A Deal In Progress

A big base ball deal is in progress of materialization at the present time, but all information pertaining to it is being carefully suppressed by those interested. The deal is said to be the largest ever made from a financial standpoint, and will involve between $30,000 and $40,000. Five clubs are interested in it, and there will probably be an interchange of players and money between them during the coming week. The clubs are the Athletic, St. Louis, Brooklyn, Baltimore and Louisville. President Christ Von der Ahe, of St. Louis, and Charles H. Byrne, of Brooklyn, are engineering the trade, which is expected to startle the base ball world. The Athletics are after at least six new men, and Manager Wm. Sharsig's trip to New York this week was made on behalf of his club. Mr. Sharsig returned from New York today. To a reporter of the Globe-Democrat he said:

"Yes, I have been trying to make a deal for some new men, but until I secure their names to contracts I will not make their names public."

While in New York Mr. Sharsig had several long talks with Mr. Byrne, and there is no doubt but that arrangements were made for the transfer of one or more of the Brooklyn and Metropolitan players to this city. The Athletic Directors held a secret meeting this afternoon and listened to Manager Sharsig's report, but action was deferred until the arrival of Mr. Von der Ahe in [Philadelphia] on Monday.

Changes in the St. Louis Team.

It is known that President Von der Ahe intends to make a number of changes in his champion team next season, and that he will dispose of a number of his crack players. The arrangements for the transfer of these men were partially made when Von der Ahe was in the East a week ago, and he is now on his way East again and is expected in [Philadelphia] Monday. Rumor has it that the Browns' best battery, Caruthers and Bushong, are among the players to be disposed of. Bushong will go to Brooklyn, that much is certain, as Mr. Byrne has made a standing offer of $5000 for the great catcher. It is probable that Byrne will also bag Caruthers, as he has made an offer of $10,000 for him, as much as Boston paid for Mike Kelly. The Athletics started the bidding on Caruthers at $5000, Baltimore offered $8000, and Brooklyn wound up with a bid of $10,000 for the great battery. Bushong is a native of [Philadelphia]. where he graduated from the famous Archer club. Curtis Welsh, Foutz, "Yank" Robinson and "Brudder Bill" Gleason are the other St. Louis players that are reported as anxious to get away.

"Robinson will not be sold or released to any club," said Von der Ahe, when in this city. The Athletics are after Welch and Gleason. Manager Sharsig is particularly anxious to secure the great centerfielder, and speaks hopefully of doing so. Von der Ahe likes McGarr, and is also said to be after one of the Athletic catchers. It is probable that Welch will play in [Philadelphia], and that the Athletics will trade two of their men for him.

The Purchase Of Gleason.

In reference to Gleason, Manager Sharsig said: "I think Bill Gleason is as good as he ever was. I would like to have him to play short-stop and captain the team." Gleason's release will cost the Athletic club at least $3000. Dave Foutz, the Bay City pitcher, who cost Von der Ahe $8000, will probably play in Baltimore. He has many friends in the Monumental City, and Vonderhost and Barnie are reported to have offered $4000 for his release. Louisville will also have a finger in the big deal and it is reported that Guy Hecker, their best pitcher, will be sold to the Brooklyn club for $8000. Kerins, the first baseman and catcher, would like to get away from Louisville and the Athletic and Brooklyn clubs have bid as high as $4000 for him, but he will probably remain where he is. McTamany, of the Brooklyn club, is another player who is likely to wear the blue stockings of the Athletic club next season, and one of the Brooklyn or Metropolitan pitchers may come along with him. President Von der Ahe is rapidly adding to his already long list of new players. Following up his engagement of James McCormick, the agent of the St. Louis President in [Philadelphia] to-day signed Bart Cantz, one of the Newark club catchers. Cantz is a good general player and hard hitter, a strong thrower to bases, and formerly caught for Knouff, who is now with the St. Louis club. Cantz's contract calls for $1700, of which $300 is in advance.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, November 20, 1887

A Kind Of Farm Team-The 1888 St. Louis Whites, Part 5

I'm done speculating on the nature of the Whites. Let's take a look at the roster.

