[4] Like the Ohio Works club, which won two consecutive league championships, the Champs were sponsored by local industrial leader Joseph A. McDonald and his brother, Thomas.
[5] The Champs won the 1907 championship of the Ohio–Pennsylvania League,[citation needed] but the following year, their season was cut short when the owners of the Youngstown franchise "threw up the sponge in mid-season".
[1] The challenges facing the Youngstown Indians reflected perennial difficulties within the Ohio–Pennsylvania League, including weak financial support for teams and uneven ticket sales.
[1] The Spalding Guide's Youngstown-based correspondent, W. A. Mason, noted that support for the league in that city had eroded because of the local club's poor performance.
He added, however, that the league, "taking together the gate receipts and the moneys received from the sale and drafting of players", proved to be a "moneymaker" for the first time since its establishment.