1.
National League
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Both leagues currently have 15 teams. The two league champions of 1903 arranged to compete against each other in the inaugural World Series, after the 1904 champions failed to reach a similar agreement, the two leagues formalized the World Series as an arrangement between the leagues. National League teams have won 48 of the 112 World Series contested from 1903 to 2016, the 2016 National League champions are the Chicago Cubs. By 1875, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players was dangerously weak, additionally, Hulbert had a problem—five of his star players were threatened with expulsion from the NAPBBP because Hulbert had signed them to his club using what were considered questionable means. Hulbert had a vested interest in creating his own league. After recruiting St. Louis privately, four western clubs met in Louisville, Kentucky, Boston Red Stockings, the dominant team in the N. A. Hartford Dark Blues from the N. A. Mutual of New York from the N. A. St. Louis Brown Stockings from the N. A, the only strong club from 1875 excluded in 1876 was a second one in Philadelphia, often called the White Stockings or Phillies. The first game in National League history was played on April 22,1876, at Philadelphias Jefferson Street Grounds, 25th & Jefferson, the new leagues authority was tested after the first season. The National League operated with six clubs during 1877 and 1878, over the next several years, various teams joined and left the struggling league. By 1880, six of the eight members had folded. The two remaining original NL franchises, Boston and Chicago, remain in operation today as the Atlanta Braves, in 1883 the New York Gothams and Philadelphia Phillies began National League play. Both teams remain in the NL today, the Phillies in their original city, the NL encountered its first strong rival organization when the American Association began play in 1882. The A. A. played in cities where the NL did not have teams, offered Sunday games and alcoholic beverages in locales where permitted, the National League and the American Association participated in a version of the World Series seven times during their ten-year coexistence. These contests were less organized than the modern Series, lasting as few as three games and as many as fifteen, with two Series ending in disputed ties, the NL won four times and the A. A. only once, in 1886. Starting with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1887, the National League began to raid the American Association for franchises to replace NL teams that folded and this undercut the stability of the A. A. Other new leagues that rose to compete with the National League were the Union Association, the Union Association was established in 1884 and folded after playing only one season, its league champion St. Louis Maroons joining the NL. The NL suffered many defections of star players to the Players League, the Brooklyn, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and New York franchises of the NL absorbed their Players League counterparts. The labor strife of 1890 hastened the downfall of the American Association, after the 1891 season, the A. A. disbanded and merged with the NL, which became known legally for the next decade as the National League and American Association
2.
Washington Park (baseball)
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Washington Park was the name given to three major league Baseball parks on two different sites in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, located at Third Street and Fourth Avenue. The first two sites were diagonally opposite each other at that intersection, the third site was the same as the second site. The first Washington Park was bounded by Third and Fifth Streets, the property contained an old building then called the Gowanus House, which stands today, albeit largely reconstructed. Those events inspired the ballparks name, the ballpark was the home of the Brooklyn baseball club during 1883–1891, with a slight interruption by a destructive fire during the 1889 season. The team, then called the Atlantics, had started in a league in 1883, joined the then-major American Association in 1884. Streetcar tracks ran near the ballpark, inspiring the one of the many nicknames that ultimately stuck. In 1891, the split its time between Washington Park and a newer facility called Eastern Park in Brownsville, moving there full-time in 1892. That might have seemed like an idea at the time, but the park was a little too eastern for the fans convenience. The second Washington Park was bounded by First and Third Streets and it was located at 40°40′30″N 73°59′10″W. It consisted of a covered grandstand behind the infield and uncovered stand down the field line. The Brooklyn National Leaguers, by then called the Superbas as well as the Dodgers, moved into this new ballpark in 1898. On April 30,1898, the Dodgers played their first game at new Washington Park and 15,000 fans attended. One of the unusual features of the Park was the aroma from nearby factories and Gowanus Canal. Meanwhile, owner Charlie Ebbets slowly invested in the lots on a larger piece of property in Flatbush. So in 1913, the Dodgers, at that time most often called the Robins for their manager Wilbert Robinson, abandoned Washington Park. The old park took on an appearance, in fact. Part of the center field wall of this final Washington Park still stands on the east side of 3rd Avenue, south of 1st Street. A book by Barnet Schecter that includes and excellent study of the Battle of Long Island, ebbets-Field. com Brooklyn Ballparks page on Washington Park
3.
