NABF History
It is with pleasure that I announce a new series in "Behind the Seams". Starting from this edition, each issue of BTS will feature one or more articles focused on the theme of NABF History. The subjects chosen for attention have been selected with input from your peers. I look forward to hearing your feedback. In the meantime; I trust that you will enjoy the first article in the new series.
In 1914 and 1915, Brookside Park, in Cleveland, Ohio hosted a series of amateur baseball games that set local and national attendance records. The bowl-shaped natural amphitheater and park setting offered an incredible atmosphere for the games, which regularly reported attendance of between 30,000 and 80,000.
The 1915 Class A intercity championship contest was estimated to have attracted up to 115,000 Cleveland residents. These games would be remembered as the peak of amateur baseball’s popularity.
The public enthusiasm, should also be attributed to the efforts of the Cleveland Amateur Baseball Association (CABA - Forerunner of NABF). The organization developed one of the most successful and influential amateur systems in the nation. CABA helped organize and promote the sport and amateur baseball’s popularity reached unprecedented heights.
The sport offered players affordable recreation and, to a select few, the possibility of moving on to the professional leagues. While payment of players in upper-level amateur and semi-professional leagues was frowned upon, it was not unusual. The backing of successful teams acted as advertising and offered status to local businesses. In addition, it was not an uncommon practice to charge spectators a small admission fee for games .
CABA, was backed by Cleveland’s Department of Recreation as well as the city’s moneyed men. Nationally, the organization was the first to successfully integrate its amateur leagues under a single governing body.
In February 1914, representatives of CABA met with members of thirteen other amateur leagues in Chicago to organize the National Amateur Baseball Association (NABA). NABA’s success, however, would prove to be short lived. Conflict within its governing body resulted in a schism at a 1916 meeting.
Led by the future mayor of Cleveland, Clayton Townes, representatives from ten of the fourteen cities composing NABA formed the National Baseball Federation. The Federation was created for the same ends as NABA, but with two distinctions. Concerned over the growing influence of sporting goods dealers in NABA’s governing body, NBF’s membership was restricted to non-commercialized baseball associations. The new federation also developed a AA semi-professional league as a response to amateur teams employing semi-professionals for tournament games. NBF would allow the payment of players in this new league, as long as baseball was not the main source of their income. With the Federation’s leadership closely tied and influenced by Cleveland amateur baseball, CABA allied itself with the NBF.