ABOUT THE BROOKLYN KINGS

The Brooklyn Kings were born in a game of brinkmanship by the Border Association in its war with the Century League. The Kings were founded in 1884, two seasons after the birth of the BA and the new circuit sought to both ratchet up the pressure on its competition but also secure a bastion in what was then the nation's fifth-largest city (Brooklyn would not become part of New York City until 1898). The early years of the Kings were good ones - they finished third in their very first season and won the pennant in 1889 and 1891, remaining competitive in the first years of the FABL consolidation before fading badly. The salad days behind them, Brooklyn was mostly an also-ran who had occasional revivals that resulted in pennants in both 1912 and 1923, but the biggest prize - a world title, still eluded them as baseball celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 1925.