ABOUT THE CHICAGO COUGARS
Originally launched in a "thumb-your-nose" gesture by the Border Association at the Century League's William Whitney and his Chicago Chiefs, the Cougars went on to carve their own place in history as one of the Continental Association's most accomplished franchises. The whole thing started off as a way to infuriate Whitney - the Cougars' first owner was John Ransom, who ran a chain of grocery stores notable in some measure for refusing to buy its produce from Whitney's fruit and vegetable business. It turned out that Ransom's acumen for running a ballclub - which boiled down to letting the "baseball guys" do their thing was more successful than Whitney's own method which had him dabbling in his club's personnel moves, many of which did not work out. The Cougars relatively late entry into the Border Association (1887) played a role in their never winning a pennant in the BA. But they did win four while Ransom was the owner. When he passed away in 1901 his heirs sold the team to Ben Hunter and the club continued to be a contender, with three additional pennants before the Golden Jubilee of 1925.
ABOUT THE CLEVELAND FORESTERS
The final team to be added to the Border Association, the Cleveland Foresters club was founded in 1890 during the self-destructive three-way war between the Border Association, Century League and Peerless League. That the Foresters survived is a testament to owner Harold Marshall who refused to allow his club to fold. His resolve despite massive financial losses in the first two seasons of operation before his club - like many others - was saved by the formation of the FABL organization - shows how iron-willed Marshall could be. He was tough but fair and often generous to a fault with his players. Unfortunately for Marshall, his teams generally did not reflect their owner's toughness in their play. The Foresters won their first pennant in 1901 and then two more (1917 & 1920) while Marshall owned the team. Marshall felt the machinations of Max Morris in engineering a trade to St. Louis represented a fundamental betrayal and he began to distance himself from the players. In 1926, with his health beginning to fail, Marshall turned over the day-to-day management of the club to his nephew Charles Turnbow as club President, although Marshall remained the owner. When the elder Marshall passed away in 1928, his son Elmer took over. The mercurial Elmer Marshall became a controversial figure almost immediately.
ABOUT THE DETROIT DYNAMOS
One of just two Peerless League clubs to gain entry into the Federally Aligned Baseball Leagues in 1892, the Detroit Dynamos found little success on the field in the 19th century, but things took a turn for the better in the 20th century when they acquired two of the era's greatest pitchers in Bill Temple and Woody Trease. Though both pitchers' careers were shortened by injuries both tragic and in Temple's case, self-inflicted, the Dynamos got some very good mileage out of them. Detroit won six pennants and four World championships over the course of twelve seasons (1908-19). This success allowed them to move into a shiny new ballpark in 1915 and though the club fell on hard times after Trease and Temple left town, owner Eddie Thompson has shown that like his father, he is willing to give his baseball men the greenlight to trade for high-salaried stars.
ABOUT THE MONTREAL SAINTS
The Saints, along with the Toronto Wolves, were the Border Association's flagship franchises in Canada as BA founder James Tice sought to grow the sport outside the United States. While Tice and his team (Cincinnati) did not survive, the seeds he planted in Canada not only survived, but thrived. The road was a bit rocky for Montreal - they started slowly, became a contending team in the final years of the Border Association, and then struggled mightily during the rest of the 19th century after the formation of the FABL organization finishing as high as fourth just once before 1913. That's when things turned around, and the Saints became one of the Continental Association's power clubs, winning several pennants and world titles. The club plays at Parc Cartier, or as the locals call it, "La Belle de Rachel" for its location on the Rue Rachel. The crowds at La Belle are fanatically partisan and often raucous giving the Saints a decided home field advantage.