Los Angeles Stars

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League Affiliation: Continental Association

Founded: 1882 (Border Association)

Ownership History:
Roger Davidson: 1882-98
Fred Davidson: 1898-1916
Alfred Mielke: 1916-50
Thomas X. Bigsby: 1951-

PENNANTS

1887 (Border Assoc), 1902, 03, 05, 06, 24, 25, 26, 32, 39, 42, 46, 52

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

1902, 05, 06, 24, 25, 26, 32, 39, 46

ABOUT THE LOS ANGELES STARS

The oldest team in New York, the Stars beat the Gothams into town by one year as the Border Association snuck one over on the Century League. Initially playing in the Bigsby Oval while the venue was empty, the arrival of the Gothams forced the Stars to move into a wooden park across Riverside Drive from the Oval - purposely putting the Stars as close to the Gothams as possible to further the effort to unseat the Century League. While the FABL agreement of 1892 ended the outright feud between the leagues, the Gothams-Stars feud continued to simmer. With the original Riverside Park destroyed by fire in 1905, the club moved two blocks south and built a bigger, concrete-and-steel structure that maintained their proximity to the Oval and was a key motivator in Miles Bigsby's civic shenanigans in shoehorning a 52000-seat rebuilt Oval by building over Broadway and Riverside Drive themselves. Aside from the ongoing battle with the Bigsby-owned Gothams, the Stars have had good success on the field, winning six pennant and five world titles in the first quarter of the 20th century while the Gothams were shut out over the same period.

The club saw more success in the 1930s and 40s before being purchased by - ironically - Thomas X. Bigsby, the "black sheep" of the family of the erstwhile Gothams' ownership. Bigsby moved the team to Los Angeles in 1954, enticing the Philadelphia Sailors to join him on the West Coast by relocating to San Francisco, setting up a continued rivalry in a new location.

RIVERSIDE STADIUM (1905 - July, 1934)