Toronto interests long pursued a major league team for the city. Toronto was proposed as the home for a National League (NL) team by Albert Spalding when he was established the league in 1876. Exhibition games were played by both the NL and American League (AL) of Major League Baseball (MLB) in Toronto in the 1910s. Member of Parliament Bernard Rickart Hepburn was granted a Toronto franchise by the Federal League, a rival major league to the NL and AL, for its inaugural season in 1914, after the franchise was revoked from Cleveland. After speculation the franchise would be returned to Cleveland or moved to Cincinnati, it was transferred to Brooklyn to become the Brooklyn Tip-Tops prior to playing a game in Toronto. Hepburn cited his inability to find a park to play at in short notice as the reason the team didn't launch. However, he secured an agreement with the league which granted him the rights to a team for the following season. Though Toronto would be proposed as the new home to the Kansas City Packers Federal League franchise for the 1915 season, no team ever came to fruition in the city.