The Game Not Played

The game of base ball advertised to take place yesterday afternoon, at the Grand Avenue park, between the Chicago White Stockings and Philadelphias, did not come off, as neither club put in its appearance.  At least twenty thousand people visited the grounds, thinking that they would enjoy a treat, but they were doomed to be disappointed.  As to who is to blame, our reporter gained the following from a reliable source: Mr. Williams, secretary of the reds of this city, has been correspounding with the Chicagos for some time, in regard to getting up a game, and at last succeeded so far that he turned the game over to Mr. Solari of the Grand Avenue park, thinking it would be an advantage to the club in drawing a large crowd, on account of its proximity to the Fair grounds.  Then Mr. Thos. Bryan, corresponding secretary of the Empires, received from the Philadelphia club, October 1st, a communication stating that the Chicagos and Philadelphias would play a game in this city on October 8th, and that the Philadelphias, after playing a return game in Chicago, would come back and play two games on Sunday, the 11th of October, one in the morning with the Nationals, if so arranged, and the other with the Empires in the afternoon.  Mr.  Bryan answered the telegram, and told them to come on, as all the arrangements were being made, and the games were advertised.  Then came Mr. Williams on the morning of October 8th, the day the game was to come off, and told Mr. Solari of the park that he had received a dispatch from Chicago, signed jointly by the managers of the Chicago and Philadelphia clubs, that it would not be possible for them to play in St. Louis, and that they would write and give the cause.  Lastly a dispatch was received at 3:10 P.M., yesterday, by Mr. Solari, signed Jim Woods, stating the Philadlephias refused to play in St. Louis.

To make some amends, there was an impromptu game gotten up between the Empires and a picked nine, to amuse the vast assemblage, who were better satisfied than might have been expected under the circumstances.

-St. Louis Republican, October 9, 1874


What's of interest here is the fact that this game was being advertised as the first game played in St. Louis between two professional clubs and it certainly would have been the first game played between two openly professional teams.  Also, the reason given for moving the game from the Compton Avenue Grounds to the Grand Avenue Grounds is interesting and it's the first contemporary reference I've ever seen suggesting why the Grand Avenue Grounds was considered a better park than the Compton Avenue Grounds.

Regardless, it's kind of odd that this game wasn't played.  Chicago played a lot of games in St. Louis in 1874 and it's kind of surprising that they weren't able to get Philadelphia to go along with playing it.  There's probably something else going on here that we don't know because the reason given for not playing the game is not very satisfying.  

Solari At Work

The heavy eight ton roller was used all day yesterday on Sportsman's Park. The diamond is now as level as a table. Superintendent Solari has the base lines in fine condition. They will be covered with tarpaulins in wet weather, as will also the battery and batters' squares. The new growth of grass came up very quickly and the grounds are looking in their handsomest form.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 30, 1884

I thought this was a rather unique look at the kind of things that August Solari did to get his field in shape for baseball. The infield tarp, according to best evidence, was an invention that Solari came up with for the 1884 season.

Parking At The Grand Avenue Grounds

A number of rascals at the Grand Avenue Park stop all gentlemen who drive out and inform them that Mr. Solari, the proprietor, charges one dollar for carriage room, while they will take charge of the team for twenty-five cents. The reverse of this is the case-Mr. Solari looking after all teams for a quarter, while outsiders charge from fifty cents to a dollar. As Mr. Solari purchased the addition to the park expressly to accommodate Brown Stocking patrons, he deserves, and no doubt will get, their custom.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 10, 1875

The 1885 World Series: Game Two

The first game at Sportman's Park between the Chicago Club and the Browns proved a poor contest, very badly umpired and terminating in a forfeiture by the home club to the visitors, the end being attended by a scene of excitement and confusion that was rarely, if ever, been equaled at any previous ball game in this city. Sullivan, the League umpire, came down from Chicago to act in the game, and a more unfortunate selection could not have been made. In the first inning he gave Kelly out at second on a steal, when nearly everybody thought the runner was safe. In the third he more than evened up matters by declaring foul a safe hit to right by Foutz, who, on the hit and a fumble by Clarkson, reached second, from which he was called back. This decision aroused the spectators to great indignation and Sullivan was loudly and roundly denounced. When, in the third inning, Barkley was called out on a ball that was above his head, another storm of hissing and shouts of "Get another umpire" followed. During the fourth and fifth inning nothing especially exciting occurred, but in the first half of the sixth a crisis was reached. After Sunday had led off with a double to right and gone to third on a passed ball, Kelley hit a grounder to Gleason, who fumbled and then threw to first, clearly putting out Kelley. Sunday scored on the play and Kelley was decided "safe." While the crowd uttered exclamations of amazements, some of the more impetuous shouted "robbery." Comiskey came in off the field, protested against the decision, and objected to Sullivan umpiring any longer. Sullivan immediately went to the players' bench, put on his coat and sat down. Anson refused to permit a change of umpires, and a long wrangle followed. Finally Hon. John J. O'Neill stepped out of the grand stand into the field and joined the wrangling players. Anson asked what his business was on the field, and the answer was, "That's none of your business."

