Portal:Erie/Selected biography/4

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Louis W. Bierbauer (September 28, 1865 - January 31, 1926) of Erie, Pennsylvania, was considered a top-notch second baseman in Major League Baseball during the late 1880s and 1890s.

He was a rising star for the Philadelphia Athletics of the American Association before joining many other major leaguers in jumping to the outlaw Players' League for the 1890 season, a league which folded after just the one year of play.

During the off-season settlement, the arbitrators awarded Bierbauer to Pittsburgh of the National League instead of sending him back to Philadelphia, on the grounds that the A's had not reserved him. This produced a schism between the leagues as well as the lasting nickname of the Pittsburgh club: the "Pirates".