[7] In 1887, the league was dominated by Topeka's Golden Giants, a high-priced collection of major leaguers, including Bug Holliday, Jim Conway, Perry Werden and Jimmy Macullar, which won the title by 15½ games on October 2, 1887.
From this point forward, this version of the WL has continued in existence, eventually becoming the modern-day American League.
Johnson, a Cincinnati-based newspaper reporter, had been recommended by his friend Charles Comiskey, a former major league star with the St. Louis Browns in the 1880s, who was then managing the Cincinnati Reds.
After the 1899 season, the National League announced it was dropping four of its franchises, reducing its membership from 12 to 8 teams.
The NL gave permission to the new AL to put a team in Chicago that year, and Comiskey moved his St. Paul club to the South Side.
The Cubs (then called the Orphans) were allowed to draft two players each year from the AL team.
Comiskey was also barred from using the name "Chicago" in all of his dealings, so he cleverly revived the old moniker "White Stockings" from the days of Cap Anson for his team.
The American League's claim to major league status was disputed, but had to be recognized after the Boston Red Sox defeated the NL champion Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series held in late 1903.
Its franchises were located west of the Mississippi River, in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains states.
Each of those cities later served as the home for a Triple-A team in the Pacific Coast League (the Denver Bears, Iowa Cubs, Omaha Royals, and Colorado Springs Sky Sox, respectively).