The Buffalo Blues were a professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

club that played 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 ...

, which was a minor league in 1913 and a full-fledged outlaw major league the next two years. It was the last

major league baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

team to be based in the city of Buffalo. In 1913 and 1914, as was the standard for Federal League teams, the franchise did not have an official name, instead going by the generic BufFeds. The Buffalo team played at International Fair Association Grounds. Due to delays in construction of their new ballpark, the team did not play their first home game until a month after the Federal League season had started. Buffalo sold shares of stock of the team to the public through a series of newspaper ads. Preferred shares were sold for $10 each. In the 1914 season, the team posted an 80–71 record (.530) and finished in fourth place, seven games behind the league champion Indianapolis Hoosiers. In the league's second and final season, the team, then known as the Buffalo Blues, ended in sixth place with a 74–78 mark (.487), 12 games behind the

Chicago Whales The Chicago Whales were a professional baseball team based in Chicago. They played in the Federal League, a short-lived "third Major League", in 1914 and 1915. They originally lacked a formal nickname, and were known simply as the "Chicago Fed ...

. An unusual player who played for the Blues in 1914 was

Ed Porray Edmund Joseph Porray (December 5, 1888 – July 13, 1954) was a major league pitcher. A right-handed pitcher, he had a brief Major League career in which he pitched in 3 games for the Buffalo Buffeds of the Federal League, compiling a 0–1 re ...

; the only major leaguer whose birthplace is not a place, but rather noted as "on a ship somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean," on December 5, 1888. Between the Buffalo players who had experience in the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

and/or

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

leagues were

Hugh Bedient Hugh Carpenter Bedient (October 23, 1889 – July 21, 1965) was a starting pitcher who played in the American League for the Boston Red Sox (1912–1914) and with the Buffalo Blues of the Federal League (1915). Bedient batted and threw right-han ...

, Walter Blair,

Hal Chase Harold Homer Chase (February 13, 1883 – May 18, 1947), nicknamed "Prince Hal", was an American professional baseball first baseman and manager in Major League Baseball, widely viewed as the best fielder at his position. During his career, he ...

, Tom Downey,

Howard Ehmke Howard John Ehmke (April 24, 1894 – March 17, 1959) was an American baseball pitcher. He played professional baseball for 16 years from 1914 to 1930, including 15 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Buffalo Blues (1915), Detroit Tigers (19 ...

Ed Lafitte Edward Francis Lafitte (April 7, 1886 – April 12, 1971) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball who played with the Detroit Tigers (1909–12), Brooklyn Tip-Tops (1914–15), and Buffalo Blues (1915). Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, ...

, Harry Lord and

Russ Ford Russell William Ford (April 25, 1883 – January 24, 1960) was a Canadian-American professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the New York Highlanders / Yankees of the American League from 1909 to 1913 and for the B ...

Baseball in Buffalo

Buffalo has had three attempts at major league baseball. Prior to the Buffeds, were the

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

, from which the current minor league team derives its name and history. They entered the NL in 1879 and came in third place only 10 games out from first place. They had two notable players; Hall of Famers

Pud Galvin James Francis "Pud" Galvin (December 25, 1856 – March 7, 1902) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher in the 19th century. He was MLB's first 300-game winner and was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1965. Basebal ...

and

Dan Brouthers Dennis Joseph "Dan" Brouthers (; May 8, 1858 – August 2, 1932) was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball whose career spanned the period from to , with a brief return in . Nicknamed "Big Dan" for his size, he was and weighed , w ...

. The Bisons team was dropped from the NL in 1885. In 1890, another Buffalo baseball team emerged coincidentally called the

Bisons A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', ...

. This team, a member of the upstart

Players' League The Players' National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, popularly known as the Players' League (PL), was a short-lived but star-studded American professional baseball league of the 19th century. The PL was formed by the Brotherhood of Pr ...

, has notably one of the worst season records to date. The Buffalo Blues were the last of the three major league teams Buffalo had between 1879 and 1915. A proposed

Continental League The Continental League of Professional Baseball Clubs (known as the Continental League or CL) was a proposed third major league for baseball in the United States and Canada. The league was announced in 1959 and scheduled to begin play in the 19 ...

team (to be owned by future

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Con ...

owner

Robert O. Swados Robert Orville Swados (February 27, 1919 – November 23, 2012) was an attorney and businessman from Buffalo, New York, best known for his role as legal counsel for the US/Canadian National Hockey League and as one of the founders of the Buffalo S ...

) was slated for Buffalo in 1961, but the league folded before playing any games. The closest that any major league baseball team has come to Buffalo since then is Toronto ( away

as the crow flies The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points. Etymology The meaning of the expression is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in the Charles Dickens novel ''Oliver Twist'' (1838): ...

), where the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

have played since 1977. Due to border travel restrictions stemming from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the Blue Jays played their home games at Buffalo's

Sahlen Field Sahlen Field is a baseball park in Buffalo, New York, United States. Originally known as Pilot Field, the venue has since been named Downtown Ballpark, North AmeriCare Park, Dunn Tire Park, and Coca-Cola Field. Home to the Buffalo Bisons of t ...

(a facility designed to be easily upgraded to MLB standards) for the

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and part of the

2021 Major League Baseball season The 2021 Major League Baseball season began on April 1, while the regular season ended on October 3. The postseason began on October 5. The World Series then began on October 26 and ended on November 2 with the Atlanta Braves defeating the Houst ...

, marking the first major league games played in Buffalo in 104 years.

References

External links

Baseball Hall of FameBaseball ReferenceBison's History: The 1910sBuffalo Baseball
at mopupduty.com {{Federal League Baseball teams established in 1914 Baseball teams disestablished in 1915 Federal League teams Buffalo Buffeds Sports in Buffalo, New York History of Buffalo, New York 1914 establishments in New York (state) 1915 disestablishments in New York (state) Defunct baseball teams in New York (state)

Baseball in Buffalo

See also

References

External links