Editing National League (baseball) (section)

===Foundation===
By 1875, the [[National Association of Professional Base Ball Players]] (NAPBBP, often referred to as the "National Association"), founded four years earlier, was suffering from a lack of strong authority over clubs, unsupervised scheduling, unstable membership of cities, dominance by one team (the [[Boston Braves|Boston Red Stockings]]), and an extremely low entry fee ($10) that gave clubs no incentive to abide by league rules when it was inconvenient to them.

[[William Hulbert|William A. Hulbert]] (1832–1882), a [[Chicago]] businessman and an officer of the [[Chicago Cubs|Chicago White Stockings]] of 1870–1889, approached several NA clubs with the plans for a professional league for the sport of baseball with a stronger central authority and exclusive territories in larger cities only. Additionally, Hulbert had a problem: five of his star players were threatened with expulsion from the NAPBBP because Hulbert had signed them to his club using what were considered questionable means. Hulbert had a great vested interest in creating his own league, and after recruiting St. Louis privately, four western clubs met in [[Louisville, Kentucky]], in January 1876. With Hulbert speaking for the five later in New York City on February 2, 1876, the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs was established with eight charter members, as follows:<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/almanac----weekly/story.aspx?guid={D7AC1A0C-DAFA-42EE-A8C9-5BBB9E237651}&dist=msr_1 |title=The Almanac – weekly |date=January 27, 2009 |access-date=February 10, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607201939/http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/almanac----weekly/story.aspx?guid=%7BD7AC1A0C-DAFA-42EE-A8C9-5BBB9E237651%7D&dist=msr_1 |archive-date=June 7, 2011  }}</ref>
* [[Chicago Cubs|Chicago ("Chicago White Stockings")]] (according to ''[[The Baseball Encyclopedia]]''{{'}}s retroactive naming convention) from the NA (now the Chicago Cubs, not to be confused with the current [[Chicago White Sox]] of the [[American League]])
* [[Philadelphia Athletics (1860–1876)|Athletic Club of Philadelphia ("Philadelphia Athletics")]] from the NA (expelled after the 1876 season)
* [[Boston Braves|Boston ("Boston Red Stockings")]], the dominant team in the NA (later the [[Boston Braves]], then the [[Milwaukee Braves]], now the [[Atlanta Braves]], not to be confused with the present-day [[Boston Red Sox]] of the later American League)
* [[Hartford Dark Blues|Hartford ("Hartford Dark Blues")]] from the NA (folded after the 1877 season)
* [[New York Mutuals|Mutual Club of New York ("New York Mutuals")]] from the NA (expelled after the 1876 season)
* [[St. Louis Brown Stockings|St. Louis ("St. Louis Brown Stockings")]] from the NA (folded after the 1877 season, having committed to Louisville Stars for 1878)
* [[Cincinnati Reds (1876–1879)|Cincinnati ("Cincinnati Reds")]], a new franchise (disbanded after the 1879 season)
* [[Louisville Grays|Louisville ("Louisville Grays")]], a new franchise (folded after the 1877 season when four players were banned for gambling)

The National League's formation meant the end of the old National Association after only five seasons, as its remaining clubs shut down or reverted to amateur or minor league status. The only strong club from 1875 excluded in 1876 was a second one in Philadelphia, often called the [[Philadelphia White Stockings|White Stockings or later Phillies]].

The first game in National League history was played on April 22, 1876, at [[History of Philadelphia|Philadelphia]]'s [[Jefferson Street Grounds]], at 25th & Jefferson Streets, between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston baseball club. Boston won the game 6–5.

The new league's authority was soon tested after the first season. The Athletic and Mutual clubs fell behind in the standings and refused to make western road trips late in the season, preferring to play games against local non-league competition to recoup some of their financial losses rather than travel extensively incurring more costs. Hulbert reacted to the clubs' defiance by expelling them, an act which not only shocked baseball followers and the sports world (since New York and Philadelphia were the two most populous cities in the league), but made it clear to clubs that league scheduling commitments, a cornerstone of competitive integrity, were not to be ignored.

The National League operated with only six clubs during 1877 and 1878. Over the next several years, various teams joined and left the struggling league. By 1880, six of the eight charter members had folded. The two remaining original NL franchises, Boston and Chicago, remain still in operation today as the [[Atlanta Braves]] and the [[Chicago Cubs]]. When all eight participants for 1881 returned for 1882—the first off-season without turnover in membership—the "circuit" consisted of a zig-zag line connecting the eight cities: [[Chicago]], [[Detroit]], [[Cleveland]], [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], [[Troy, New York|Troy]] (near the state capital of [[Albany, New York]]), [[Worcester, Massachusetts|Worcester]] ([[Massachusetts]]), [[Boston]], and [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]].

In 1883, new [[New York Giants (baseball)|New York]] and [[Philadelphia Phillies|Philadelphia]] clubs began National League play. Both teams remain in the NL today, the Phillies in their original city and the New York franchise (later named Giants) now in [[San Francisco]] since 1958.