tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5985668569918053928.post5073803982298002539..comments2024-01-24T05:19:09.805-06:00Comments on This Game Of Games: He Is Pretty SlipperyJeffrey Kittelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367989375750209078noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5985668569918053928.post-87589509069512421702011-05-10T00:10:27.541-05:002011-05-10T00:10:27.541-05:00It's the first I've seen of it as well and...It's the first I've seen of it as well and my initial reaction was that VdA was just kind of jumping on the bandwagon and trying to steal some of Lucas' thunder. Lucas was getting very good press in StL during the fall of 1883 and his attack on the reserve rule was passionate and I bet it rang true with a lot of working class people. I just thought VdA was trying to get back in the papers and show that he supported this kind of populist idea. Then again, he may been just being honest. I don't know. <br /><br />Your argument about the reserve rule is logical and I understand what you're getting at. But doesn't the argument only apply to clubs trying to get established players? Wasn't there enough of an untapped talent base (at least by the mid 1880s) that you could have went out and found plenty of young guys who weren't bound by the reserve rule? VdA could go out and buy a Foutz or a Caruthers with his money and the Baltimores of the world should have been able to find better players simply by expanding where they looked for talent. <br /><br />Maybe there simply wasn't enough developed baseball talent outside the big cities of the east and midwest and I'm wrong. If that's the case I can certainly see how the reserve rule would impede the ability of a club to gather talent. And the UA may be an example of the fact that there wasn't enough talent to go around.Jeffrey Kittelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02367989375750209078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5985668569918053928.post-53487818824755077542011-05-09T07:44:32.740-05:002011-05-09T07:44:32.740-05:00I have read that St. Louis opposed the reserve rul...I have read that St. Louis opposed the reserve rule, but this is the first time I've seen a quotation to that effect directly from Von der Ahe. Having published an article arguing that the reserve was not the pure boon to club owners that it's often assumed to be, I don't find it at all difficult to believe he looked on it this way.<br /><br />The essential thesis of my argument is that baseball is a game that requires constant replenishment of team rosters, and any device that so drastically restricted the free movement of players would inevitably cause significant problems. However, I had too much material and had to cut a lot out; the second part is likely never to see the light of day, but in it I would look more particularly at which clubs' interests suffered from the imposition of the reserve. St. Louis and Baltimore are good examples of the two types: the first, teams with a lot of money they wanted to spend on improving their roster; the second, teams with rosters so weak that they absolutely needed to be improved.David Ballnoreply@blogger.com