History
With the National Association of Base Ball Players in disarray because of the battle between amateurs and professionals, ten professional clubs met on March 17, 1871, to form a new organization. They simply added one word to the old name and called it the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP).
The new association took a major step by creating a genuine championship, open to any team that paid a $10 fee. A club entering the championship race was supposed to play five games against every other team in the race, but there was no formal schedule. Teams were expected to work out their own scheduling.
One of the association's biggest weaknesses was revealed before its first season even began. The Washington Nationals, although they were represented at the organizational meeting, decided it wasn't worth $10 to enter the championship contest.
One reason was probably that another Washington team, the Olympias, belonged to the association. The Nationals could find plenty of competition without going far from home while the Olympias went on their required road trips to play championship games.
The Fort Wayne Kekiongas, representing one of the smaller cities in the association, were forced to drop out after losing 12 of 19 games. They were theoretically replaced by the Brooklyn Eckfords, but the Eckfords didn't even play enough games to be included in the association standings.
Since any club could compete for the championship by simply paying a $10 fee--or choose not to compete, for that matter--teams moved into and out of the association constantly. Small towns competed with major cities, and one city often had two or more teams in the race.
If a club was well out of the pennant race, there was no incentive to keep on playing against other association teams. It was usually more profitable for a team to stay close to home, playing exhibition games against neighboring rivals, than to pay travel expenses for championship games against superior teams.
The table below illustrates the association's lack of cohesiveness. It shows the teams that entered the championship race at the beginning of each season and the number of games each of them actually played against other association teams.
Boston's dominance of the championship race during the association's last four seasons certainly didn't help the cause. In 1875, the Red Stockings won 71 times in 79 games, and they averaged 10.5 runs a game to 4.3 for their opponents. Even Boston fans weren't particularly interested in watching such one-sided games.
It's easy now to criticize the way the NAPBBP was set up, but it must be remembered that this group of clubs and players was trying to do something totally new. There was no such thing as a league in any sport. In fact, organized competitive sports of any kind were virtually unknown in this country, and they were just beginning in England. So it's not surprising that this first attempt was far from perfect.
When the National League replaced the NAPBBP in 1876, it avoided many of the mistakes that the association had made. But it also built on the foundation that the association had laid down.