#3

We’ve had a lot of fun counting down the Top 400 Moments in Major League Baseball history on The Stud 400 at BallNine and we’re down to the final few moments in our countdown. The countdown is mostly comprised of on-field events, off-field incidents that shaped the game and iconic appearances by baseball or baseball players in popular culture.

We’ve already dissected moments featuring everyone from Ty Cobb and Ted Williams to Bartolo Colon and Ron LeFlore and everyone in between. You’d figure as we got to the top few spots, we’d encounter the biggest names in the sport, and that’s certainly true.

Moment #4 featured Hank Aaron topping Babe Ruth and in recent installments, we featured events that centered on Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Roberto Clemente. So, today as we get to moment #3 in our countdown, we encounter someone that many baseball fans might not know by name. Even if they do, they probably don’t know much about the man and the events that made Major League Baseball what it is today.

That man’s name is Ban Johnson – and he founded the American League. Before we dive in, here’s a recount of where we currently stand in the countdown.

10: Roger Maris 61^st HR (1961)

9: Curt Flood & Marvin Miller challenge the Reserve Clause (1969)

8: Joe DiMaggio hits in 56 straight (1941)

7: Lou Gehrig’s Luckiest Man speech (1939)

6: Giants & Dodgers leave New York for California (1957)

5: The Shot Heard ‘Round the World (1951)

4: Hank Aaron’s 715^th HR (1974)

And now, Episode LXXXIX of The Stud 400:

3. Ban Johnson’s American League signs National Agreement with National League, forming MLB (1903)

Ban Johnson’s connection with baseball goes back to some of the game’s earliest roots. Johnson had a brief background as an amateur catcher and although he loved the game, his talents didn’t allow him to advance in the sport as a player. He studied law at the University of Cincinnati and eventually ended up as the sports editor and a writer for the Cincinnati Commercial-Gazette. Some of his writings reflected some of the same grumblings fans have today. In some of his writing, he lamented that Reds ownership cared more about making money than they did winning.

Sounds familiar.

In 1894, a new league called the Western League formed and they were seeking a president. Off of a recommendation from his friend Charles Comiskey, Johnson was named the first President of the Western League. The league featured eight teams in cities in the Midwest: Grand Rapids, Sioux City, Milwaukee, Detroit, Kansas City, Toledo, Indianapolis and Minneapolis.

At the time the Western League was formed, the National League was plagued by a rough-and-tumble image. The game was rife with shady characters, players often cheated and umpires were shown little respect—and were sometimes even physically abused. Players cussed and brawled and gamblers had their influence here and there. It wasn’t a sport of integrity and it was so bad that women and children wouldn’t even attend games. Johnson’s idea for the Western League was to clean up the sport and provide a solid structure to operate, with umpires receiving tremendous support and power over the games.

Johnson’s image came to fruition and the Western League games became a fun form of sports that was suitable for families to enjoy. As attendance rose, so did Johnson’s stature in the sport. Johnson oversaw every aspect of the league, making the schedule, signing players and exploring expansion. With the league thriving, the next step was to take it to another level.

In 1899, the National League contracted, dropping franchises in Baltimore, Washington, Louisville and Cleveland. It was the perfect opportunity to expand the footprint of the Western League and they added teams in Chicago and Cleveland. The name of the Western League was changed to the American League and was a direct threat to the existence of the National League, even if the Senior Circuit didn’t see it that way. At the time, the NL was more worried about the reformation of the American Association as they saw the newly formed American League as a minor league. By the turn of the century, they realized that the American League could surpass the National League in terms of popularity and on-field product.

In 1901, Johnson signed a 10-year contract as President of the American League and hatched realignment plans that included moving the Baltimore franchise to New York, where they would become the Highlanders and eventually the Yankees. Johnson had prepared the league for what he saw as the inevitable pushback from the National League and when it happened, he was ready.

Johnson had assured that all the teams in the American League had strong financial backing and shifted players around the league to make sure every team had a solid on-field product, keeping fan interest high in every city. The National League had capped salaries and restricted player movement through the reserve clause in what they felt was a move to solidify their stature. What it ended up doing was making the American League more attractive to the game’s biggest stars.

The biggest domino to fall was when players started abandoning the National League for the upstart American League. Cy Young left the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL for the Boston Americans, Nap Lajoie hopped from the Philadelphia Phillies to the Philadelphia A’s and Willie Keeler jumped from the Brooklyn Superbas to the New York Highlanders. Overall, about 100 players abandoned the National League for the American League. The conflict between the two leagues lasted roughly two years. In 1902, the American League outdrew the National League by over 500,000 fans.

Recognizing that fighting Ban Johnson and the American League was a losing battle, the National League went hat-in-hand to the American League about a partnership. The two leagues agreed to a pact called the National Agreement and set up a structure where the American and National Leagues were separate, but equal entities. They were governed by the same group—the three man National Commission—and arranged for an annual championship series. Eventually, the National Commission would be consolidated into the Commissioner’s Office and the championship became the World Series.

For the past five years, we have been counting down the moments that shaped the history of Major League Baseball. It only makes sense that one of the top moments in the countdown is the actual creation of Major League Baseball, and we have Ban Johnson to thank for that.