Cleveland Green Sox

• Win-Loss Record: 63-54
• Ballpark: Luna Park

On March 8, 1913 when the Federal League was formed, Cleveland was among those teams that first season. Nicknamed the Green Sox, derived to the youthfulness of the players. Managed by Cy Young the team played its games at Luna Park. By early August the team challenged the league leading Indianapolis Hoosiers to a pennant race. The teams met in Indianapolis for a four-game series, with the teams splitting the series. This meant that the Green Sox had to win 3 out of 4 games back home to clinch the pennant. Instead the team proceeded to lose its next several games, and the Hoosiers wound up winning the pennant. The Green Sox finished in 2nd place 10.5 games out of first place. Both the Hoosiers and Green Sox finished the season above .500, while the St. Louis Terriers finished the season exactly at .500.

During the winter months the league reorganized itself. It was assumed that the Green Sox would be around for the 1914 season. However, Cleveland Indians owner Charles Somers proceeded to move Toledo Mud Hens to Cleveland in order to prevent the Green Sox from continuing in the city. As a result the Green Sox were dropped from the league on January 7, 1914. The team was then sold to Bernard Hepburn, who moved it to Toronto, ON where it became the Toronto Beavers.

Sources

• Robert P. Wiggins: The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs: The History of an Outlaw Major League, 1914-1915, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2009.
• John R. Hausman, Baseball in Toledo, Arcadia Publishing, 2003.

Related Sites

• BR Page