The following players were members of the St. Louis Whites in 1888:

Tug Arundel: catcher; played on and off in the major leagues between 1882 and 1888; after the breakup of the Whites, Arundel was released and received an offer from the Kansas City Association team although he ended up with the Washington Nationals.

Jake Beckley: first base; a heck of a player, Beckley was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1971; he played 20 seasons in the major leagues between 1888 and 1907, ending his career with the Cardinals; after the breakup of the Whites, he was sold, along with Harry Staley, to Pittsburgh for $4500.

Ernie Burch: outfielder; played with Cleveland in 1884 and Brooklyn in 1886 and 1887.

Bart Cantz: catcher; played three seasons in the major leagues between 1888 and 1890; has a career batting average of .157; The Sporting News reported in June of 1888 that, after the breakup of the Whites, Cantz was going to join the Browns but it appears that he was sold to the Baltimore Association team.

Jack Crooks: third base; played eight seasons in the major leagues between 1889 and 1898, including two stints with the Browns (1892-1893 and 1898); was the manager of the Browns in 1892; led the NL in walks in 1892 and 1893, finished second in the AA in walks in 1890 and 1891; his 136 walks in 1892 set a major league record that stood until 1911; Crooks was sold to Omaha for $500 upon the breakup of the Whites.

Jim Devlin: pitcher; played four seasons in the major leagues between 1886 and 1889; played with the Browns after the breakup of the Whites and ended his major league career with the team the next year; I wrote a little bit about Devlin before.

Tom Dolan: catcher; played seven seasons in the major leagues between 1879 and 1888; played with the Browns in 1883 and 1884 before jumping to the Maroons (for whom he played in all three seasons of their existence); after the breakup of the Whites, Dolan rejoined the Browns; played baseball in St. Louis in four different leagues: the AA, UA, NL, and WA; after he retired from baseball, Dolan served as a fireman in St. Louis; I've written about Dolan a few times, most notably here.

Ed Herr: shortstop; played three seasons in the majors between 1887 and 1890; played with the Browns after the breakup of the Whites (and again in 1890); after he was finished with baseball, Herr worked as a carpenter in St. Louis; he died in 1933, drowning in the Mississippi.

Hunkey Hines: outfielder; born Henry Fred Hines; played one season in the majors with Brooklyn in 1895; after the breakup of the Whites, Hines was released and signed with a club in Rockford, where he lived the rest of his life.

Jerry McCormick: outfielder; played two seasons in the majors in 1883 and 1884.

Parson Nicholson: second base; born Thomas C. Nicholson, also called "Deacon"; played three seasons in the major leagues between 1888 and 1895; after the breakup of the Whites, he was released and it appears that he then signed with Detroit.

Harry Staley: pitcher; played eight years in the majors between 1888 and 1895; he finished his career playing with the Browns; after the breakup of the Browns, Staley was sold to Pittsburgh, along with Beckley, for $4,500; when Von der Ahe was attempting to sell the club, the player that most teams wanted to buy was Staley.

C. Alcott: shortstop; some sources list his first name as Charles.

Kenyon: outfielder; some sources list him as J.J. Kenyon or O.J. Kenyon; after the breakup of the Whites, Kenyon remained in St. Louis although it was expected that he would sign with a team in the Ohio League.

Fred Nyce: outfielder, pitcher; after the breakup of the Whites, Nyce received offers Kalamazoo and Canton and it was assumed by TSN that he would sign with the Kalamazoo.

Sproat: pitcher.


I put together this roster based on box scores, articles in TSN, and the Old Judge baseball card series. All players on this list either played in a game for the Whites, was mentioned as a member of the team, or were identified in the Old Judge set as a member of the Whites. I can state with certainty that the following players played in games for the Whites: Nicholson, Beckley, Crooks, Burch, Herr, Hines, Kenyon, Dolan, Staley, Sproat, Gantz, and Nyce. There is no record that I've found of Alcott, McCormick, Devlin, or Arundel playing in a game for the club.