"Well, it is my business, and you have no business on the field," retorted the big captain of the Chicago team.

"I am the President of the club," said the Representative of the Eighth District.

"I always thought Von der Ahe was the President," remarked Anson as he was very suspiciously eyed the M.C.

"Well, I'm the Vice President of the club, and in the absence of the President from the city the Vice President takes his place, don't he?" was the rejoinder of the friend of the laboring man.

The upshot of it was that O'Neill remained and the game proceeded.

Kelly quickly stole second, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a single to center by Anson. Pfeffer raised a fly to short right and Nicol muffed it, but threw Anson out at second, while Pfeffer secured his base. After Pfeffer had stolen second Williamson hit a slow grounder along the line to first. The ball was spinning as it traveled, and when near first base it reached the outside of the base line it struck the edge of the turf and turned so sharply inside the line that Comiskey failed to stop, and it struck the inside of the bag and ran a short distance beyond it. Meanwhile somebody shouted "Foul!" Pfeffer ran in from second and Williamson, after hesitating when the ball was outside the line, made a dash when it changed its course and reached first in safety. Comiskey claimed that the ball was foul, Sullivan insisted that it was fair, but Comiskey said it was not under American Association rules, to which Anson answered by calling for the rules. Another squabble was followed by Comiskey calling his men off the field. There was a rush of spectators into the field and while one crowd gathered around Anson, Superintendent Solari and a special officer escorted Sullivan off the field, a second crowd following them to the gate and abusing Sullivan at every step.

By leaving the field Comiskey made a serious blunder, for the rules made it the imperative duty of the umpire to declare the game forfeited, and while the act caused the home team the irretrievable loss of a game that they had a chance to win, it also gave to the backers of the Chicago Club considerable money that was wagered on the result. Under all rules the ball was a fair one, and the umpire was in no way to blame for the deceptive course it took. It was generally believed that Sullivan had called the ball "foul," but this he denies, and is supported in his denial by Robinson, the home catcher, who asserted that it was Anson who made the call in question; but even if he had declared it "foul" before it had passed inside the line, he would have been obliged to correct his decision and declare "fair."

Anson stated that he had not brought Sullivan here, that the Browns brought him, and he was their selection. Sullivan admitted that he was rattled, but said members of the home team stood near him and abused him from the first inning, and having no way to protect himself against their insults, he could not help getting excited. When the game stopped the score stood 5 to 4 in favor of the Chicagos, on uneven innings. The Browns scored 3 in the first inning and 1 in the fourth. The Chicagos scored 1 in the first, 1 in the second and had made 3 in the sixth, with one man out, when the game broke up. The game will go on record as 9 to 0 in favor of Chicago.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 16, 1885

Not a great start to the 1885 World's Championship Series, with a tie and a forfeit in the first two games. But game two gave us a serious controversy that would affect the outcome of the series and will take a few days to sort out.

It was always my understanding that the Browns claimed that they had won the 1885 series and I believed that this was based on disputing the forfeit of game two. However, based on the Globe's account of the game, I see no basis for the claim. Comiskey took the Browns off the field, quit the game and Chicago was rightly awarded the forfeit. The Browns forfeited one of the seven games of the series. And they were losing that game when they quit. Game two of the series, regardless of how it happened, was a victory for Chicago and a loss for the Browns.

The umpire for the game was David F. Sullivan, who umpired National League games in 1882 and 1885 and lived in Chicago. I think Anson was being a bit coy when he said that the Browns had selected Sullivan to umpire the game. It's likely that his name was put forward by Chicago, along with a few others, and the Browns picked Sullivan off of the list supplied by the White Stockings. Yes, the Browns had selected Sullivan but only after he was suggested by Chicago.

