The Baltimore Terrapins were one of the most successful teams in the short-lived

Federal League The 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 e ...

of professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

from to , but their brief existence led to litigation that led to an important legal

precedent A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...

in baseball. The team played its home games at Terrapin Park.

1914 Baltimore Terrapins season

Most of the professional baseball teams in Baltimore have been called the Orioles, in reference to the Baltimore oriole bird. There was already a minor league Baltimore Orioles, and the new Federal League club built their ballpark directly across the street from the Orioles park. The new club chose to call itself the Baltimore Terrapins, after the

diamondback terrapin The diamondback terrapin or simply terrapin (''Malaclemys terrapin'') is a species of turtle native to the brackish coastal tidal marshes of the Northeastern and southern United States, and in Bermuda. It belongs to the monotypic genus ''Mal ...

, the state reptile of Maryland. That nickname would later become primarily associated with the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

sports teams called the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divis ...

. Baltimore gathered for spring training in Southern Pines, North Carolina at the Southern Pines Golf Club, previously used by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1909 and 1910. Terrapins manager Otto Knabe had played for these Phillies teams and trained in Southern Pines. While the team posted a respectable 84–70 record and finished only 4½ games out of first place under

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

Otto Knabe Franz Otto Knabe (June 12, 1884 – May 17, 1961), also known as "Dutch", was an American Major league second baseman from Carrick, Pennsylvania, who played for four teams. Knabe received MVP votes in three-straight seasons, 1911-1913, as a ...

, the team was less than successful at the box office, even though four of the eight teams in the league (

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, and

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

) were competing with one and even two (Chicago and St. Louis) other major league teams in the same cities.

1915 Baltimore Terrapins season

In an attempt to turn this situation around and attract a marquee player to help them at the box office, the team recruited Chief Bender of the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

champion Philadelphia Athletics. The Athletics had sold off several future Hall-of-Famers like

Eddie Plank Edward Stewart Plank (August 31, 1875 – February 24, 1926), nicknamed "Gettysburg Eddie", was an American professional baseball player. A pitcher, Plank played in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Athletics from 1901 through 1914, t ...

, Eddie Collins and Frank "Home Run" Baker after being swept by the surprising Boston Braves in the

1914 World Series The 1914 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's 1914 season. The 11th edition of the World Series, it was played between the American League champion and defending World Series champion Philadelphia Athletics and ...

. Bender had come off an impressive 17–3 season where he compiled seven

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

s and a 2.26

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

in 1914. However, his 1915 season at Baltimore was a low point of his Hall of Fame career when he slumped to a 4–16 record, no shutouts, and a 3.99 ERA. Baltimore's collapse to a 47–107 record, 40 games out of first, was overshadowed only by the collapse of Bender's former team who went from a 99–53 league championship season to a dismal 43–109 record, 58½ games out of first in 1915. Bender and the Baltimore Terrapins never made a full recovery from 1915. The incident did show the Federal League could compete seriously with the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

and

on a professional baseball level and led to the buy-out truce which ended the Federal League for good. However, the Baltimore team's owners were not offered a part in this buyout.

Impact

When the Federal League started, the Terrapins severely cut into the minor league

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

' attendance, causing financial problems for the owner. As a result, several players, including the young left-handed pitcher

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

, were offered for sale to major league teams. Ruth's contract was purchased by the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

, after being turned down by Connie Mack and the Philadelphia Athletics. In 1914, Ruth began his career with the Red Sox of the rival

. After the demise of the Federal League and the Terrapins, Baltimore would not see major league baseball again until , when the former

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...

moved into town and became the present-day

. As the Terrapins' owners were not offered any part of the buyout offer made to most Federal League teams by the American and National Leagues, they decided to sue, alleging that the buyout was in violation of the

Sherman Antitrust Act The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 (, ) is a United States antitrust law which prescribes the rule of free competition among those engaged in commerce. It was passed by Congress and is named for Senator John Sherman, its principal author. ...

. The resulting case led to the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

deciding that the scheduling and playing of "base ball games" did not constitute "

interstate commerce The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and amo ...

" in any sense envisioned by the Framers of the United States Constitution; therefore, the Sherman Act and other federal laws and regulations did not apply to baseball. The case, ''

Federal Baseball Club v. National League ''Federal Baseball Club v. National League'', 259 U.S. 200 (1922), is a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Sherman Antitrust Act did not apply to Major League Baseball. Background After the Federal League folded in 1915, most of ...

'', was not ultimately decided until 1922. The minor league Orioles moved into Terrapin Park, a wooden ballpark. This move began a chain of events which would eventually lead to the return of major league baseball to Baltimore.

References

{{Federal League Baseball teams established in 1914 Baseball teams disestablished in 1915 Defunct Major League Baseball teams Federal League teams 1914 establishments in Maryland 1915 disestablishments in Maryland Defunct baseball teams in Maryland

1914 Baltimore Terrapins season

1915 Baltimore Terrapins season

Impact

See also

References