Looking at the roster, it doesn't seem to be that bad of a team. There was a nice mix of veterans and youth. I would say that if the intent was to create a farm team and develop talent then the Browns did a good job putting the team together. Out of the sixteen players identified as members of the Whites, Beckley and Staley were outstanding young players who the Browns would have been wise to hold on to. Ed Herr looks like a good young prospect and I know that many clubs were interested in him. What happened to his career, I can't say but I'd certainly like to find out. Jim Devlin also was a young guy who looked like a promising major leaguer and then disappeared. Jack Crooks was twenty-two years old in 1888 and went on to have a nice career. So by my count and evaluation, that's five legitimate major league prospects on a sixteen man roster, three of whom went on to have better than average major league careers and one of whom was a Hall of Famer. I don't think you can do better than that and it speaks to the Browns' outstanding scouting ability.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try and wrap this thing up.

Person Jack Crooks

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A Kind Of Farm Team-The 1888 St. Louis Whites, Part 3

We can see evidence of a farming relationship between the Browns and Whites, with players moving between the two teams, and Peter Morris has written that this relationship fits within a general 19th century trend towards the establishment of the farm system. This seems sufficient to declare that the Whites were indeed a Browns' farm club. However, there is some contradictory evidence that most be dealt with.

In the November 9, 1887 issue of Sporting Life, there is an article that discusses Von der Ahe's purchase of the Whites and mentions that Tom Loftus would be the club's manager. In this article, Von der Ahe explicitly states that the Whites would not be run as the Browns' farm club. What are we to make of this? It's possible that Von der Ahe was simply being disingenuous. Some of the farming relationships developed by major league clubs in 1887 had been controversial and many stated at the time that they were illegal. So Von der Ahe, in denying a farming relationship between the Browns and Whites, may have simply been trying to cover up the true nature of the relationship in an attempt to avoid controversy. It's also possible, however, that Von der Ahe was stating the truth and that while there may have been the appearance of a farming relationship, the intent to establish a farm club did not exist.

If Von der Ahe did not intend for the Whites to exist as a farm club, what was the purpose of his ownership of the club? It is entirely possible that the Whites existed for their own sake-to play baseball, to win games, to capture a pennant, to draw fans to Sportsman's Park. On February 25, 1888, The Sporting News wrote that "Talking of the coming season's prospects Mr. Von der Ahe said they were unusually bright. He will have two splendidly equipped teams in the field, and when one is away the other will be found at work entertaining the local patrons." I don't think then that it's outside the realm of possibility that Von der Ahe established the Whites simply as another tenant for his ballpark. St. Louis had shown to a certain extent that it was able to support two teams. In 1884, the Browns and the Maroons finished first and fourth among all major league teams in attendance. While the Maroons' attendance fell off in their final two years, between 1884 and 1886 the two clubs drew over 800,000 fans between them. With the Browns drawing almost 250,000 fans in 1887, it's conceivable that Von der Ahe believed that there was room in the St. Louis baseball market for another team and that he could profit from the addition of that team.

However, the Whites, most likely as a result of their poor play, did not draw well and, at the same time, the Browns' attendance fell by almost 100,000 due to the St. Louis fans' displeasure over Von der Ahe's fire sale after the 1887 season. The market was unable to sustain both teams and Von der Ahe quickly decided to dispose of the Whites. It's Von der Ahe's quick decision to sell the Whites and the manner in which he went about it that casts a great deal of doubt on the status of the Whites and Von der Ahe's original intent with regards to the team.

The Whites first game was played against Milwaukee at Sportsman's Park on April 28, 1888. Less than a month later, Von der Ahe was actively attempting to sell the team. By May 27th, Von der Ahe was in serious negotiations with both "Mr. McClintock of Denver and Mr. Keith of Lincoln" to sell his Western Association franchise and all of its players. The Sporting News explained that Von der Ahe had received "good cash offers for several members of the team and notably for (Harry) Staley. He had not accepted any of those for the simple reason that he did not care to break up the team, a move that would be of irreparable damage to the Western Association. He believed that the only fair thing to do was to transfer the team bodily to some other city and he would only do this after receiving fair compensation."

