Before the Century League could reach its first anniversary the brewing resentment among two of its club owners came to a head. The issue was perceived special treatment for the Philadelphia and New York clubs at the expense of the Cincinnati and St. Louis clubs. Considering that New York and Philadelphia were the two largest cities in the country and that meant more potential customers, it was no surprise that a shrewd businessman like William Whitney would not want to leave those cities open. 

This bottom-line reasoning was not good enough for James Tice of Cincinnati and Hans Fuchs of St. Louis. They stood on the agreement upon which the league had been founded that all clubs guaranteed to finish their complete "championship" schedule. Since both New York and Philadelphia neglected to do so, Tice & Fuchs believed they should be expelled from the league. Whitney refused to do so, instead opting for a guarantee from Charles Bigsby (NY) and Jeff Edgerton (Philly) to not repeat themselves or face expulsion. 

Thus thwarted, Tice and Fuchs removed their clubs from the Century League and would "operate as independent touring clubs" instead. So the Century League embarked on it's 1877 campaign with only six clubs.

Interestingly, this would not be the last the baseball world would hear from Tice & Fuchs. It also prevented the strangling at birth of one of the two oldest existing professional clubs as today's Philadelphia Keystones trace their history back to that 1876 Philadelphia Centennial club that defied the league rules by not completing its schedule. New York would be another matter, but that's a story for another day....