Atlantic League (1896–1900)

Season	Champion	Record	Class	League size	Ref.
1896	Newark Colts	82–61 (.573)	A	6 teams	[1]
1897	Lancaster Maroons	90–45 (.667)	A	8 teams	[2]
1898	Richmond Bluebirds	77–44 (.636)	B	8 teams	[3]
1899	Richmond Bluebirds	63–25 (.716)	A	8 teams	[4]
1900	Scranton Miners	26–7 (.788)	A	8 teams	[5]

In 1896, eight teams competed; at any point in time, there were six teams active.

In 1899 and 1900, there were only six teams active at season's end.

Source: [6][7]

Oyster Burns was player-manager of the Newark Colts in 1896.

Jake Wells was Richmond's only manager.

Team	City	1896	1897	1898	1899	1900
Allentown Peanuts	Allentown, Pennsylvania			Y	Y	Y
Elmira	Elmira, New York					Y
Harrisburg Ponies	Harrisburg, Pennsylvania					Y​1⁄2
Hartford Bluebirds	Hartford, Connecticut	Y	Y
Hartford Cooperatives				Y
Jersey City	Jersey City, New Jersey					Y
Lancaster Maroons	Lancaster, Pennsylvania	Y​1⁄2	Y	Y	Y
New Haven Texas Steers	New Haven, Connecticut	Y​1⁄2
New York Metropolitans	New York, New York	Y​1⁄2
Newark Colts	Newark, New Jersey	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Norfolk Jewels	Norfolk, Virginia		Y	Y
Paterson Silk Weavers	Paterson, New Jersey	Y	Y	Y
Paterson Giants					Y
Philadelphia Athletics	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Y​1⁄2	Y			Y​1⁄2
Reading Coal Heavers	Reading, Pennsylvania		Y	Y	Y	Y
Richmond Bluebirds	Richmond, Virginia		Y	Y	Y
Scranton Miners	Scranton, Pennsylvania				Y	Y
Wilkes-Barre Coal Barons	Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania				Y	Y
Wilmington Peaches	Wilmington, Delaware	Y
Total league size		6	8	8	8	8

Notes:

In 1896, New Haven disbanded on July 12; Lancaster entered the league on July 13; New York was expelled on July 13 and was replaced by Philadelphia.

In 1899, Paterson disbanded on July 4, and Scranton followed on July 9.

In 1900, Philadelphia moved to Harrisburg on June 4; Newark and Jersey City disbanded on June 2; the league disbanded on June 14.

Source: [7]

Teams denoted in italics disbanded during the season.

Joe Delahanty played for Allentown in 1900 and led the Atlantic League in batting with a .469 average.[7]^:181

1900 (Class A)[7]^:181

April 30–June 14

Philadelphia was 10–11 when replaced by Harrisburg

The Soby Cup, made of silver, was given to the league by tobacco businessman Charles Soby of Hartford, Connecticut, in September 1896.[8] In its first season, the cup was to be awarded to the winner of a postseason series between the league's top two teams; in subsequent years, the holder of the cup would play a series against the league's top finishing team.[9]

Standings at the end of the 1896 season, which had Newark finishing first, were formally protested by the Paterson team, claiming that some of Newark's games were actually exhibitions.[10] With that protest pending, the next two teams in the standings—Paterson and Hartford—arranged to play a series for the Soby Cup.[11] Paterson won the seven-game series, four games to two.[12] The protested standings were not ruled upon until the league's annual meeting in late November; despite inconsistencies in record-keeping, Newark was declared the pennant winner.[13]

Following the 1897 season, the Soby Cup series should have been contested between Lancaster, that year's top team, and Paterson, who had won the cup in 1896.[9] However, league officials decided to have the top two teams of 1897—Lancaster and Newark—play for the cup.[9] After Lancaster and Newark could not agree to terms for a series,[14] the Soby Cup was awarded to Lancaster, the pennant winner.[15]

Prior to the 1898 season, the league abolished the postseason Soby Cup series, and returned to the cup to its donor.[16] By 1951, the cup was at the Baseball Hall of Fame,[17] where it remains as of 2019.[18]