That article isn't accurate. Baseball was still popular in Philadelphia during that time and many star players played Independent ball during the 1877-81 period. They had three teams in the League Alliance in 1877 and many of those 1882 players came from the 1881 Philadelphia Athletics of the Eastern Championship Association. There is a book called "Baseball in Philadelphia" by John Shiffert, that has a few pages that cover that 1877-81 era
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