One of the most radical experiments in professional sports occurred, remarkably enough, in baseball more than 120 years ago. Baseball’s Players League enjoyed only a one-year existence in 1890 as it attempted to establish a circuit partly controlled and owned by the players themselves. “The Great Baseball Revolt” traces the events that led to this bold effort to empower players who sought an alternative to the established National League, with its salary cap and rules that bound players to one team. The Players League fielded teams in Boston, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, and managed to lure many of the best players away from the National League while outdrawing the NL at the gate.Yet the National League’s hardball tactics of over inflating its attendance and profits served to sink the Players League, which as a short-lived startup depended heavily on funding from wealthy capitalists.
Here’s an excerpt from The Great Baseball Revolt:
“In a series of measures issued during the late 1870s and 1880s, the [National League] restricted players’ behavior both on and off the field, mobility from one team to another, and ability to contest these and other measures. In doing so the National League managed to significantly reduce player salaries without reducing the game’s ticket prices, level of play, or popularity.
“Starting in 1877 National League players were charged fifty cents per day on road trips to cover part of their travel expenses. They were also required to buy, clean, repair, and replace their own uniforms. Umpires and club owners were authorized to fine players up to twenty dollars for using profanity on the playing field.”