Secret Meetings and Clever Dealings: Milwaukee’s Pivotal Role in the Formation of Major League Baseball

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Photo: Public Domain - Wikimedia Commons

Milwaukee Brewers 1889

The Milwaukee Brewers of the Western Association in 1889

In the early years of professional baseball, the American landscape was sprinkled with an overabundance of ballclubs. Every town with a road running through it fielded a starting nine, and there was an ever-changing legion of leagues at all levels.

The main league though was the National League. Founded in 1876, it featured franchises in major cities stretching from Boston to St Louis. For the next quarter-century, the NL hosted a steady flow of clubs while fending off numerous expansion leagues.

At the time, a loose pact known as the National Agreement created some semblance of order in the scattered expanse of pro baseball. It stated that rival leagues would respect one another’s contracts and provided a general hierarchy among the prominent leagues. Most importantly, it established the NL as the only “major league.”

League in Trouble

But by the turn of the 20th century, the National League was in trouble. The 12-team association had too many bottom feeders, hurting fan engagement and curbing attendance. Players were angered by an owner-instituted salary cap, and on-field fighting was commonplace.

In the 1899 offseason, the NL planned to downsize. First, it needed to rebuff the growing Western League, a rival upstart. Run by Ban Johnson, the Western League began in 1885 and featured clubs around the Great Lakes.

The Western League was a minor league, but after the 1899 season, the Johnson was ready to overtake the declining NL—and Milwaukee was the axis point for this scheme.

Milwaukee Makes a Pitch

In late 1899, Milwaukee lawyer Henry Killilea hosted a meeting at his estate at 1616 Grand Avenue (now Wisconsin Avenue). Among those present were Henry’s brother Matthew (also a lawyer), Ban Johnson, Chicago White Stockings owner Charles Comiskey, and future Hall-of-Fame manager Connie Mack.

The Killilea brothers were integral during the early days of pro baseball in Milwaukee, founding the city’s Western League team in 1893. Matt was club president while Henry was part-owner of the team managed by Connie Mack.

Also in attendance was Milwaukee boxing promoter Tom Andrews, who quickly realized the serious nature of the meeting. “Unlike most meetings among baseball men of that time,” Andrews stated, “our gathering had no refreshments. As Johnson said, ‘Boys, we are here for business.’ “

Johnson outlined his plans to transform the Western League into a major league: “Our idea of forming a new major league is to invade the larger eastern cities,” Johnson emphasized. “Don’t be discouraged if the National League tries to bluff us. Fight them with fire, gentlemen!”

Such a move required breaking the National Agreement, and, in turn, would muddle the delicately balanced framework of professional baseball. At a league-wide meeting in October, further progress was made, as the owners agreed to rename their organization the “American League.”

Secret Session

Then, on the night of March 5, 1900, the core quintet (minus Gross and Andrews) met secretly at the Republican Hotel in Milwaukee. The objective was to incorporate Comiskey’s White Stockings into the AL.

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Photo by Liam Hanley

Birthplace of the American League plaque

The National League prohibited the AL from encroaching on its turf in Chicago, citing the National Agreement, but remained coy about which franchises it planned to eliminate. Comiskey relocated his club from Saint Paul to Chicago in the offseason, and on that March night, he defied the NL by formally incorporating the White Stockings into the American League.

The club’s signatory officers were three Milwaukee businessmen who frequented the Republican. By registering the club in Wisconsin, the AL sidestepped the Chicago papers and hid the move from the NL. Shortly after, the National League condensed to eight clubs. Ban Johnson subsequently announced the AL’s Chicago franchise.

The eight-team AL was a minor league for the 1900 season, but afterward, it officially broke the National Agreement and became a “major league.” The league added franchises in three cities made redundant by the NL in 1900 and poached NL players.

The Original Brewers

Among the clubs in the American League’s inaugural major league season was the Milwaukee Brewers—which lasted just one season in the AL before relocating to St Louis and becoming the Browns.

In 1903, the incensed but defeated National League established a truce with the American League by chartering another National Agreement. The pact recognized the AL as a second “major league” and set up the first World Series between the two leagues. Major League Baseball was born.

A historical marker, erected in 2000, stands at the corner of North Old World 3rd Street and West Kilbourn Avenue at the site of the former Republican Hotel, (which was demolished in 1961), commemorating Ban Johnson’s famous meeting in March 1901.

The small metal plaque serves as a reminder of Milwaukee’s pivotal but oft-forgotten role in baseball history.