1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 We celebrate the Society for American Baseball Research's fiftieth anniversary with a look back at one of the most pivotal events in major league baseball history - and featured in the group's newly-released commemorative anthology &quot;SABR: 50 at 50&quot;. &amp;nbsp; Longtime Society contributor Bob Bailey (&quot;Four Teams Out: The National League Reduction of 1900&quot;) revisits his 1990 Baseball Research Journal article describing how a fledgling 12-team, 1890s-era National League pro baseball monopoly found itself on the brink of implosion - as financial imbalance, competitive disparity, self-dealing common ownership, and a pronounced national economic Depression collectively threatened the circuit's very survival by decade's end. &amp;nbsp; As a result, the NL eliminated four franchises for the 1900 season - all former refugees from the previous American Association: Ned Hanlon's &quot;small ball&quot;-centric (original) Baltimore Orioles (AA: 1882-92; NL: 1893-99); The Cy Young-led Cleveland Spiders (AA: 1887-88; NL: 1889-99); The woeful original Washington Senators (AA: 1891 as the &quot;Statesmen&quot;; NL: 1892-99); AND Louisville's first and only major league baseball team - the Colonels (née Eclipse) By 1901, Baltimore, Cleveland and Washington each had new franchises in Ban Johnson's NL-challenging American League - with Louisville never returning to major league play. Good Seats Still Available https://goodseatsstillavailable.com <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/16893650/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/aa0926/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/content/89128943