The Continental League of Professional Baseball Clubs (known as the Continental League or CL) was a proposed third major league for baseball in the United States and Canada. The league was announced in 1959 and scheduled to begin play in the 1961 season. Unlike predecessor competitors such as the Players' League and the Federal League, it sought membership within organized baseball's existing organization and acceptance within Major League Baseball as any attempt at outsider leagues could be quashed by them per a 1922 Supreme Court case declaring MLB exempt from federal antitrust laws. The league disbanded in August 1960 without playing a single game as a concession by William A. Shea as part of his negotiations with Major League Baseball to expand to incorporate at least eight new teams.
History
Background
The move of the New York Giants (to San Francisco) and the Brooklyn Dodgers (to Los Angeles) following the 1957 season led New York City mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. to appoint a four-man committee to bring the National League back to the city in 1958. Early overtures to entice one of the other six existing NL teams – the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, and Pittsburgh Pirates were reportedly approached – were abandoned.
New league announced
The Continental League was the idea of attorney William Shea, who proposed it in November 1958. On July 27, 1959, the new league was formally announced, with teams in Denver, Houston, Minneapolis–St. Paul, New York City, and Toronto. The name of the league was said to have been the suggestion of Colorado senator Edwin C. Johnson.
Representing the team owners at the announcement were Bob Howsam (Denver), Craig F. Cullinan Jr. (Houston), Wheelock Whitney Jr. (Minneapolis–St. Paul), Dwight F. Davis, Jr., who was representing the group headed by Joan Whitney Payson (New York), and Jack Kent Cooke (Toronto). Owners in each city had agreed to pay $50,000 to the league and committed to a capital investment of $2.5 million, not including stadium costs. A minimum seating capacity of 35,000 was established by the league for the venues in which its teams would play.
At least three other teams were expected to be in place before play began in 1961, and the league said it had received applications from 10 cities. The three that were later selected were Atlanta (announced December 8, 1959), Dallas–Fort Worth (announced December 22, 1959), and Buffalo (backed by Robert O. Swados and announced on January 29, 1960). Former Dodgers president Branch Rickey was named league president on August 18, 1959. Appearing in that capacity as a guest on the live CBS broadcast of What's My Line on Sunday, September 13, 1959, he pronounced the new league as "Inevitable as tomorrow morning."
On February 18, 1960, Rickey and Cooke announced an opening date of April 18, 1961.
Established leagues respond
The Major League Baseball commissioner's office was noncommittal on the issue. At that time, however, the American League and the National League enjoyed far more autonomy than they do today, answering more to their constituent owners (who were universally hostile to the new league) than to the Commissioner's Office. They reacted to the formation of the new league by announcing plans to expand by adding two teams in each of the existing leagues. Priority would be given, it was stated, to cities that did not have Major League Baseball. Accordingly, the NL placed one of its expansion teams in Houston (the then-Houston Colt .45s, now the American League Astros), a Continental League city without an existing Major League Baseball team.
Though the AL placed one of its expansion teams (the Washington Senators, now the Texas Rangers) in a previously existing Major League Baseball city (Washington, D.C.), this was done to replace the original Senators team, which had relocated to Minneapolis–St. Paul and became the Minnesota Twins. Like Houston, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul were a Continental League city without an existing Major League Baseball team.