I searched high and wide for a box score to this game and did find one. Sadly, it was not in a format that allowed me to post it here. Interestingly, the Globe did not publish a box score to this game. Looking at the box score I did find, it looks like the Browns were having problems hitting McCormick and had only two hits in the game, through five innings. It was a sloppy game with Chicago committing five errors and the St. Louis battery of Foutz and Robinson combining for three passed balls and a wild pitch. Gleason, Welch, Comiskey and O'Neill scored for the Browns; Sunday and Pfeffer each scored twice for Chicago and Kelly scored once. Chicago had the only earned run in the game.

If this was the big controversy surrounding the 1885 series than it's not much of a controversy at all. Umpire Sullivan made some bad calls but Comiskey's decision to take his club off the field cost his team a chance to win the series. If the Browns had kept their composure instead of storming off the field, they could have come back and won game two. They were only down a run, had a rowdy home crowd on their side and the umpire was shaky. However, they walked off and forfeited the game. After the forfeit, the Browns had to win three of five to salvage a split series and four of five to win it. The only real controversy, according to the Globe, is Comiskey's decision to pull his team off the field.

However, there are other contemporary accounts of the game and they differ with the Globe's account. I'll take a look at those tomorrow.

The End Of The Interregnum, Part Four

The 1881 season was a successful one in St. Louis, both on the field and at the box office. Several events that took place that season had a profound impact on the St. Louis baseball market and helped to shape that market for a generation. In many ways, the 1881 season is similar to the 1874 St. Louis baseball season in that the success that was found in those seasons led to a St. Louis baseball club entering a major league.

The most significant event that took place in 1881 was the creation of the Sportsman's Park and Club Association under the leadership of Chris Von der Ahe. August Solari, after the disappointments of the Interregnum years, gave up his lease on the Grand Avenue Park and this lease was picked up by Von der Ahe's new organization, which was officially incorporated at the end of March 1881. The SPCA originally had no connection with the St. Louis Baseball Association and the Brown Stockings other than providing the Browns with a home ballpark. Eventually, in October 1881, Von der Ahe and the SPCA would forcibly seize control of the club from the St. Louis Baseball Association and Von der Ahe would, at that point, become the Boss President of both ballclub and park. But we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves.

The important point is that Von der Ahe and the SPCA were running the Grand Avenue Grounds by the spring of 1881 and had made significant improvements to the grounds. Also significant is that Von der Ahe was a relative outsider in St. Louis baseball circles. He had been a member of the board of directors of Solari's Grand Avenue ballclub in the mid-1870s and had some connections in St. Louis politics but he was not, in any real sense, an insider like Solari, the Spink brothers or the former Union Club members who had run the NA/NL Brown Stockings. Von der Ahe and the SPCA represented a new leadership force in the St. Louis baseball market and while this new force at first co-existed with the old, as represented by the St. Louis Baseball Association, eventually the two came into conflict, the result being the consolidation of the St. Louis baseball market under the new leadership of Chris Von der Ahe. It's the advent of this new leadership and their conflict with the old that brought about the end of the Interregnum.

The other significant event of 1881 was the return to the St. Louis baseball market of significant, outside competition. Because of the depressed nature of the St. Louis market from 1878 to 1880, as well as a depressed and disorganized national baseball market in general during the era, St. Louis did not receive many visits from good, nationally competitive baseball clubs. There are several reasons for this. As mentioned, the national baseball market was depressed and disorganized, as clubs and leagues of clubs searched for a business model that would support professional baseball. The effect of the game-fixing scandal and the general corruption that had surrounded the Brown Stockings from 1875 to 1877 on the St. Louis market can not be overstated, as it alienated and turned off what had been a very large fan base. The financial collapse of the Brown Stockings also had a negative impact as it essentially froze St. Louis out of the League system and denied the market visits from the best clubs in the nation. In the end, the St. Louis Baseball Association was unable to schedule many visits from good baseball clubs from large cities and when they were able to get a team like Indianapolis to visit, they couldn't get the fans out. Even the Chicago clubs stopped coming.

But by 1881, things had started to change. That season St. Louis saw visits from clubs from Cincinnati, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York and the fans flocked to the ballpark to see the Brown Stockings take on a higher level of competition. Harold Seymour wrote that it was Al Spink who arranged for these clubs to come to St. Louis and that, in many ways, it was the coming together of an anti-League group. St. Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and New York had all, for various reasons, been frozen out of the League and the arrangements that they made in playing each other in 1881 pre-figured the formation of the American Association the following year. The financial success that was realized in St. Louis by bringing these clubs in and the relationships that were formed among baseball men in the various cities was extraordinarily significant for the history of baseball. If these games had been financial failures or if Spink had not been successful in bringing the clubs to St. Louis, it's unlikely that the AA would have been formed or that St. Louis would have entered a new league. The Interregnum would have continued and possibly would have lasted into the 20th century.

