When knuckleballer Seaton jumped to the Federal League in 1914, he was the most coveted of the defectors, having led the NL with 27 wins for the Phillies in ’13. He won 25 for the Brooklyn Feds in 1914, but thereafter his fortunes declined. In 1920, as baseball purged itself after the “Black Sox” scandal, the Pacific Coast League barred three players as “known gamblers” and San Francisco released Seaton. When he tried to move to the Southern Association his contract was not approved. He sued and won in Federal Court but left baseball before an appeal was reviewed.
