The Union War inspired the formation of "reserve teams". These were auxiliaries of the major league clubs made up of youngsters recruited from semi-professional and amateur ranks. They were paid salaries and played regularly scheduled games with each other, charging twenty-five cents admission. The purpose of these scrub teams was to keep as many players as possible out of Union control and at the same time to siphon away customers from Union parks. Of course, there was always the possibility, as Chris Von der Ahe explained, that these teams might be a means of developing new talent for the parent club, and even supply replacements in emergencies. The reserve teams were also used to keep the regulars on their mettle. The St. Louis Browns were well aware of this, having grown tired of hearing, "If you don't play well you will be dropped to the reserve crowd." ... Temporary expedients of war though they were, the reserve teams bore the closest resemblance to modern baseball's farm system yet discernible. (From Chapter 14)
This passage suggests that Von der Ahe at the least considered the posibility of using his minor league club as a way of preparing players for the major league team. Clearly the St. Louis Whites in 1888 were not a response to the Union War, which ended after the 1884 season. They seem likely, however, to have had an origin in concept with these reserve clubs (and some other subsequent early forays by other franchises in 1885 - 1897 into farming players). David Nemec (The Beer and Whiskey League) notes that “in the spring of 1888... Von der Ahe formed the St. Louis Whites as a kind of farm team to play in the Western Association,” while Peter Morris (A Game of Inches: The Game Behind The Scenes) writes “St. Louis Brown Stockings owner Chris Von der Ahe operated the St. Louis Whites of the Western Association as a farm club, signing no fewer than twenty-nine players to 1888 contracts by December of 1887.”
I recently ran across a blog by Jeffrey Kittel about the history of 19th century St. Louis baseball (This Game of Games) where he does a thorough job of discussing this premise. While he never comes to a firm conclusion, he demonstrates that the relationship between the Browns and the Whites looked like that between a parent club and farm club, with players being moved between the clubs in some manner. However, he also suggests that this was not the primary motive for Chris Von der Ahe when he formed the club. The intent may have been to protect his baseball interests in light of rumors of a new, Eastern Major League, which may have resulted in the end of the American Association. All in all, his research on the St. Louis Whites greatly informed me about this short-lived club.
The St. Louis Whites were only around for part of one season. They opened with an exhibition game against the St. Louis Browns on March 25th. Their first game was April 28th, 1888, against Milwaukee, at Sportsman’s Park. Just one month later (according to Kittel) Von der Ahe was already trying to sell the club. After one sale fell through in June, he disbanded the club on June 20th and sold or released most of the players (with a few being transferred tot he Browns). The club lasted under two months, with a final record of 14-25 (according to Baseball-Reference.com). Their legacy lives on in a series of early 'baseball cards' from Goodwin and Company promoting their Old Judge cigarette, known as Old Judge N172, which contained several members of the club.
The manager of the St. Louis Whites was Tom Loftus. Loftus played baseball for the St. Louis Resd club before appearing in three games with the St. Louis Brown Stockings (the original St. Louis entry into the National League) in 1877. He went to Dubuque in 1879, and played there on a team for manager Ted Sullivan with Charlie Comiskey, brothers Bill and Jack Gleason, and Sleeper Sulivan. These four were in the Browns opening day lineup for their first game in the American Association; Ted Sullivan was the Browns manager in 1883. Loftus came with the core from Dubuque, but was limited by injuries to only six games with the Browns in 1883. He managed briefly for Milwaukee in the Union Assocaition in 1884 before becoming the White’s manager in 1888. He went on to manage eight seasons in the majors with Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and Washington. (Baseball-Reference.com has Loftus managing both the St. Louis Whites and Cleveland in the American Association in 1888, crediting him with a 50-82 record with Cleveland, which seems improbable if he was managing the Whites into late June. Jimmy Williams is also credited as managing for Cleveland for part of the 1888 season. Clearly, something isn’t quite right about their records.)
Baseball-Reference.com credits 19 players as having played at least one game with the St. Louis Whites:
Charles Alcott, Tug Arundel, Jake Beckley, Ernie Burch, Bart Cantz, Jack Crooks, Tom Dolan, Farquahr, Flynn, Jim Galligan, Joseph Herr, Hunkey Hines, Hughes, Jack Kenyon, Parson Nicholson, Fred Nyce, Reynolds, Ed Sproat, Harry Staley
Eleven of these players played in the major leagues at some point in their career, with Jake Beckley going on to the Hall of Fame. Kittel lists two other players - Jerry McCormick and Jim Devlin - as being identified as being members of the Whites in contemporary accounts, but he could not find any direct evidence that they played in any games. There is a “J. McCormack” with several Old Judge cards identifying him with the St. Louis Whites.