Blue Baron, Inc.

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October 7th, 1939

Charles Crawford didn’t want to make a decision. He mulled over it for seven months, keeping the paper that just needed his signature on top of his desk the entire spring, summer, and then into fall. Thankfully for him, he didn’t need to choose. As the clock struck 9 am on the east coast, a phone call came through to the third story of the Hubert Square office building in Philadelphia. It was a personal assistant from the office of the president of the American League.

“Will Harridge’s office, this is Doris Jenkins. Mr. Harridge has an important message for you, will you please hold for him?”

Crawford paused a moment, plunging into thought about the content of the incoming message. “Yes, I will.”

Will Harridge came on the line four minutes later. It was a quick phone call. And at its conclusion, the American League ceased to exist.

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****

Philadelphia Blue Barons
1940-??

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With the astounding rise in the popularity of professional baseball during the 1910’s and 20’s, a group of successful businessmen wanted a piece of the action. The stingy National League was impossible for newcomers to get in on, and the younger American League had no intention to expand in the coming future. So in 1926, 13 businessmen worth over $50 million combined formed the United Baseball League. Eight teams, almost all of which were in cities without American or National League teams. Minneapolis, Kansas City, Long Island, Indianapolis, Louisville, Milwaukee, and New Orleans. They also put a team in Cincinnati, a National League city, at the insistence of the second-richest man in the group, a manufacturer named Jacob Marzon.

The UBL didn’t topple the mighty empire of Major League Baseball, but it did have some moderate success in its first couple of seasons. The talent wasn’t yet comparable to that of the MLB, but the deep-pocketed owners built up the talent. A generous revenue sharing plan instituted by Commissioner Timmons Harding, a gruff, gray-bearded Michigan man in the car business, helped all the teams build up premier rosters and advance the entire league’s reputation.

By the mid-1930’s there were six separate entities at the top of professional baseball. The fans were unhappy: talent was spread out and fans would never see the top players from other leagues in their city.

The owners were unhappy: the profit margins were growing slimmer and slimmer as teams from different leagues infringed on their fan bases.

The players were unhappy: because of decreased revenue per team, salaries went down, and media and fan attention was limited for star players when fans had to divide their attention between multiple leagues.

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Invitations Are Sent Out
Raymond Musgrave recognized the problems with pro baseball. He calmly laid them out to the commissioners of the other five leagues when he called them in August of 1938.

Then Raymond proposed his solution: The Professional Baseball Affiliation. Each league would still exist and still play a regular season, but there would be “tournaments” throughout the season where leagues would mix teams so that fans could see new teams and all the top talent in their city. A tournament could be in just one ballpark over a weekend, or spread out in a dozen cities over a month between regular season games. Records in all games (regular and tournament), plus strength of schedule would factor into the selection for the 16-team championship tournament in the fall, when the top PBA teams would compete for the national title.

A few teams would be moved to new locations under an initial entry agreement in order to help owners with decreasing profits and give every team their own distinct market. All three unhappy parties would be satisfied, Raymond said, and leagues would no longer compete but help each other become more popular, profitable, and competitive. All the leagues would still operate with their own governing body, but the PBA would handle tournaments and the national championship, and in general help the leagues to mesh.

Raymond proposed a governing body made up of the commissioners plus three team owners from each league. Six leagues were invited to participate, which would give the PBA 62 teams.

****
American League Refuses Invitation

Five of the six leagues were on board. But American League President Will Harridge didn’t want to join forces. He was convinced that his league, with the mighty Yankees and other prominent teams such as the Red Sox, would be better off playing traditional Major League Baseball, not “little league style.”

Raymond was fine with Harridge’s refusal. He figured that if the concept was successful, then the AL would join up later. The problem came when NL President Ford Frick called Raymond a day after the AL rejected its PBA invitation.


American League Commissioner Will
Harridge was the only man standing in the way of
making the PBA a reality.

“Raymond, it’s Mr. Frick. I’m sure you know why I’m calling.”

Raymond paused and pondered why he might be expecting this call. “Well, sir, you said you wanted to speak with your lawyers about my formal proposal? Is it about that?”

There was a pause on Frick’s side. Then the president cleared his throat. “No, Raymond. I talked to Mr. Harridge. And with him refusing entry to the Affiliation, I have doubts about whether I can go on with it.”

Raymond nearly threw the receiver at the window. “I’m sorry to hear that,” he spit out.

Another pause. “Yes, I just don’t know if we can forward without the AL. A large part of our success is the entity we make up with them. Major League Baseball. The fans may view our leaving of that as us admitting our weakness compared to these other new leagues. And the AL will become the top league out there, being the only one that can seemingly survive on its own.”

****
Ford Frick is the PBA's Last Hope

Raymond needed to beg. If the AL wasn’t on board, then the NL wasn’t, and if those two weren’t then either other leagues wouldn’t be or the PBA wouldn’t fulfill its mission. Raymond called Harridge and asked what he wanted.

“Really, Mr. Harridge, what would it take? Please, tell me.”

“Raymond, I believe I told you. I am not interested in joining your little league. Please do not ask again.” Raymond banged his fist to the desk after he was hung up on.

Then he realized his best weapon. Frick wanted the Affiliation to happen and he was a very well-respected man in baseball. He dialed him up as quickly as any human ever had.


National League Commissioner Ford
Frick was Raymond Musgrave's last resort to make the
PBA happen.

“Mr. Frick, it’s Raymond. Listen, I-”

“Son, slow down. Have you been legging out a triple?”

“Sorry, sir, it’s just- I have something to ask.”

“And, what is that?”

“Mr. Harridge refuses to talk with me. He doesn’t respect some young new-league commissioner. Please, Mr. Frick, will you just ask him what he would want from this new league? I think it could save the idea.”

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Mr. Harridge wanted money and he wanted recognition, both for himself and for his teams. Perfect Raymond thought to himself. He hit a few keys on his typewriter and had a list of conditions:

1. The PBA will repay dollar-for-dollar, plus 10%, every bit of profit that is lost from each AL team’s first PBA year compared to their last as a separate entity.
2. Mr. Harridge will be Chairman of the PBA Reputation and Direction Committee, which will be made up of team owners.
3. The American League will still exist as its own entity and be more its own league than a part of the PBA.

Raymond hoped to God that the PBA would have the money to repay any lost profits of AL teams. Maybe he would have to get Harridge keep that provision a secret from his owners to avoid them going into rebuild mode and letting the PBA hand them their previous year’s profits plus a little extra.

****

Philadelphia Inquirer- January 10th, 1939
AL, NL Presidents Agree to PBA Terms
by Johnson Tills

NEW YORK- The American and National League presidents signed Monday to join the Professional Baseball Affiliation after meeting with Director Raymond Musgrave and Finance Director Timmons Harding of the PBA.

The AL and NL will still play the World Series once the PBA begins action in the spring of 1940, though each league will cut schedules down to 120 games per season. AL President Will Harridge accepted a special set of conditions from Musgrave, the details of which will become public later.

****

What the newspapers couldn’t report was that Harridge accepted the terms of the PBA only after Raymond agreed to pay him a secret $2,000 salary for becoming a chairman of a PBA committee and a $700 bonus for joining.