So we have several events taking place in 1881 that combined to bring about the end of the Interregnum. The coming of new leadership under Von der Ahe and the SPCA, a group of anti-League cities and clubs forming relationships and scheduling each other, and the financial success of those scheduled games, by the end of the 1881 season, came together to create a unique situation in the St. Louis baseball market that led to Von der Ahe seizing control of that market and entering a new club in a new league.

Tomorrow, I'll talk about how Von der Ahe seized control of the Brown Stockings and the relationship that action had with the creation of the American Association.

The 1876 Brown Stockings: Giving The Field A Presentable Appearance

Two or three hundred people assembled at Grand Avenue Park yesterday afternoon to witness the contest between the New Havens and Browns, most of the interest, of course, centering in Nichols, the New Haven pitcher, who is to supplant Bradley in the Brown stocking team next year. George Seward, who was always, and justly so, a great favorite in St. Louis, as well as Waitt and Fleet, who played with the Browns last season, were recognized and warmly welcomed by those in attendance. Shortly before 4 o'clock a thunder-storm came up, and the rain fell in torrents just long enough to make the grounds unfit for playing purposes. Mr. Solari and his assistants, aided by the irrepressible Battin, Dicky Pearce and one or two other industrious experts, went to work with a will, and, by means of sawdust and brooms, gave the field a presentable appearance, although the diamond looked more like a circus ring than anything else. Play was not called until 5 o'clock, and a conclusion was not reached until nearly dark. Mr. Burtis having returned from Chicago, where he gave great satisfaction to the Bostons and Whites, occupied the umpire's position, and acquitted himself with is usual accuracy. Nichols did not pitch, his place being supplied by Cassidy, the center fielder, Manager Jewett holding the former in reserve for the game with the St. Louis Red Stockings this afternoon. Loud cries were heard for "Nick," but he was really not in a condition to occupy the "six by six," and the disappointment could not well be avoided. For the Browns Blong pitched seven innings and Bradley two-the seventh and eighth. The in-fielding on both sides was very fine, especially the work of Pearce and young Sam. Wright at short.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 18, 1876

It appears that Bradley gave up a run in the seventh but since this was a non-League game, it doesn't count against his consecutive shutout innings streak. Also, this gives us a nice account of Solari getting the grounds ready after a rain delay. Don't think I've ever come across anything like that before. Peter Morris sees Solari as one of the pioneers of grounds keeping and this gives us a rare look at the kind of work he was doing.

Solari's Obituary

St. Louis, May 16.-Augustus Solari, the father of base ball in St. Louis, died Thursday morning. He was well known to base ball players throughout the country. In the early sixties Solari leased a cornfield in the edge of town and cleared the land and built the first base ball park. It was here that he brought out the once famous Umpires [sic] and Unions. The teams continued, together with several minor clubs, for a number of years, when they were disbanded by internal dissensions. There was no professional ball here then until 1876, although Solari continued to organize clubs and play games. In the latter year he interested Charles H. Turner, Frank Fowle and Joe Carn and they organized the St. Louis Club, but it was driven out by the famous Red Stockings. Solari was in with them, and after the failure of the team he organized the Grand Avenues, which played in his park on 1879, when Chris Von der Ahe, Al Spink, W.W. Judy and J.F. Farrell organized the Sportsman's Park and club. They leased his grounds and he was made the groundkeeper, a position which he has since held. Although in the last few years he was too old to attend to his active duties, he was always present at the games. He was famous among ball players for his grounds, he having a gift of providing good playing grounds, even after a heavy morning rain.

-Sporting Life, May 21, 1898

I've been looking for Solari's obit for some time and have to thank Ed Achorn for passing this along to me. While the errors in this piece are numerous, it does provide a date of death for Solari. Someone had given me some information on Solari and provide a DOD of May 11, 1898 but the obit places his death on May 12th.

So lets count the errors in Solari's obit:

1. Solari was not the father of baseball in St. Louis and could not be considered such by any reasonable measure.

2. He did not build the first ball park in St. Louis. He did not even build the first enclosed ballpark in St. Louis.

3. He did not "bring out" the Empire and Union Clubs but rather the two clubs engaged Solari to build and maintain the park.

