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Comiskey saw a fertile potential for a league of small Midwestern cities. Born from the remains of an earlier organization, the Western League was formed in 1894. Johnson went to the first meeting as a reporter and, with Comiskey pushing him, emerged as the league's part-time president. Comiskey bought the Sioux City franchise and moved it to St. Paul. Over Brush's opposition, Johnson was reelected to the presidency in 1895. Now he presided over the most stable, respected circuit in the business. His uncompromising backing of his umpires had greatly reduced—but not eliminated—assaults on his staff. The league had gone until August before the first serious incident. Detroit shortstop Kid Elberfeld pummeled an umpire and was fined Sum and suspended for the rest of the year.
Ban Johnson's headquarters in Chicago was the most closely watched source of baseball news in the fall of 1899. There were no objective observers. The Sporting News supported its editor, Spink, in his efforts to revive the American Association. Sporting Life, backed by Al Reach, praised Johnson and his plans as long as they didn't conflict with the interests of the Phillies, of which Reach owned half. The paper's editor, Francis C. Richter, doubted that Philadelphians would back an AA team: "Proposals for a new club at this precarious time when teams in organized ball everywhere are struggling for existence would be a rash venture."