Brooklyn
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Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York City, with a Census-estimated 2,636,735 residents in 2015. It borders the borough of Queens at the end of Long Island. Today, if New York City dissolved, Brooklyn would rank as the third-most populous city in the U. S. behind Los Angeles, the borough continues, however, to maintain a distinct culture. Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are ethnic enclaves, Brooklyns official motto, displayed on the Borough seal and flag, is Eendraght Maeckt Maght which translates from early modern Dutch as Unity makes strength. Since 2010, Brooklyn has evolved into a hub of entrepreneurship and high technology startup firms. The history of European settlement in Brooklyn spans more than 350 years, the neighborhood of Marine Park was home to North Americas first tidal mill. It was built by the Dutch, and the foundation can be seen today, however, the area was not formally settled as a town. Many incidents and documents relating to this period are in Gabriel Furmans early compilation, what is today Brooklyn left Dutch hands after the final English conquest of New Netherland in 1664, a prelude to the Second Anglo–Dutch War. The English reorganized the six old Dutch towns on southwestern Long Island as Kings County on November 1,1683 and this tract of land was recognized as a political entity for the first time, and the municipal groundwork was laid for a later expansive idea of Brooklyn identity. On August 27,1776 was fought the Battle of Long Island, the first major engagement fought in the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared, and the largest of the entire conflict. British troops forced Continental Army troops under George Washington off the heights near the sites of Green-Wood Cemetery, Prospect Park. The fortified American positions at Brooklyn Heights consequently became untenable and were evacuated a few days later, One result of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 was the evacuation of the British from New York City, celebrated by residents into the 20th century. The New York Navy Yard operated in Wallabout Bay for the entire 19th century, the first center of urbanization sprang up in the Town of Brooklyn, directly across from Lower Manhattan, which saw the incorporation of the Village of Brooklyn in 1817. Reliable steam ferry service across the East River to Fulton Landing converted Brooklyn Heights into a town for Wall Street. Ferry Road to Jamaica Pass became Fulton Street to East New York, Town and Village were combined to form the first, kernel incarnation of the City of Brooklyn in 1834. Industrial deconcentration in mid-century was bringing shipbuilding and other manufacturing to the part of the county. Each of the two cities and six towns in Kings County remained independent municipalities, and purposely created non-aligning street grids with different naming systems and it later became the most popular and highest circulation afternoon paper in America. The publisher changed to L. Van Anden on April 19,1842, on May 14,1849 the name was shortened to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, on September 5,1938 it was further shortened to Brooklyn Eagle
4.
Charlie Byrne (baseball)
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Charles H. Byrne was a New York realtor who was one of the original founders of the team that became the Brooklyn Dodgers. Byrne was a graduate of St. Francis Xavier College, and they leased land on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn to build Washington Park, the teams original home, which cost $30,000. In its first year, the played in the minor-league Inter-State Association of Professional Baseball Clubs. Having attracted a following, the moved the franchise in 1884 to the American Association, a competitor to the more established National League. After managing the team from 1885-1887, Byrne saw the franchise join the National League in 1890, under his tenure, the team, known variously as the Grays, Grooms, Bridegrooms and Dodgers, posted a record of 567-506 and won two league championships. Byrne was in ill health at the time of the National League meeting in November 1897, but he insisted on making the journey from Virginia, after the meeting concluded, his health took a turn for the worse, from which he never recovered. Byrne was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens, New York,120 Years of Dodgers history Charlie Byrne managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference. com
5.
Ferdinand Abell
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Gus Abell was one of the original founders of the team that became the Brooklyn Dodgers. A Rhode Island casino owner, he put up most of the money to form the team in 1883 and also was the financing behind the building of Washington Park. He stuck primarily to the side of the franchise, letting his partners Charlie Byrne, George Taylor. He was the force behind the Dodgers merger with the original Baltimore Orioles in 1898. He remained part of the Dodgers ownership group until he was out by Charles Ebbets in 1907. Baseball Library Dodgers. com ownership history The birth of the Dodgers Dodgers History
6.
1889 Brooklyn Bridegrooms season
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The 1889 Brooklyn Bridegrooms won the American Association championship by two games over the St. Louis Browns. December 23,1888, Al Mays and Dave Orr were purchased from the Bridegrooms by the Columbus Solons, prior to 1889 season, Paul Radford was purchased from the Bridegrooms by the Cleveland Spiders. Note, Pos = Position, G = Games played, AB = At bats, R = runs, H = Hits, Avg. = Batting average, HR = Home runs, RBI = Runs batted in, SB = Stolen bases Note, G = Games played, AB = At bats, R = runs, H = Hits, the Giants won the series,6 games to 3. This series would be the first meeting between two historic rivals. Baseball-Reference season page Baseball Almanac season page Brooklyn Dodgers reference site Retrosheet
