The Covington Blue Sox were a
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 ...
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 in
Covington, Kentucky
Covington is a list of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Licking River (Kentucky), Licking rivers, across from Cincinnati to the north ...
, in 1913. The team was also referred to as the Covington Colonels or Covington Federals in contemporary newspaper reports. The team was moved to
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...
in July 1913 and became known thereafter as the
Kansas City Packers
The Kansas City Packers were a Federal League baseball club in Kansas City, Missouri from 1914 to 1915. They finished sixth in 1914 with a 67–84 record, and fourth in 1915 with an 81–72 record.
The Packers moved to Kansas City in July 1913 ...
.
History
Baseball has been played in Covington since the 1870s, with the Star club a popular amateur side that competed with the top non-professional clubs in Ohio and Kentucky. On September 21, 1875, the Star Baseball Park hosted a
National Association game between the
Philadelphia Athletics
The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...
and the
Hartford Dark Blues
The Hartfords (more commonly called the Hartford Dark Blues because of their uniform color) were a 19th-century baseball team. The team was based in Hartford, Connecticut.
History
In 1874, baseball in Hartford was being played in a fever pitch. ...
; the Athletics (not to be confused with the
20th century team of this name) won, 13–9, in front of a crowd of 800.
In 1912
[ or 1913,][ Covington city leaders tried to acquire a baseball franchise in the Class D ]Blue Grass League
The Blue Grass League was a minor league baseball circuit at the Class D level that existed in the early 1900s. There were two incarnations of the league, one that ran from 1908 to 1912 and one that existed from 1922 to 1924. It consisted entirel ...
. The Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...
, whose ballpark was just away across the Ohio River
The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...
, blocked the move. Instead, after several larger cities backed out, Covington was awarded a franchise in the 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 ...
, a new "outlaw" circuit.[
The city raised $13,500, with $6,000 budgeted to build the ballpark. Bernard Wisenall, a prominent local architect, designed Federal Park (also called Riverbreeze Park) with a capacity of 6,000. The ballpark was bounded by East 2nd Street, East 3rd Street, Madison Avenue and Scott Boulevard. Playing in the ]dead-ball era
In major league baseball, the dead-ball era refers to a period from about 1900 to 1920 in which run scoring was low and home runs were rare in comparison to the years that followed. In 1908, the major league batting average dropped to .239, and ...
, the park was built with small dimensions, possibly the smallest ever built for any pro baseball park, with a distance of just 194 feet down the right-field line, 267 feet to dead center, and 218 feet down the left-field line, more akin to a modern Little League ball field than a pro ballpark, which has a required minimum of 325 feet down the foul lines. Construction did not begin until a month before opening day.[
The Blue Sox started their season on a long road trip,][ with a game against Cleveland on May 3. The game ended in a 6–6 tie, called after ten innings due to darkness.
The Blue Sox managed to sell out their first home game on May 9, with thousands of fans turned away.][ Covington's mayor George "Pat" Phillips declared a half-holiday for the city, closing city offices at noon and encouraging businesses to follow suit in support the team. Pregame festivities included a parade, bands, and decorations across city along with the mayor tossing out a golden ball for the ceremonial first pitch. Messenger pigeons were released to spread the news of the opening to each city on the Federal League circuit as well as one going to U.S. President ]Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
. Pitcher Walt Justis shut out the St. Louis Terriers in a 4–0 victory.
However, Covington (which had about 55,000 people at the time) wasn't really a big enough town to support the team, and drew only an average of 650 for the remainder of their initial nine-game home stand. By June, the team was mired in fourth place with a 21–31 record and drawing a few hundred a game; altogether, the Sox had a total attendance of only about 8,000 to the nineteen home games after the opener. June 21 turned out to be the club's final home game. On June 23, it was announced that the Blue Sox would leave town; on June 26, the league voted to move the team to Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...
, where it was renamed the Packers
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. They are the third ...
. The owners of the Covington team yielded their rights to their creditors.
After spending the 1913 season as an independent circuit, the Federal League declared itself a major league in 1914; the league folded after the 1915 campaign, with 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 National Leagues essentially buying them out.
Federal Park was used for other events over the next few years, including boxing and auto polo, but was torn down in 1919 to make room for a new tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
warehouse
A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...
. The warehouse was then later replaced by the present-day Kenton County
Kenton County is a county located in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 169,064, making it the third most populous county in Kentucky (behind Jefferson County and Fayette County). I ...
Circuit Courthouse. Covington has not hosted a professional team in any sport since; however, Highland Heights, located from Covington, hosted indoor pro football in the early 2010s.
Logo
The Blue Sox logo was a line drawing of a batter with the blue initials "BS."
Notable players
* Sam Leever
Samuel Leever (December 23, 1871 – May 19, 1953), nicknamed "the Goshen Schoolmaster", was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He spent his entire career with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Early life
Sam Leever was born in Go ...
* Walt Justis
References
{{Federal League
Covington, Kentucky
Federal League teams
Baseball teams established in 1913
Kansas City Packers
1913 establishments in Kentucky
Defunct baseball teams in Kentucky
Baseball teams disestablished in 1913