The Union Professional League was a professional baseball league that played for less than two months in 1908. The league was founded by businessman

Alfred Lawson Alfred William Lawson (March 24, 1869 – November 29, 1954) was an English-born professional baseball player, aviator, and utopian philosopher. He played baseball, managed and promoted leagues from 1887 through 1916, and pioneered the U.S. air ...

(1869–1954), who had briefly pitched for the

Boston Beaneaters Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of and a ...

and the Pittsburgh Alleghenies in the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

(founded 1876) in 1890; he would later become known for his philosophy known as Lawsonomy and for his success in the aviation business.

History

The league was established in December 1907. Lawson had founded an outlaw baseball league before the 1907 season; he called it the

Atlantic League The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, and the headquarters are loc ...

, a name also used by multiple other eastern leagues in baseball history. Lawson took three Atlantic League teams with him when he founded the Union Professional League. The final list of teams included clubs from

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

;

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

;

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

;

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

;

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

;

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and

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

. Lawson decided to run the new league without utilizing a salary cap, multi-year contracts or a reserve clause. To keep players from contract jumping, Lawson intended to withhold a large amount of each player's weekly salary until the end of the season. Biographer Jerry Kuntz wrote that sportswriters "dubbed the effort the 'Onion League,' because it was cheap and smelled bad." Play opened in late April 1908, and the league ran into problems almost immediately. The entire east coast was dealing with frequent rain. The Washington club, for example, experienced nine rainouts in May, with six of them occurring in a nine-day stretch. This, combined with the fact that the league had not attracted star players from the established leagues, contributed to poor attendance and low revenue. As players sometimes went unpaid, they began to leave the league. The league folded in June of its inaugural season.

References

{{reflist Defunct baseball leagues in the United States Sports leagues established in 1908 1908 establishments in the United States Defunct minor baseball leagues in the United States

History

See also

References