Brooklyn Tip-Tops

{{Use American English|date=March 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox baseball team |name = Brooklyn Tip-Tops |founded = 1914 |disbanded = 1915 |city = Brooklyn, New York |ballpark = |logo = |cap_logo = |league = |division = |former_leagues = {{plainlist| * Federal League }} |former_names = |nicknames = Feds<br>BrookFeds |uniform = |retired_numbers = |colors = |former_ballparks = {{plainlist| * Washington Park III }} |league_champs = 0 |division_champs = |owner = Robert Ward |gm = |manager = Lee Magee<br>John Ganzel |media = |website = }} thumb|Robert Ward circa 1914 The '''Brooklyn Tip-Tops''' were a team in the short-lived Federal League of professional baseball from 1914 to 1915. The team's name came from Tip Top Bread, a product of Ward Baking Company, which was also owned by team owner Robert Ward.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.brownstoner.com/history/walkabout-the-ward-bakery-company-a-tip-top-company-part-two/ |title=Walkabout: The Ward Bakery Company, a Tip-Top Company, Part 2 |first= Suzanne |last=Spellen |website=brownstoner.com |date=April 9, 2015 |access-date=July 31, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Baseball Team Names: A Worldwide Dictionary, 1869-2011 |first=Richard |last=Worth |page=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oNVs03_8fEcC&pg=PA4 |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=2013 |isbn=978-0786468447}}</ref> They were sometimes informally called the '''Brooklyn Feds''' or '''BrookFeds''' due to being the Brooklyn team of the Federal League. They played in Washington Park, which the Brooklyn Dodgers had abandoned after the 1912 season to move to Ebbets Field.

==History== The team finished a disappointing 4th in 1914. Federal League officials believed it was important to have a successful franchise in the New York City area and when the Indianapolis Hoosiers were transitioned to Newark, New Jersey, the "Federal League Ty Cobb", as 1914 FL batting champ Benny Kauff was known, was placed on the Brooklyn roster. In 1915, Kauff led the league with a .342 batting average and 55 stolen bases, but the Tip-Tops still finished in seventh place. The Newark and Brooklyn FL teams played three holiday doubleheaders during the 1915 season where one game was in Newark and the second was in Brooklyn. thumb | right | Lee Magee, Manager of the Brooklyn Tip-Tops On September 19, 1914, Tip-Top Ed Lafitte threw the only no-hitter in Federal League history, beating the Kansas City Packers 6–2.

Had the Federal League (FL) lasted just one more season, night baseball might have been introduced two decades earlier. The Tip Tops had announced plans for the 1916 season to play some games at night. {{Wide image|Brooklyn Tip-Tops 1914-04-24.JPG|800|The 1914 Brooklyn Tip-Tops.}}

==References== <references /> *''The Federal League of 1914–1915'' by Marc Okkonen. *''The Formation, Sometimes Absorption and Mostly Inevitable Demise of 18 Professional Baseball Organizations, 1871 to Present'' by David Pietrusza. *''May the Best Team Win: Baseball Economics and Public Policy'' by Andrew Zimbalist. *''Total Baseball: The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia'' by John Thorn, et al.

==External links== {{Commons category|Brooklyn Tip-Tops}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070310231921/http://www.super70s.com/Baseball/Leagues/Federal/Brooklyn/ Brooklyn Tip-Tops]

Category:Brooklyn Tip-Tops Category:Baseball teams established in 1914 Category:Baseball teams disestablished in 1915 Category:Defunct Major League Baseball teams Category:Federal League teams Category:1914 establishments in New York City Category:1915 disestablishments in New York City Category:Defunct baseball teams in New York (state) Category:Baseball in Brooklyn