4. Professional baseball was being played in St. Louis prior to 1876.

5. Solari did not have a prominent role in the organization of the Brown Stockings.

6. The Brown Stockings were not driven out by the Red Stockings.

7. Solari organized the Grand Avenues in 1875.

8. Solari gave up his lease to the grounds in October of 1880 and the Sportsman's Park and Club Association was organized to assume the lease. They did not lease the grounds from Solari, who never owned the property upon which the ballpark was built.

Other than that, it's a good obituary.

Christ. Von Der Ahe, Lessee

The Victoria Cricket and Athletic Club sports will take place, weather permitting, on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, at the Grand Avenue Base Ball Park, kindly furnished for the occasion by Mr. Christ. Von der Ahe, lessee.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, November 7, 1880

It's going to be tough to find an earlier reference to Von der Ahe running the Grand Avenue ballpark than we have here. In October of 1880, August Solari announced that he was not going to renew his lease on the grounds and Von der Ahe took it over. In March of the following year, he formed the Sportsman's Park and Club Association to manage the grounds. The above reference comes less than a month after Von der Ahe took over the grounds.

A Set Of Frauds

The Indianapolis and Milwaukee Clubs were to have played three of their series of championship games in (St. Louis) on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday of the present week. President Pettitt, of Indianapolis, so informed Superintendent Solari, of Grand Avenue Park, with whom he has a contract to play a certain number of games in St. Louis the present season. At Pettitt's request the announcement was made, and now comes a letter from that gentleman stating that owing to "fever and the prevailing hot weather" the games will not be played here, but that he will complete his contract with Solari before the season closes. The gentlemen who take a lively interest in the national game here have about come to the conclusion that the Indianapolis crowd are a set of frauds. The excuse quoted above is so thin as to prove for itself that other engagements, which probably promise better, will be entered into before the St. Louis contract is carried out...The fact that the Milwaukee and Indianapolis Clubs will not play here should be a matter for congratulation. To witness the two worst clubs in America cross bats, after the magnificent entertainment furnished by the old Brown Stocking Management, would go a great way towards knocking the last spark of life out of the national game, which is already nearly dead, owing to the manner in which players have been compelled to do crooked work by men in high places who claim to be immaculate. Not the slightest breath of suspicion ever attached to any officer of the St. Louis Club, and while the record of the home organization is clean, care should be taken that it is not smirched by any foreign element.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 1, 1878

The most important matter here is that, according to the Globe, Pettitt had a contract with Solari to play "a certain number of games in St. Louis..." That, I think, speaks to a seriousness of purpose with regards to a possible "relocation" of the Indianapolis club to St. Louis. The question, of course, is how many games did the contract call for Indianapolis to play at the Grand Avenue Park. Based on the evidence, I'm thinking that the contract wasn't for more than six games. The club played the three games against Boston in St. Louis and there was continuous talk about another series. As we'll see later, the club did return to St. Louis after the season for an exhibition series against Chicago and, following that, there was no longer any talk about a contract or possible games in St. Louis. The season was over with and there was really no more games to be played but the fact that Chicago series put an end to the Globe's grumblings lends credence to the idea that the contract was for a limited number of games rather than for the remainder of Indianapolis' home schedule.

The second point I'd like to make regards the "magnificent entertainment" furnished by the Brown Stockings. Obviously, someone forgot about the disaster that was Brown Stockings baseball in 1877. Baseball in St. Louis was "already nearly dead" and at the beginning of a major league interregnum for a reason.

A Bitter August Solari

Up to about a year ago August Solari was the proprietor of the Grand Avenue Park which, under his management, was not an overpowering success, and an association was formed last spring known as the St. Louis Sportsman's Park and Club Association, with Chris Von der Ahe as President. Under the new auspices the place became popular and successful, which fact it appears did not please Mr. Solari, who threw impediments into the way of the club, and resorted to some means of ruffling the feathers of the club at large and Von der Ahe in particular. He caused them trouble about their liquor license and about their shooting privileges, but was usually checkmated. As a final piece of spitework, the clubmen say, he erected a high fence on the grounds in front of Von der Ahe's house, to shut out the view of the park to that gentleman's family, and caused the arrest of Von der Ahe on a charge of making false affidavits on a question of resident tenants in the vicinity of the park. Yesterday the case came up in the Court of Criminal Correction. On a motion to quash, the motion was sustained and charge dismissed, Solari thus scoring another defeat.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 31, 1881

