nes of representative American base-ball players made a general
tour of Australia and various other countries, completing their trip by a
contest in England. This too, however, had little effect, and later
attempts to establish base-ball in England have likewise been unsuccessful.
But in America the game continued to prosper. The first entirely
professional club was the Cincinnati Red Stockings (1868). Two national
associations were formed in 1871, one having jurisdiction over professional
clubs and the other over amateurs. In 1876 was formed the National League,
of eight clubs under the presidency of Nicholas E. Young, which contained
the expert ball-players of the country. There were so many people in the
United States who wanted to see professional base-ball that this
organization proved too small to furnish the desired number of games, and
hence in 1882 the American Association was formed. For a time it seemed
that there would be room for both organizations; but there was considerable
rivalry, and it was not until an agreement was made between the two
organizations that they were able to work together in harmony. They
practically controlled professional base-ball for many years, although
there were occasional attempts to overthrow their authority, the most
notable being the formation in 1890 of a brotherhood of players called the
Players' League, organized for the purpose of securing some of the
financial benefits accruing to the managers, as well as for the purpose of
abolishing black-listing and other supposed abuses. The Players' League
proved not sufficiently strong for the task, and fell to pieces. For some
years the National League consisted of twelve clubs organized as stock
companies, representing cities as far apart as Boston and St Louis, but in
1900 the number was reduced to eight, namely, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago,
Cincinnati, New York, Pittsburg, Philadelphia and St Louis. Certain
aggressive and dissatisfied elements took advantage of this change to
organize a second great professional association under the presidency of
B. B. Johnson, the "American League," of eight clubs, six of them in cities
where the National League was already represented. Most of the clubs of
both leagues flourish financially, as also do the many minor associations
which control the clubs of the different sections of the country, among
which are the Eastern League, the American Association, Western League,
Southern Association, New