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The Early Roots of the New York Yankees
The origin of the New York Yankees is intimately tied up with the formation of the American League and, subsequently, with the state of professional baseball in the United States today and throughout the twentieth century. In 1900, the National League was the only “game in town,” so to speak, when it came to big league baseball. There were a number of other leagues in operation, but none of them could compete in size or popularity with the NL. Bancroft “Ban” Johnson was president of one of these smaller organizations, the Western League. As the new century began, he decided to expand his league and challenge the dominance of the National League.
The first thing Johnson did was change the name of the Western League to the American League. This was a clear reflection of his ambitious plan to increase the size and scope of the organization. The next step was to create some new franchises. A natural first choice location was New York City, the growing nation’s social and cultural center. NYC, however, already had a baseball team – the National League’s New York Giants. Comfortable with their monopoly in the city, Giants management took advantage of their ties to city hall and successfully blocked Johnson and his American league from setting up shop in New York.
Frustrated but not dissuaded, Johnson packed up and moved south to Baltimore, Maryland, a city that had recently lost its National League team. He quickly established a new team there, which he named the Orioles. During their first season, 1901, team manager and partial owner of the Orioles John McGraw had a falling out with Johnson. He deflected to the rival National League’s New York Giants and proceeded to entice the Oriole’s best players to follow him.
The resulting conflict lead to an eventual 1903 “peace conference” between the two leagues. Much to Johnson’s satisfaction, the National League decided to allow the American League to establish its own franchise in New York City. The Orioles quickly moved to New York and the team that would become the Yankees had arrived home.
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