On January 17, 1904 the Pittsburgh Keystones of the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League folded, leaving three teams to finish the season. The league was the first Hockey League to be fully professional. I am surprised by this as Baseball had been professional for 30 seasons before the WPHL came along.
The league had began play as a professional league with the 1901-02 season as a three club league with all three teams based in Pittsburgh. The three teams were the Athletic Club, the Bankers and the Keystones. The leagues first season consisted of only 21 total league games. The Victorias club was added for the second season and the league played 27 games. With the loss of the Keystones, the league only played 24 games during the 1903-04 season. Thus the league in three seasons had only 72 games played.
The league then sat out the next three seasons before making a two season comeback before folding for good. Five players in the league made enough of an impact to get into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The answer to yesterdays trivia question is the Cardinals quarterback in 1963 was Charley Johnson.
The trivia question for tomorrow is following the 1903-04 season, the league champion Bankers played what team for the Championship of the United States?
Please come back tomorrow when we look at an early basketball league.
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