This raises several questions. If Von der Ahe was operating the Whites as a farm club, why was he attempting to sell the franchise and the players less than four weeks after the club began playing? If the goal of owning the Whites was to operate a reserve club and develop players for the Browns, why was Von der Ahe pulling the plug in May? I understand that the Whites were drawing poorly and Von der Ahe was running the operation at a loss but wouldn't that loss have been acceptable to a certain extent if the Whites were operating as a farm club for the Browns? Even if the Whites were losing money, how substantial could the loss have been after only four weeks of operation? As far as selling the players is concerned, if the Whites were simply a farm club for the Browns why would Von der Ahe not simply sell off the players and fold the team? He had offers on the table for the players so why not take them? Why was he concerned about the viability of the Western Association? Why was his original intent to sell the franchise and the players?

While Von der Ahe originally wanted $10,000 for the franchise and players, by the first week of June he had reached an agreement with James Keith to sell the team for $7,000. At the time of the agreement, Von der Ahe had offers on the table from various teams to purchase members of the Whites. These included offers from Louisville, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and Wilkes-Barre. If he had wanted to, Von der Ahe could have sold off the players at the beginning of June and received more money than Keith was offering him.

In the end, the agreement with Keith fell apart and McClintock never raised his offer over $5,000 so Von der Ahe, on June 20th, disbanded the Whites and sold off several of the players. He received $4500 from Pittsburgh for Jake Beckley and Harry Staley and sold Jack Crooks to Omaha for $500. Tom Dolan, Ed Herr, and Jim Devlin all joined the Browns. Bart Cantz also was assigned to the Browns but was transferred to Baltimore in a transaction for which I have no details. So out of the breakup of the Whites, Von der Ahe received, at the very least, $5,000 plus Dolan, Herr, and Devlin. If he had sold those three players, Von der Ahe would have most likely gotten well over the $7,000 that Keith had offered him for the entire franchise. The rest of the players were released.

It's Von der Ahe's own words and actions in 1887 and 1888 that raises doubts about the status of the Whites. While his comments that the Whites were not a farm club can be dismissed, he also stated in late May of 1888 that he saw no difference between the Whites and Browns and that he treated both clubs the same. At no time did Von der Ahe ever state or imply that the Whites were a farm club and were subservient to the needs of the Browns-this at a time when farming relationships were accepted and in the open.

Von der Ahe's attempts to pursue the viability of the Western Association is rather fascinating and the possible explanation for this also cast doubt about his intent regarding the Whites. I'll talk about this tomorrow.

A Kind Of Farm Team-The 1888 St. Louis Whites, Part 1

So top-heavy were the Browns with raw and untested players in the spring of 1888 that Von der Ahe formed the St. Louis Whites as a kind of farm team to play in the Western Association.

-David Nemec, The Beer & Whiskey League


I was recently involved in a very pleasant conversation about Chris Von der Ahe over at Baseball Fever when the subject of the 1888 St. Louis Whites came up. It was the contention of one of the posters that the Browns had developed the first minor league system and that the Whites were the farm club in that system. While I was aware of Nemec's statement regarding the Whites, I thought that the idea that the Whites were a farm club and represented one of the first steps in the development of the modern minor league system to be overstated. However, I soon realized how little I really knew about the Whites (and don't think for a minute that just because I don't have all the facts I won't opine on a subject).

If the Browns were operating the Whites as a farm club, I thought that we would be able to see some player movement between the two clubs. That seemed logical. If there was a farming arrangement between the clubs, one would think that players would move from the Browns to the Whites and vice versa just as players today move between the parent club and the AAA club. While I didn't think the arrangement would be as tidy as it is today, I wanted to see that sort of player movement before I was willing to declare the Whites a Browns' farm club.

