Patrick T. Powers
Encyclopedia
Patrick T. Powers was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 executive who served as president of the Eastern League
Eastern League (U.S. baseball)
The Eastern League is a minor league baseball league which operates primarily in the northeastern United States, although it has had a team in Ohio since 1989. The Eastern League has played at the AA level since 1963. The league was founded in 1923 as the New York-Pennsylvania League...

 and founding president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...

, the minor leagues organization that celebrated its hundredth season in 2001. Already president of the EL, he was elected by several minor league presidents on September 5, 1901 at the Leland Hotel in Chicago.

The purpose of the NAPBL was to keep the uniting minor leagues independent of the American and National Leagues who were engaged in a nasty turf war, stealing players and hurling accusations at each other. (The established major National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...

 had abrogated its agreement with the minor leagues when threatened by the American.) After the AL won its equality with the NL, the two major leagues and the minor association led by Powers reestablished a National Agreement. Once again, a system was in place to protect rosters and territories and at the same time feed some players to the National and American Leagues.

Before becoming a league executive, Powers was a team manager
Manager (baseball)
In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...

 including two seasons in the major leagues. In 1890 he led the Rochester Broncos
Rochester Broncos
The Rochester Broncos were a short-lived baseball team in the American Association, playing only one season, 1890. They finished fifth in the league with a record of 63-63...

 of the American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...

 to a 63-63 record and a fifth place finish. With the New York Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....

 in 1892, he finished 8th in the 12-team National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...

 with a record of 71-80.

Powers retired from the presidency of the NABPL in 1909, at a time when the Eastern League considered leaving. There were 35 leagues and 246 professional baseball clubs in the organization. It has continued on as the trade association of those lesser baseball leagues that make up "organized baseball". It goes by the moniker Minor League Baseball
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...

 today, which implies a universality no longer even approximately attained. Once again at the end of the 20th century as at the beginning, there were many independent professional leagues — such as the Northern League, Central League
Central League
The or is one the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consists of six teams from around the country,The Central League...

, and Golden Baseball League
Golden Baseball League
The Golden Baseball League, based in San Ramon, California, was an independent baseball league. It later merged with the Northern League and the United Baseball League to form the North American League in the western United States, western Canada and Mexico....

. Those leagues also feed players, albeit many fewer, to the major leagues.

Powers died at the age of 65 in Belmar, New Jersey
Belmar, New Jersey
Belmar is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 5,794. The Borough of Belmar is governed under the Faulkner Act system of municipal government....

.

External links

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