While not technically members of the Indians at any point in time, the brothers Frank and Stanley Robison (not to be confused with Hall of Famer and future Indians player-manager, Frank Robinson) were integral in the creation of Cleveland’s American League baseball team for all the wrong reasons.
After making their money in the street car business, the brothers joined together to purchase a baseball team for the city of Cleveland in 1887. This was the third incarnation of a professional baseball team in Cleveland and, while more legitimate than the previous two entries (the Forest Citys from 1871-72 and the Blues from 1880-84), they would win just 39 of 131 games in their first season. The legitimization of the team came from its inclusion in the American Association, a relationship that would last just one more season as the team would move to the National League in 1889. While teams didn’t really have official nicknames at the time, being simply known as the Cleveland Baseball Club, thanks to the gangly appearance of the athletes, this is also the year the team became known as the Spiders.
As owners in the early years, the Robisons were actually pretty reliable. They brought in players like the workhorse Jersey Backley who averaged over 418 innings in each of the Blues campaigns and in 1890. During the 1890 season, there was dispute over players salaries and it lead to the creation of the Players League (still considered an official Major League) and while many Spiders jumped to the new league, most came back the following season after it folded.
Heading into the 1891 season, the Robisons created a new home for the Spiders, building League Park, the stadium that would house Cleveland teams for decades to come including the Lake Shores, Indians (in all their different names like Bronchos, Blues and Naps), the Cleveland Negro League teams and the Cleveland Rams football franchise in addition to the Spiders. The Indians in particular would continue to use the Robison built structure through 1946. While it was demolished in 1951, it has since been reconstructed and is in use as a museum, the only lasting positive result of their ownership.
After finishing last in 1887 with a .298 winning percent in a lesser league, the Cleveland team improved to 93 wins and a .624 winning percent by 1892, finishing second in the now 12 team National League. This season featured Cy Young at his best, winning 34 games with a 1.93 ERA as well as great seasons from Jake Virtue (1B), Cupid Childs (2B) and the Hall of Famer Jesse Burkett (the only player in the Hall of Fame as a Spider).
They would earn entry into the NL Championship twice more, each with second place finishes in 1895 and 1896, winning the series in the first year. Despite this, the duo wasn’t happy with attendance and after 5th place showings in each of the next two seasons (despite finishing over .500 each year), Frank left the team with Stanley in charge.
It was what happened next that made these two the most important and most infamous owners in Cleveland history. At least Art Modell had the courtesy to admit he was moving the entire team. Frank didn’t just leave the team, but purchased the St. Louis Browns at auction for $40,000 in 1899. From 1892 through 1898, the Browns had finished under .500 each season hitting a low of .221 in 1897. The had finished in dead last for two straight years and 11th (of 12) the two seasons prior. Despite all this, Frank Robison believed they had a greater fan base and would give him a fresh start.
Going into the 1899 season, Frank conspired with Stanley in a move that was only possible in the early, lawless days of baseball (there wouldn’t be a commissioner until about two decades later). Every able bodied player of the Spiders was sent without compensation to the Browns, including Hall of Famers Young, Burkett and Bobby Wallace.
Frank named the new team (and legally, it was a new team although they maintained many of the former Browns players and all the team’s history) the St. Louis Perfectos, a recognition of how he thought he had cheated the system, but still a misnomer as they finished just fifth in the NL. The poor naming decision was rectified after just one year as they became the St. Louis Cardinals, a name that continues today.
The Spiders, however, would not continue. As one would expect when removing all the best players from a team, they came in last in the NL and finished 20-134, leading to the destruction of the team after the season. It wouldn’t take long for Cleveland to get a new team as the minor league Lake Shores moved into League Park and became the American League expansion team the Cleveland Blues in 1901, but that was despite of the Robisons rather than because of them.
With no more responsibilities in Cleveland, Stanley went to St. Louis to become the team’s treasurer and he took over as manager in 1905, then sole owner in 1907 when Frank left the game for good (he would die a year later in 1908). While the Cardinals were in prime position to take advantage of the now eight team NL in 1901 when the American League was created, they suffered losses as many players, including Young, were unhappy with the situation and jumped to the American League. The Cardinals wouldn’t recover until long after both Robisons were gone from ownership when they won their first pennant and World Series in 1926.
Stanley would die in 1911 just prior to the season starting and he would leave the team to his niece, Frank’s daughter Helene. She would own the team through 1917 when the Robison family would finally be out of Major League Baseball for good.
This whole situation brings up arguably the greatest “what if?” in baseball history. A team stacked with talent, it wouldn’t have been surprising to see the Spiders contend in the National League in the early years of the 20th century. Of course, they would have been unable to have signed Napoleon Lajoie as a free agent as players couldn’t jump between NL teams, but they may have kept Cy Young for his entire career rather than just the beginning and the end. Just imagine a 1908 rotation that had Young with his 1.26 ERA in 299 innings and Addie Joss with a 1.16 ERA in 325.
The naming of the franchise would also have been curious. While the team from the late 1890’s is still known as the Spiders, at the time they were often called the Indians from 1897 through 1899 thanks to the signing of Louis Sockalexis. While it’s possible they would still be known as the Spiders had they not become defunct, the players hated that moniker and it’s not crazy to think that the team could have been named the Indians a full 15-17 years earlier than it actually was.
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