Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season as a minor league in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from 1914 to 1915.
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Federal League came together in early 1913 through the work of John T Powers, and immediately challenged the operations of organized baseball as a minor league playing outside of the National Agreement.
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The Federal League left its mark on baseball history in the field now known as Wrigley Field, which was originally built for the Chicago Whales Federal League team.
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Federal League named the organization the Federal League, and served as its first president.
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Major League players that jumped to the Federal League included Bill McKechnie, Claude Hendrix, Jack Quinn, Russell Ford, Tom Seaton, Doc Crandall, Al Bridwell, Hy Myers, and Hal Chase.
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The Federal League recruited Big League names to manage the new teams.
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In 1914, the Colonial Federal League began to operate as a Class C level league based in Southern New England.
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Two Federal League owners were allowed to buy struggling franchises in the established leagues: Phil Ball, owner of the St Louis Terriers, was allowed to buy the St Louis Browns of the AL, and Charles Weeghman, owner of the Chicago Whales, bought the Chicago Cubs.
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Marc Okkonen, in his book on the Federal League, referred to Wrigley as a "silent monument" to the failed Federal League experiment.
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The Baltimore entry sold their facility to the Baltimore Orioles of the International Federal League, who renamed it Oriole Park and played there for nearly 30 years before it was destroyed by fire.
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Federal League was the last serious attempt at creating a "third major league" outside the established structure of professional baseball in the US There was one further attempt at creating a third league – the Continental League in 1959 – but its founders had hoped to find their place within the purview of organized baseball.
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