The Beer and Whiskey League, officially American Association, was created in 1882 to compete against the National League (NL) which was viewed as puritan. It existed for ten seasons, lasting until 1891.
In the late 1800s as baseball was becoming a national interest, It became representative of the conflict between nativist Americans and immigrants.
Nativists in the baseball were represented by the National League. They did not want alcohol sale in the ballparks nor games on Sundays. For German and Eastern European immigrant populations, on the other hand, alcohol and Sunday games were an essential part of baseball and their cultural habits.
That's why brewers and distillers in cities like Cincinatti, Louisville, and Pittsburgh, founded the American Association whose games happened on Sundays and were accompanied by alcohol sale.
In this period it's clear how nativists and immigrants fought for their different views on baseball accordingly to their cultural framings. For many decades yet the association between immigrants and alcohol would be used by racist nativists against immigrant populations. For example the rebirth of the KKK in the 1920s had as one of its several causes the nativist hatred against immigrants and their habits of drinking alcohol.