The Guardians Of Baseball High Culture

Between 1881 and 1882, St. Louis newspapers offered sparse coverage of the city's colored clubs...Why the poor coverage? One answer was column space.  Critics complained that editors gave baseball too much column space.  And the press doted on the white professional club, the Brown Stockings, which it viewed as a lucrative, civic-minded enterprise.  On the other hand, the Black Stockings colored nine hardly qualified as the city's iconic sports symbol...Throughout the 1870's, the white press' coverage of colored baseball declined.  In 1878, when the Globe-Democrat reported only games the sports editor "deemed sufficiently interesting," colored clubs became the first casualties.  In 1876, newspapers reported over thirty games; in 1877, only three contests appear in print, among them the Black Stockings vs. Our Boys (the "Blacks" won 6 to 4).  Colored clubs disappeared from the sports pages until 1881.  Of course, the Red Stockings, Brown Stockings, and Empires received coverage.  And sports editors devoted attention to white business and trade nines.  Coverage seems to have been based on their social and business relations with newspapers.  This exclusion represented only part of a strategic plan, that being the desire of the professional league to control labor, eliminate the numerous teams competing for attention (the Globe-Democrat identified over 200 nines in the city), and consolidate the market.

In the Mound City, guardians of baseball high culture-the Spink brothers, the McNeary brothers, Gus Solari, and Christopher Von der Ahe-wielded the civic clout and socioeconomic control to push an exclusionary agenda. 

-James Brunson, Henry Bridgewater's Black Stockings of St. Louis, 1881-1889

While Brunson goes on to place Bridgewater and the Black Stockings within the context of Reconstruction era St. Louis and the politics inherent to the era, I find his interpretation of the actions of the Spink brothers, McNeary, Solari, and Von der Ahe to be fascinating.  Throw in J.B.C. Lucas and some of the members of the Union Club and one can construct an argument that there was a cabal of men attempting to organize and control the St. Louis baseball market.  

However, the problem with the argument is that these men were actually in competition with each other.  While certainly the Spink brothers used their position as editors to promote and publicize the game, this was well within the tradition of "upbuilding" and a common practice of time.  But, in the late 1870's, when they were involved in the running of the Interregnum Brown Stockings, they were in direct competition with McNeary's Red Stockings.  McNeary originally was a part of the group that organized the NA Brown Stockings but, after the club decided to play its home games at the Grand Avenue Grounds, he placed the Red Stockings in the NA to directly compete against the Brown Stockings.  McNeary's Compton Avenue Grounds competed with Solari's Grand Avenue Grounds for clubs, games, and fans and the Reds were in competition against the Grand Avenue Club.  Von der Ahe had worked with Solari when they were both board members of the Grand Avenue Club and part of the Sportsman's Park and Club Association but essentially forced him out in the early 1880's.  

While these men worked together to promote baseball in St. Louis, they were just as often competitors.  There was no cabal.  There was no grand strategic plan.  The only exclusionary agenda was that of single-minded businessmen who were attempting to make money and establish the professional game in St. Louis.  They weren't out to destroy the black clubs or the mercantile clubs or the old amateur clubs but, rather, their goal was to establish something more.  These men were instrumental in transitioning St. Louis baseball from the amateur to the professional era and by simply looking at the history of the period-the starts and stops, the failures and successes-one can see that there was no over-arching grand vision being driven by a monopolistic establishment. 

As I said, I see some merit to the argument.  If one was looking at the situation from the view of someone like Bridgewater, who was not a member of the white St. Louis establishment, then you might see a monopolistic baseball establishment that marginalized Bridgewater's contribution.  But in the end, what I see is a group of businessmen fighting each other for control of the baseball market rather than working together to monopolize the market.           

Von Der Ahe Becomes VP Of The Grand Avenue Club

The Grand Avenue Club held its annual meeting on Wednesday night, at Solari's. There was a large attendance, great enthusiasm prevailed and everything passed off cordially. The following gentlemen were elected officers for the ensuring year: E.G. Leslie, President; C. Von Der Ahe, Vice President; A. Solari, Treasurer; F.W. Brockman, Secretary; J.G. Solari, Corresponding Secretary; J.B. Woestman and B. Loeblein, with the officers, constitute the Board of Directors. W. Scott Parr was selected as Manager. The Treasurer's report was read, and showed the financial standing of the club to be first class, there being a comfortable balance stowed away. During the season of '76 the Grands stood at the head of the best of amateur clubs, playing twenty-three games, of which they won twenty...Mr. Solari, after the meeting, entertained his guests in his usual hospitable manner. From present indications, the Grand Avenue team has a bright future before it.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 11, 1877

