In 1887, he used funds from this business to start up a baseball team, the Cleveland Blues (called the Forest Citys in some sources).

He continued to operate in both areas for the next two decades, including financing the construction of League Park in 1889, and the formation of the Cleveland City Railway Company in 1893.

[1] In 1899, the Robison brothers were responsible for the worst Major League Baseball team in history, the 1899 Cleveland Spiders.

Before the season, the Robisons purchased the bankrupt St. Louis Browns from Chris von der Ahe and renamed them the Perfectos.

Following this debacle (and a similar one involving the Baltimore Orioles and Brooklyn Superbas), the practice of allowing the same owners to run multiple teams was outlawed.