"Bright and happy little Jack Brennan is in trouble. While on a toot recently little Jack happened into the Missouri Pacific yards, and believing that he had arrived at his own residence, tried to open the door of a freight car. About this time a railroad watchman came along, nabbed Jack, and preferred a charge of burglary against him. When last heard from he was resting uneasily in one of Jailor Siegemund's apartments."
-from The Sporting News, March 29, 1886
5 comments:
Hi Jeff-
I've looked in to Jack Brennan a bit because he played in Eau Claire (WI) for a couple of weeks. I'm not sure what to make of him. He told a long story to TSN about how he double-crossed a gambler who was trying to have him throw a game. He was later alleged to make suspicious calls a couple of times while as an umpire. He had a falling out with Eau Claire's manager Joe Quest, who fined and apparently released him in 1887. He resorted to advertising his services in his column that he wrote for TSN (he was taken up on the offer and played fairly well for a few years).
I'd hate to speak ill of him without knowing the whole story, but clearly the man hasn't made a favorable first impression with me.
Jason
Hi Jason-
Good to hear from you. Thanks for the info on Brennan. I'll have to check for more on him in TSN and post it. I'm a sucker for stories about degenerate, drunken, crooked ballplayers. It's why I like 19th century baseball so much.
How's the new book going? Let me know when it comes out and I'll post a link to it. Maybe one of my three readers will buy a copy.
Hi Jeff-
I gladly count my name among the three! If I don't visit every day, it's certainly within a couple of days. I very much enjoy your work.
I'll email you a document showing a bunch of Brennan items I clipped from TSN. Even though he was the "hero" by doing the double cross to the gamblers, I'm thinking he even at that time had a reputation for being crooked given the later allegations.
I finished the 19th century portion of my book. Two Eau Claire seasons, 1886 and 1887, plus 25ish player bios (and none with the name "Packy" nor "Dillon") came to about 20,000 words. Only 30-some seasons and 75 players to go! I think even I'll be too bored to read it all. I certainly won't be able to lift it. I'll probably do something with lulu.com when I finish in about 20 years, because nobody else is going to publish this monstrosity.
I'd appreciate it if you'd send me the stuff on Brennan. It'd save me a little work-although I'll probably find it soon enough if it's from 1886/87 period (or I guess I could use the search function). I'm working on a couple of little side projects from the period and going through TSN week by week.
I appreciate the kind words about the blog. I'm having a lot of fun doing it.
I sent it to your gmail account listed on this site. Let me know if you want it to go elsewhere.
Have a great day!
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