1907 is memorable for a few reasons, one of them being that it saw both the resurgence of a former power and the rise of a new one. The former power returning to glory was the Pittsburgh Miners who had won four Federal Association pennants over the span of 1898-1901, then had a string of three straight 2nd place finishes from 1903-05 before bottoming out with a 69-76, 6th-place finish in 1906 before coming back in a big way in '07. The new power was Continental Association pennant-winner Baltimore. The Clippers had won one pennant, back in 1890 as part of the Peerless League but had finished as high as 2nd only once since and had a lot of 5th and 6th place finishes on their resume, including - like Pittsburgh - a 6th-place standing in 1906. But boy oh boy did they put on a show in 1907.
The Boston Minutemen had reached manager-turned-part-owner George Theobald termed an "untenable financial situation." By this he meant that his team, winners of four straight Federal Association pennants, was nearly broke. All that talent was expensive, so Theobald, with the blessing of his co-owners (including majority boss Steve Cunningham, who at 72 was turning more and more of the running of the club over to Theobald), started making trades.