Bad Timing

About thirty gentlemen, interested in base ball matters-most of them shareholders in the St. Louis Base Ball Club-met yesterday evening in parlor No. 22 of the Lindell Hotel. The chair was taken by Mr. J.B.C. Lucas, President of the club, who, after calling the meeting to order, stated that, though the fact was generally well known, he would remind those present that for the past years base ball ventures in St. Louis had not proved financially successful. This season the club found itself considerably in arrears, and the meeting had been called in order to start an effort to raise the necessary amount with which the salaries of players might be paid. Individual Directors had, at their own expense, carried the club through the season, and they wanted now to see if they could not get assistance from shareholders and others. Out of $20,000 of stock only $17,000 had been subscribed, and on this some stockholders had not fully paid up.

After a brief discussion of the situation and the best means of improving it, a motion by Mr. Charles A. Fowle was carried, calling upon the Chair to appoint a committee of six gentlemen to collect subscriptions from stockholders and others to make up the deficiency.

The Chair appointed as such committee Messrs. W.C. Little, P.C. Butler, W.A. Stickney, W.C. Steigers, Aug. Solari and E.S. Brooks.

Subscription lists were opened at the meeting, when the sum of $400 was immediately subscribed.

In answer to a query, the Chair stated that upon the raising of the amount necessary to pay the deficiency, the question of whether there would be a St. Louis nine next year or no virtually depended. At the same time he did not like to say that, if the amount was raised, there would be a club, as this season closed his connection with the club. He believed that $2,500 had already been subscribed by parties towards next year's team.

After a discusion on general base ball topics, the meeting adjourned.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, November 1, 1877

This attempt to raise funds took place the day before William Spink's long piece about gambling in baseball, the St. Louis connection, and the effect that it would have on the fate of professional baseball appeared in the Globe. The piece must have had a devestating effect on the Brown Stockings' attempt to salvage their financial situation and on the moral of St. Louis baseball supporters. Lucas was stepping aside as club president, the Globe was withdrawing its support for professional baseball, numerous Brown Stocking players were being accused of throwing games, other clubs and players were being accused of crookedness, and the fate of the League itself was in doubt. There could not have been a worse time to go to the public and ask them to financially support the Brown Stockings.

The State Of The Field At The Grand Avenue Grounds In August 1875

It may not be out of place here to say a few words in relation to the magnificent condition of the Grand Avenue Park. Mr. Augustus Solari, the popular proprietor, is working hard to please the general public, and the Browns in particular. During their absence he, with a corps of assistants, worked assiduously improving the field in every way, and now the grass is shaved so close and turf is so level that a ball will have nothing to stop its course except a player. High grass will never be the cause for defeat. Mr. Solari has expended $600 already this season in keeping the grounds in order, and his efforts to please should be appreciated.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 14, 1875

Solari Versus Von Der Ahe

Up to about a year ago August Solari was the proprietor of the Grand Avenue Park which, under his management, was not an overpowering success, and an association was formed last spring known as the St. Louis Sportsmen's Park and Club Association, with Chris Von der Ahe as President. Under the new auspices the plae beame popular and successful, which fact it appears did not please Mr. Solari, who threw impediments into the way of the club, and resorted to some means of ruffling the feathers of the club at large and Von der Ahe in particular. He caused them trouble about their liquor license and about their shooting privileges, but was usually checkmated. As a final piece of spitework, the clubmen say, he erected a high fence on the grounds in front of Von der Ahe's house, to shut out the view of the park to that gentleman's family, and caused the arrest of Von der Ahe on a charge of making false affidavits on a question of resident tenants in the vicinity of the park. Yesterday the case came up in the Court of Criminal Correction. On motion to quash, the motion was sustained and charge dismissed, Solari thus scoring another defeat.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 31, 1881


My favorite thing about this article is the way in which it portrays Von der Ahe, who is referred to as a gentleman. In about ten years, the St. Louis press was going to change its tune.

The Death of Joe Solari

This morning at 9 the funeral of Joseph George Solari, son of Augustus Solari, late proprietor of the Grand Avenue Park, will take place from his father's residence, No. 2919 North Grand avenue, to St. Theresa's Church, and thence to Calvary Cemetery. The deceased was 22 years of age, and until a few weeks before his death held an honorable position in the office of Commissioner Flad. He died of consumption, which followed a severe attack of pneumonia. "Joe" Solari was a young man of promise, and during his father's proprietorship of the ball park he became a deserved favorite, being courteous and kind to all. In Commissioner Flad's office he was also a great favorite.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 14, 1882


Joe Solari, besides being the son of August Solari, was a catcher with the Grand Avenue Base Ball Club and was a member of the Empire Club.

