The Capital League
The Capital League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Capital League (CL), was a league of professional base ball clubs from London and its surrounding boroughs.
Founded in 1894, the Capital League was the first organised base ball league in Great Britain, and, alongisde the Western Base Ball League and the Combined Counties Base Ball League, was one of three top-level base ball leagues England until the formation of the National League in 1920.
The league was noted for its strong administrative traditions, its association with the early professionalisation of base ball in Great Britain, and the distinctive custom of London clubs wearing white caps.
History
Foundation
Following the success of the Great Festival of Base Ball in Liverpool in 1892 and the rapid growth of clubs throughout England, a number of London teams sought to replace the irregular list of exhibition and touring fixtures with a formal programme of league competition.
Godfrey Lascelles, chariman of Regent's Park, was the first to suggest that club base ball could overtake inter-county baseball as the most prestigious version of the game. On 6 January 1894, he wrote to the committee of his own club, Regent's Park, as well as to those of Richmond Park, Kensington Athletic, Lambeth Wanderers and the Greenwich Mariners, suggesting the creation of a regional league competition that would provide a number of guaranteed fixtures for member clubs each season.
Representatives of six clubs met at The Bailey's Hotel in February 1894 and agreed to establish and name the Capital League, to be inaugurated in the summer of that year. The name "Association of London Base Ball Clubs" was proposed by Lascelles but this was felt too close to the "Imperial Base Ball Association", which governed the county game.
The first season of the Capital League began in June 1894, with eight member clubs from London and its surrounding boroughs: Battersea Excelsior, Greenwich Mariners, Islington Strollers, Kensington Athletic, Lambeth Wanderers, Regent's Park, Richmond Park, and Thames Athletic Club.
Each club played the others twice, once at home and once away, and games consisted of nine innings, rather than the traditional seven played at county level. This change was implemented at the request of Albert Spalding, who wrote to Lascelles and urged him to align "England's soon-to-be premier sporting competition with the international standard of premier athleticism exemplified in the American game".
Albert Tilling, chairman of Richmond Park, suggested that the league operate a point-based system, similar to that of the Football League. It was decided that two points were to be awarded for a win and one for a draw, to be called if games were still tied after an additional inning.
White Cap Tradition
One of the Capital League's earliest regulations required fielding teams to wear white caps to aid identification by spectators and officials.
Although the rule was quietly dropped in the early 1900s, London clubs continued to wear white caps as a matter of tradition. By the Edwardian era, this had led to the white cap becoming an unofficial symbol of London base ball, with supporters and journalists outside of London referring to Capital League clubs collectively as "the White Caps".
Professional Era
The Capital League remained nominally amateur during its first seasons, though many clubs were suspected of compensating players through expenses, employment arrangements and other indirect means to prevent them joining league rivals.
Following the establishment of the National Congress of Base Ball Clubs in 1897 and the legalisation of professionalism, the Capital League became the first competition to openly register professional players.