In the spring of 1894 the owners of 6 (of the 12) National League baseball teams in the USA decided to form the country's first professional football league.
Their idea wasn't so much to promote the Association game, but to optimize the earning potential of their stadiums.
It was planned to start the league in the 'fall' of 1894, and the American League of Professional Football
was officially founded on August 14th 1894 at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City. It was stated with confidence that Sunderland would visit the USA in 1895 to play the member clubs.
The baseball clubs simply formed football clubs and gave them the names of their baseball clubs. There is evidence that several baseball players switched codes for a bit of winter employment, but talk of baseball stars adopting football was largely hype.
Four teams kicked off The American League of Professional Football (ALPF) inaugural season on October 6th 1894. Boston beat Brooklyn 3-2, Philadelphia lost 5-0 to the visiting New York Giants . Following ALPF protocol the home clubs wore a white strip with black stockings, while the away clubs wore a dark color with white stockings.
The AFA ( a study of the many and various governing bodies who have contrived to hinder the progress of the game in the states would be a life's work) announced that players taking part in the ALPF would be barred from AFA competition. However, the baseball clubs were wealthy compared to the football clubs, and were still able to recruit players from the AFA . ALPF clubs also recruited players from local leagues, mainly English (ie British) and Irish.
Baltimore approached the venture somewhat more methodically than the other clubs- actually employing a football coach rather than entrusting the responsibility to the baseball coach. This coach, A.W. Stewart, also recruited a number of genuine professionals from England.
Mitchell Calvey,Archie Ferguson, and Alec Wallace of Ardwick/ Manchester City and Fred Davies of Sheffield United all featured, raising gripes from opponents at this importation of foreign talent. The Orioles were described in the press as Football Hustlers.
However, the league did not fulfill its promise- the fixtures were not completed and gates tended to be very low (about 500, whereas baseball attracted an average of 5,000).There was a financial crisis in the country at the time. There was no second season.
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
||
| Brooklyn Bridegrooms |
6
|
5
|
0
|
1
|
20
|
6
|
10
|
| Baltimore Orioles |
4
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
24
|
3
|
8
|
| Boston Beaneaters |
5
|
4
|
0
|
1
|
15
|
12
|
8
|
| New York Giants |
6
|
2
|
0
|
4
|
16
|
13
|
4
|
| Philadelphia Phillies |
9
|
2
|
0
|
7
|
15
|
37
|
4
|
| Washington Senators |
6
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
7
|
26
|
2
|
