- Brooklyn Tip-Tops
The Brooklyn Tip Tops were a team in the short-lived
Federal League of professional baseball from 1914 to 1915. The team was named by owner Robert Ward, who owned theTip Top Bakery . They were sometimes called the Brooklyn Feds due to being the Brooklyn team of the Federal League. The Tip Tops played in old Washington Park, which theBrooklyn Dodgers had abandoned after the 1912 season to move toEbbets Field .The team finished a disappointing 4th in 1914. Federal League officials believed it was important to have a successful franchise in the
New York area and when theIndianapolis Hoosiers were transitioned toNewark, New Jersey , the "Federal LeagueTy Cobb ", as 1914 FL batting champBenny Kauff was known, was placed on the Brooklyn roster. In 1915, Kauff led the league with a .342batting average and 55stolen base s, but the Tip-Tops still finished in seventh place. The Newark and Brooklyn FL teams played three holiday doubleheaders during the 1915 season where one game was in Newark and the second was in Brooklyn.On Sept. 19, 1914, Tip-Top
Ed Lafitte threw the onlyno-hitter in Federal League history, beating theKansas City Packers 6-2.Had the Federal League (FL) lasted just one more season, night baseball might have been introduced two decades earlier. The Tip Tops had announced plans for the 1916 season to play some games at night.
References
*"The Federal League of 1914-1915" by Marc Okkonen.
*"The Formation, Sometimes Absorption and Mostly Inevitable Demise of 18 Professional Baseball Organizations, 1871 to Present" by David Pietrusza.
*"May the Best Team Win: Baseball Economics and Public Policy" by Andrew Zimbalist.
*"Total Baseball: The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia" by John Thorn, et al.External links
* [http://www.super70s.com/Baseball/Leagues/Federal/Brooklyn/ Super 70's Baseball]
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