tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5985668569918053928.post5372605357278322759..comments2024-01-24T05:19:09.805-06:00Comments on This Game Of Games: The Game In QuestionJeffrey Kittelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367989375750209078noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5985668569918053928.post-38141883519327849622009-03-08T13:38:00.000-05:002009-03-08T13:38:00.000-05:00The Chicago Tribune wrote on Nov. 4, 1877 that "Th...The Chicago Tribune wrote on Nov. 4, 1877 that "There has been as much crookedness in St. Louis as Louisville. The attempt to cut off the investigation by hanging Joe Blong and Joe Battin is like stopping a fountain of salt." They go on to mention Force by name and mention the error. Cash believes that one of the reasons Force got dragged into this was because Spink, writing in the Globe, left plenty of room for speculation about which players were involved. McGeary's name also got thrown into the mix by the Chicago papers, largely because his name had come up in accusations of this sort on numerous occasions over the previous few years (and as recently as early August 1877). <BR/><BR/>We're really dealing with two problems here. The first is that we don't know for certain what happened with these StL/Chicago games. There was no admissions of guilt, nobody stepping forward to say what really happened. The best reporting was done by Spink and he didn't specifically name the players involved. You can look at the game, look at later actions, look at some of the things that others were saying and come to solid conclusion that Blong and Battin had sold games. But we have no way of knowing for certain if it was just those two. <BR/><BR/>The second problem is a general culture of corruption that seems to have existed around the Brown Stockings. There's these games against Chicago, accusations that they threw games against Boston, Louisville, etc., the Devinney accusation against McGeary, the influence of umpire L.W. Burtis on games (and his proximity to the club)-all of this together paints an ugly picture and, like you say, everything (and everybody) starts to look suspicious. <BR/><BR/>I don't see any evidence that Force or McGeary were involved in fixing the Chicago games. The Chicago papers were engaged in a bit of schadenfreude while at the same time attempting to deflect attention from the Chicago aspects of the scandal. I wasn't aware of Force's problems with the Chicago press and that certainly puts their accusations in a different light.Jeffrey Kittelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02367989375750209078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5985668569918053928.post-54703739667954450732009-03-08T12:25:00.000-05:002009-03-08T12:25:00.000-05:00Anybody can commit an error, but once the legitima...Anybody can commit an error, but once the legitimacy of competitive effort comes under question, then everything starts to look suspicious. There may have been more to the question marks placed against Force's name, though. He had played for Chicago in 1874 and seems to have had a somewhat rough experience with the hypercritical Chicago press. Then he signed a contract to come back in 1875, backed out and signed another to play for the Athletics in Philadelphia and was finally awarded to the latter club after a highly contentious dispute. <BR/><BR/>As a result of all this, Force was under something of a cloud at this time, especially in Chicago. Other than these matters, however, I don't think there were ever any black marks against Force during a very long career.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com