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 8 the repudiation of the national agreement by the American Association in 1891, the patrons of professional ball playing had become so disgusted with the then existing condition of things in the professional base ball world, that they deserted the club grounds by thousands, with the costly result of bankrupting the majority of the clubs of the two major organizations, not to mention the ruining of the financial prospects of all of the minor leagues of the period. Then it was that, in 1892, the League magnates made the bold reformatory move to deliver professional ball players from the costly evils which had brought the clubs almost to death's door. Forgiving the errors of the past, the League clubs joined hands with the best clubs of the Association, and by a combination which cost the League clubs $150,000 to complete, they at once removed all of the costly rivalry caused by the old Association, and which had proved so damaging to the financial interests of the clubs of both organizations alike; and thus was inaugurated the grand Major League—a reconstructed National League—which now governs the whole professional base ball world.

The inaugural year of the new League was necessarily an experimental year in every respect; and under the trying circumstances the new organization was subjected to, and especially the fact that it was burdened with the handicap in the form of the opposition it encountered at the hands of the large majority of the players and their so-called friends, the degree of success attained by the new League was a most agreeable surprise to the magnates of the twelve clubs of the League. But it was left for the second year of the new organization's existence for it to attain such a degree of financial success in its career as to fully insure its future permanent establishment as a foregone conclusion. The one single fact that in 1893 the League's heavy indebtedness—a total of $140,000—was entirely paid off from the proceeds of the two seasons of its existence, proved conclusively that the reform government inaugurated in 1892 had, in two years of practical existence, brought about a complete restoration of public confidence in the integrity of the League's methods, and the result was a grand triumph for the League magnates of 1893.

The championship season of 1893 was, in one respect, the most successful season experienced since the decade of the