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Brooklyn Tip-Tops, 1914–1915
A bread company gave them their name. A rival league gave them their chance. For two seasons, the Brooklyn Tip-Tops tried to carve out their own place in New York baseball.
1914
1915
Federal League
Washington Park
Brooklyn, New York
Robert Ward
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What's in a Name?
The Brooklyn Tip-Tops arrived in 1914 as part of the Federal League's challenge to the established National and American Leagues.
Their unusual name came straight from their owner.
Robert Ward also owned the Ward Baking Company, maker of Tip-Top Bread. His new baseball team became the Brooklyn Tip-Tops.
They were also commonly called the Brooklyn Feds or BrookFeds, but Tip-Tops was the name that stuck.
An Old Ballpark Gets a New Team
The Tip-Tops made their home at Washington Park, a ballpark with plenty of Brooklyn baseball history already attached to it.
The National League's Brooklyn club had played there before leaving for Ebbets Field after the 1912 season.
Two years later, the Federal League moved in.
The Federal League's Ty Cobb
Brooklyn finished fourth during its first Federal League season in 1914.
League officials wanted a stronger team in the New York market, so one of the Federal League's biggest stars joined Brooklyn for 1915.
Benny Kauff had won the league batting title in 1914 and became known as the "Federal League Ty Cobb."
He lived up to the reputation in Brooklyn, hitting .342 and stealing 55 bases in 1915.
Even Kauff could not turn the Tip-Tops into a contender. Brooklyn finished seventh.
A No-Hitter for the History Books
One of the team's biggest moments came on September 19, 1914.
Brooklyn pitcher Ed Lafitte threw a no-hitter against the Kansas City Packers in a 6–2 victory.
It became the only no-hitter ever thrown in Federal League history.
What Might Have Been
The Tip-Tops were already thinking ahead to 1916.
The club announced plans to experiment with night baseball, nearly two decades before night games became part of Major League Baseball.
They never got the chance.
The Federal League folded after the 1915 season, taking the Brooklyn Tip-Tops with it.