The Main Base Ball Center Of The City

The subject matter of providing a permanent habitation and home for the Empire Club had long been under consideration by leading members of the club and early in (the 1867) season assumed a tangible form by the appointment of a committee to select suitable grounds. They reported favorably upon what became known as the St. Louis Base Ball Park, the property being then a cornfield and owned by John Dunn. At the same time the Union Club, having become dissatisfied with their own grounds further South on Grand Avenue and opposite where now stands the Rock Church, also discovered the availability of the tract selected by the Empire committee. The main recommendation of this ground was its near proximity to the Fair Grounds, which was then the objective point of several street car lines built and to be built. August Solari, a member of the Empire Club, secured a five-year lease of this property and entered into an agreement with the Union Club whereby upon the payment of a small rental and giving him the lumber contained in their old grounds for use in the erection of grandstand, fencing, etc., in the new park, Solari was obligated to provide necessary accommodations, keep the grounds in good order, the Union Club to have the exclusive right to use of the park on certain days. The Empire Club rented from Solari two days in each week, one being Sunday. It was in the foregoing manner that old Sportsman's Park, as it was known eventually, became the main base ball center of the city and for several years thereafter it remained so.

-E.H. Tobais, writing in The Sporting News, November 23, 1895

The Burden Of August Solari's Prayers

One of the finest amateur clubs ever in St. Louis was organized (in 1875) by Mr. August Solari, proprietor of Grand Avenue Park and one of the original founders of the Brown Stocking Club. His aim was to have a team that could compete with any and all clubs, professional or amateur, and in this endeavor he was so successful that his new bantlings, the Grand Avenues, went through the seasons of 1875 and 1876 with only two defeats, one at the hands of the Brown Stockings...and the other was a forfeit to the Peerless Club...The original players of the Grand Avenues were as follows: D. Simpson, p; Jon. Solari, c; P. McKenna, 1b; Dan'l Whalen, 2b and captain; John Whalen, 3b; George Newell, ss; Jon. Schenk, rf; Joe Britt, cf; L. Simpson, lf; H. Little, H. McCaffery and R. Walsh, substitutes.

-E. H. Tobias, writing in The Sporting News, February 15, 1896

Tobias goes on to list the officers of the club, among whom was one "Chris Von der Ahe, grocer." He writes that "Thus it was that the present Pooh Bah of the St. Louis Club became introduced to the base ball world and it is ducats to dimes at the present time that if that good old man and true friend to the base ball fraternity, August Solari, had the job to do over it wouldn't be done at all, for it is the burden of his daily prayers that he may be forgiven for having perpetrated this outrage on the base ball fraternity in general and St. Louis in particular."

The general mythology has Von der Ahe, the baseball neophyte, becoming involved with the Browns in 1882. Of course, Von der Ahe was no neophyte and had been involved with the Interregnum Brown Stockings for several years prior to creation of the American Association. The information that Tobias provides shows that Von der Ahe had been interested and involved in St. Louis baseball since 1875.

August Solari Tears Down The Grand Avenue Ballpark

According to Charlton's Baseball Chronology, on this day in 1877 August Solari, "operator of the Grand Avenue ballpark in St. Louis", announced that he would tear down the grandstands at the ballpark.

Jon David Cash, in Before They Were Cardinals, wrote that the "Grand Avenue Park dated back to 1866, when its baseball diamond had been laid out by August Solari, an amateur ballplayer and member of the Empires who had secured a five-year lease on John Dunn's corn field. Solari and the Empires had selected the site because it was located near the Fair Grounds, where several streetcar lines converged." After the Brown Stockings resigned from the National League in 1877, "Solari had torn down the nine-thousand-seat grandstand." In 1879, "(with) his latest five-year lease on Grand Avenue Park set to expire, Solari decided not to spend sixty-five hundred dollars to renew the lease, planning instead to dismantle the ballpark. In October, without explanation, Solari announced, 'Next week I am going to get out of here. I am going to take down the stands, the benches, and everything else.' Bemoaning this development, the Missouri Republican asked, 'Who is there that loves the national game that will not be pained to hear that the old park is to be defaced?'"

Partially in response to Solari's actions, a local St. Louis tavern owner by the name of Chris Von der Ahe would take over the lease, form the Sportsman's Park and Club Association, and renovate the old ballpark, which he would rename after his new Association.