1914 to 1915
The Colonial League began to operate as a Class C level league based in Southern New England in the 1914 season. [1] In April, Alexander Bannwart drew notice by acquiring Big Jeff Pfeffer to manage the team in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. [2] By May, it was suspected that Bannwart was working as an agent of the Federal League, an outlaw league working outside of the National Agreement. Bannwart denied this. [3] Upon these news reports, some of the founding members of the Colonial League resigned, fearing banishment by the National Baseball Commission. [4] [5]
Though Charles Coppen was nominally the president of the Colonial League, Bannwart began to exert authority at the Colonial League offices. Later in the 1914 season, Bannwart drew anger when he attempted to make last-minute changes to the schedule designed to increase competitiveness in the standings and maximize profits at the box office. [6] Due to the backlash from the teams, the schedule was not changed. [7] The league was reported to have lost $22,000 ($690,625 in current dollar terms) in 1914. [8] After the season, Bannwart unsuccessfully petitioned the National Commission to reclassify the Colonial League as Class B. [9]
At the April 1915 league meeting, Coppen was re-elected as president and Bannwart was elected secretary. Walter S. Ward, the treasurer of the Brooklyn Tip Tops of the Federal League and son of George S. Ward, an owner of the Tip Tops, was elected as the league's treasurer. [10] Wanting to expand into Springfield, Massachusetts, and Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut, territory that belonged to the Eastern Association, the Colonial League reorganized itself as a farm system for the Federal League [11] and voluntarily withdrew itself from organized baseball. [12] The Colonial League struggled financially in 1915, and Bannwart's policies were blamed. The quality of baseball was deemed to be below the expected standards of a Class C league in part due to the salary maximums set by Bannwart, diminishing fan interest in the league. [13] In August 1915, Bannwart resigned from the Colonial League. [14] The league collapsed during the 1915-16 offseason. [15]
1947 to 1950
The Colonial was one of many minor leagues that briefly existed during the post-World War II baseball boom. It competed in the Northeastern United States with five major league clubs in New York and New England, established minor leagues such as the International League, Eastern League, Canadian–American League, Pennsylvania–Ontario–New York League (PONY League), and other fledgling circuits such as the postwar New England League and Border League.
As a whole, the Colonial was rarely adopted as a site for farm teams for major league clubs. Only two of its member teams (the 1948 Bridgeport Bees and Port Chester Clippers) ever affiliated with a big league parent club (the Washington Senators and St. Louis Browns, respectively).
Baseball Hall of Fame member Jimmie Foxx managed Bridgeport in 1949.
As the minors began to contract in the late 1940s, the Colonial League's days were numbered. It shut its doors on July 14, 1950, with only 80,000 fans reported to have attended games in the entire six-team circuit.
