this, and given that Branch Rickey was one of the founders and another did get a NY stadium built, it was no complete fantasy. 

Strange - is this well known? Has anyone hear heard of this league almost happening in 1960?

yes most met fans have heard or read it, I would suspect Astro fans Angel fans and twin fans would have some knowledge of it.   Just out in paperback I'm reading "The Outlaw League and the Battle that forged modern baseball" by daniel R Levitt.  About the Federal league which Wis recognizes.  (last time I checked they don't recognize the WFL or the USFL in football).  

I've heard of it....It's in Branch Rickey books and might be in Leo Durocher's.

A very interesting class could be designed around studying the history of these leagues across major sports (WFL, USFL XFL in football; WHA in hockey; ABA in basketball, Player's League, American League, Federal League, Continental League in baseball) to understand why some succeeded and others didn't.  Could address issues of business law, labor unrest, marketing and business strategy, and politics and leadership.  

Posted by contrarian23 on 5/22/2015 6:59:00 AM (view original):
A very interesting class could be designed around studying the history of these leagues across major sports (WFL, USFL XFL in football; WHA in hockey; ABA in basketball, Player's League, American League, Federal League, Continental League in baseball) to understand why some succeeded and others didn't.  Could address issues of business law, labor unrest, marketing and business strategy, and politics and leadership.  

Hmmm, have to think of a nearby college to offer such a course at. Would be fun. The interesting thing about the Continental League to me is, first, unlike the others (I used to go see the original Nets play in the ABA with the red, white and blue basketball and was a fan of the old AFL - Jets AND Raider - don't ask me how that was possible) I never heard of it before reading this book, and second it was (almost) in my lifetime as I was born in 1960. Strange story, seems almost forgetten, almost a real-life version of Philip Roth's fictional third major league in "The Great American Novel", itself a forgetten classic read. 

I had heard of the Continental League and knew the sabre rattling had to do with the Mets and eventual relocation of the Twins, but hadn't realized the Buffalo and Toronto connection. Seems odd nowadays to think that Buffalo could have had a professional baseball team. They're way off the radar now (population base, proximity to Toronto, and general economic malaise.

Speaking of books, I'm about a 1/3rd of the way through Charles Leerhsen's recently published biography of Ty Cobb. It's title is Ty Cobb -A Terrible Beauty. First of all, Leerhsen has an amazing CV in the world of writing and publishing. Solid-as-a-rock writer. This bio casts fresh light on Cobb's reputation and expounds in great detail on the notorious way which many view him today, especially the unfairness of his racist reputation. In short (and I really encourage all reading this post to pick up the book), Leerhsen's incredible research finds that Ty never said anything about race until very late in his life when he told a magazine that "the Negro has the right to play professional sports, and who is to say he has not". Cobb's Grandpa refused to serve the Confederacy primarily due to the slavery issue (he was an abolitionist). His Dad was a Georgia Senator who once broke up a lynch mob.

I could go on but won't, but once again suggest you put this on your summer reading list. Cobb was a rock star in his day. Played hard but was well liked. An interesting part of the book talks to the point of his popularity. A cartoonist sent him a letter addressed only with a picture of a necktie and a corncob to Georgia. It was delivered to Ty absent all other address information but that.

Wow. Here is a Boston Globe review of the book on Cobb. Sounds like a must read, thanks redwingscup.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2015/05/09/review-cobb-terrible-beauty-charles-leerhsen/UIPesjIy4aEvYpkj4n1wkN/story.html


In fact, in the book I mention above, I had just read that Cobb was very happy with the arrival of Luis Aparicio and Willie Mays (whom he apparently admired a lot) for having brought back the inside game to baseball. Amazing.

Terry Pluto wrote a book on the ABA, and someone wrote a book about the WHA  Gretzsky started there, but its somewhere in my basement.  

The Will ferrell movie about the ABA does have some of the facts right

i have the ken burns book which his documentary is based on and in the start of the 6th inning the continental league is mentioned and credited for not just the twins but also the angels.  i can't remember if it was included in the documentary.  the original cities that rickey proposed were atlanta,houston,dallas,denver,minneapolis,buffalo,toronto,brooklyn and new york with plans for 11 more cities that are unnamed in the book

I read a book last year called "The Continental League: A Personal History", written by Russell Buhite, who was the son of one of the prospective general managers in the Continental League.  It's a good read into how the league was proposed and why it didn't work.  A lot of their ideas were ahead of their time, like revenue sharing.  But ultimately the reason why we have the Minnesota Twins, Houston Astros and a few others (especially those expansion teams in the early 60's) stems from pressure from the Continental League. 

I'm surprised that Bill James didn't mention this league in his Historical Abstract.

It was mentioned briefly in Ken Burns' doc.

As for Minnesota, we were almost the future home of the New York Giants. The stadium was already there, as the Giants' AAA Minneapolis Millers had bulit Met Stadium in Bloomington, and expansion plans were already in the works. San Francisco swooped in at the last minute and gave Horace Stoneham a deal he couldn't pass on.

Posted by redwingscup on 5/24/2015 2:11:00 AM (view original):
I had heard of the Continental League and knew the sabre rattling had to do with the Mets and eventual relocation of the Twins, but hadn't realized the Buffalo and Toronto connection. Seems odd nowadays to think that Buffalo could have had a professional baseball team. They're way off the radar now (population base, proximity to Toronto, and general economic malaise.

Speaking of books, I'm about a 1/3rd of the way through Charles Leerhsen's recently published biography of Ty Cobb. It's title is Ty Cobb -A Terrible Beauty. First of all, Leerhsen has an amazing CV in the world of writing and publishing. Solid-as-a-rock writer. This bio casts fresh light on Cobb's reputation and expounds in great detail on the notorious way which many view him today, especially the unfairness of his racist reputation. In short (and I really encourage all reading this post to pick up the book), Leerhsen's incredible research finds that Ty never said anything about race until very late in his life when he told a magazine that "the Negro has the right to play professional sports, and who is to say he has not". Cobb's Grandpa refused to serve the Confederacy primarily due to the slavery issue (he was an abolitionist). His Dad was a Georgia Senator who once broke up a lynch mob.

I could go on but won't, but once again suggest you put this on your summer reading list. Cobb was a rock star in his day. Played hard but was well liked. An interesting part of the book talks to the point of his popularity. A cartoonist sent him a letter addressed only with a picture of a necktie and a corncob to Georgia. It was delivered to Ty absent all other address information but that.

I’m going to get this book tomorrow. Thanks for the review and thanks to italyprof’s link to the Boston Globe review. I have held a terrible opinion of Cobb all these years. I am ready to learn...

I seem to remember reading in the Sporting News in the mid '70's that the guy who founded the World Hockey Association was spit-balling an idea of a rival league to challenge MLB, with teams in Toronto, Seattle, Tampa...a lot of the cities that later got expansion teams. I don't think this effort every really got beyond the talking stage, but the '70's was the pinnacle of new sports leagues challenging the majors (WHA, ABA, WFL).