So I started doing some research.

The St. Louis Whites were a Western Association club, owned by Chris Von der Ahe and managed by Tom Loftus, that operated during the 1888 season. They had a 10-18 record before disbanding on June 20th.

The first reference to the Whites that I'm aware of comes from the November 9, 1887 issue of Sporting Life. In an article, it states that Loftus was to be the manager and that some Browns' players could be transferred to the club. Interestingly, Von der Ahe denied in the article that the Whites would be run as a Browns' farm club.

Von der Ahe had gone East in the Fall of 1887 selling off the rights to Doc Bushong, Curt Welch, Bill Gleason, Dave Foutz and Bob Caruthers in the Browns' great fire sale. In the process, he created holes in the Browns roster at catcher, pitcher, and in the outfield. To fill those holes, Von der Ahe received some players back from Philadelphia in exchange for Gleason and Welch and he and his agents signed numerous players. Eight of the players that Von der Ahe signed in the Fall of 1887 would play for the Whites.

A question that goes directly to Von der Ahe's intent in 1887 regarding the Whites is whether he signed the players to compete for roster spots on the Browns or whether they were signed specifically for his new WA club. In the December 3, 1887 issue of The Sporting News, Von der Ahe, in an article where he addresses the fire sale and the make-up of the 1888 Browns, mentions the players that he had signed and states that "Out of them, have you or anyone else the idea that we will not be able to pick a good player of two?" He specifically mentioned Parson Nicholson and stated that he would be playing second base for the Browns in 1888. The fact that Nicholson and most of the others Von der Ahe mentioned in the article ended up playing for the Whites in 1888 implies that he was signing players for the Browns, the players failed to make the team, and they were then assigned to the Whites.

There is other evidence that the players Von der Ahe was signing in the Fall of 1887 were to compete for roster spots on the Browns and only after failing to make the club were assigned to the Whites. In the February 18, 1888 issue of The Sporting News, Tom Loftus stated that he had signed Ernie Burch specifically for the Whites. The implication here is that Loftus and the Whites were in the process of stocking their own roster. There was no mention of the players signed in 1887 playing for the Whites. What we see is the Browns signing players and the Whites signing players-each team attempting to fill out their roster independently of the other.

If one accepts this logic then the players signed by the Browns in the Fall of 1887 who end up playing for the Whites in 1888 are evidence of player movement from the parent club to the farm club. Harry Staley, Jim Devlin, Hunkey Hines, Tom Dolan, Jerry McCormick, Bart Cantz, Parson Nicholson, and pitcher Sproat, one can say, were demoted to the "minor leagues" after failing to make the Browns.

There is also evidence of player movement in the opposite directions-from the Whites to the Browns. After the Whites were disbanded in June, The Sporting News reported in their June 30, 1888 issue that "Cantz and Dolan have been doing such splendid work behind the bat that President Von der Ahe has signed both for the Browns. Cantz has been hitting the ball hard and
is a good fielder, while Tom Dolan’s ability is well known." While it appears that Cantz was either traded or sold to Baltimore before he had a chance to play for the Browns, Dolan appeared in eleven games for the Browns in 1888.

Besides Dolan, two other members of the Whites played for the Browns in 1888. While it's unknown under what circumstances the two were transferred, Ed Herr and Jim Devlin were members of both the Whites and the Browns in 1888. I have found boxscores of Whites' games were Herr was playing with the team as late as May 2nd and Devlin is mentioned as a member of the team as late as May 5th. It's insinuated by The Sporting News that both were with the Browns prior to the Whites being disbanded on June 20th.

So the evidence of player movement between the Browns and the Whites exist. This was the minimum threshold of evidence that I thought had to be established before I could accept the idea that the Whites existed in 1888 as a Browns' farm club.

There also exists a great deal of evidence that this relationship was part of a general trend in 1887 and 1888 towards the establishment of farm clubs. I'll address that tomorrow.