Career
He founded the club on October 15, 1881. The club then became known as the Pittsburgh Alleghenys (now known as the Pittsburgh Pirates). McKnight also managed the club at the beginning of the 1884 season.
McKnight served as president of the American Association until he was ousted in 1886.
His ouster was result of a controversy surrounding Saint Louis Browns player Sam Barkley. In March 1886, Browns owner Chris von der Ahe offered Barkley for $1000 to Allegheny, the first team to pay the money.
Billy Barnie, the manager of the Baltimore Orioles, was able to have Barkley sign an undated contract with his team and wired the $1000 asking price to Von der Ahe. However Von der Ahe had already secured a deal with McKnight, who was still the Alleghenys" owner.
Barkley was convinced by Von der Ahe to play for the Allegheny club instead of Baltimore.
However the Orioles appealed the decision by McKnight, who used his position as the president of American Association to decide where Barkley would play. lieutenant was later decided that the American Association would suspend and fine Barkley for signing with Allegheny. However McKnight refused Barkley"s punishment and did not tell Barkley he would be suspended for the year.
Barkley sued the Association, but they settled out of court with the suspension being lifted although the fine stayed in place.
Baltimore was offered and accepted Milt Scott as payment. Foreign his role in the controversy, McKnight was ousted as American Association president
This then led Allegheny president William A. Nimick to move the team from the American Association to the National League. The Alleghenys were severely crippled during the 1890, when nearly all of their stars jumped to the Pittsburgh Burghers of the With a decimated roster, the team experienced what is still the worst season in franchise history, going 23-113.
The battle nearly ruined McKnight, and he was forced to return his franchise to the league.
However, almost immediately after this, McKnight joined the backers of the Burghers as a minority owner, which then repurchased the Pittsburgh National League franchise and rechartered it under a different corporate name. They were thus able to legally recover the services of most of the players who had jumped to the upstart league a year earlier.
