The 1884 Maroons: The First Retaliatory Blow

Indications point very strongly to Shaw, of the Detroit League Club, as the new pitcher engaged by the St. Louis Unions, and whose appearance in the box is promised on July 29.  On last Tuesday he was fined $30 by Manager Chapman for not reporting for practice that morning, and on Wednesday evening he purchased a ticket for Boston, boarded an East-bound train, and left Detroit.  In answer to a notification that if he did not return forthwith he would be expelled, he rather ironically informed the officers of the Detroit Club that if they would withdraw the fine that was imposed and advance him $300 he would return.  He knew very well that those conditions would not be acceptable, and probably dictated terms because he felt that he was in an independent position and could do so with safety.  If he comes to St. Louis it will be the first retaliatory blow that the Union Association will have dealt the national associations for their contract breaking and it will be a telling one.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 14, 1884


St. Louis did not sign Dupee Shaw but he did sign with the Boston Unions so I guess this was UA's first retaliatory blow against the NL and AA.  I'm not exactly certain that it was a telling blow one but who am I to judge?

Also, I should add that Dupee Shaw is a great baseball name and he was not a bad pitcher.  He started over 200 games in the major leagues and finished his career with an ERA+ of an even 100.  He wasn't a great pitcher by any stretch of the imagination but he looks like a legitimate major league player to me.

Pulling Major League Baseball Profiles off the shelf, Peter Morris and David Nemec wrote that Shaw's "numbers suggest a pitcher unable to retire ML batters on a regular basis, but nothing could be farther from the truth.  Instead, Shaw's career resembled those of many pitchers whose careers overlapped with the advent of legal overhand pitching: He could be all but unhittable when paired with a catcher who could handle his offerings but at the batter's mercy when he lacked one."  They quoted Jack Gleason as stating that Shaw was the swiftest and trickiest pitcher he had ever faced.

The 1884 Maroons: Men Like These

In the Union team there are six of the strongest batsmen in the country.  Dunlap led the Clevelands in batting Dickerson and Taylor were about the heaviest hitters in the Allegheny team; Rowe was the hardest hitter in the Baltimore nine; Jack Gleason could hit the ball harder than any man in the Louisville Club, while Shaeffer, next to Brouthers, was as good a batsman as there was in the Buffalo team.  Men like these make the leather fly no matter what the quality of the pitcher.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 10, 1884

The Jumpers

The following is a list of the League and American Association players who jumped the reserve rule and had the good sense and honor to stand by their written contracts with the Union Clubs: Bradley, with the Cincinnatis; Dunlap, Shaeffer and Jack Gleason, St. Louis; Hugh Daily, Chicago; Buck Weaver, Philadelphia, with a strong probability that Gross will also play with the Chicagos. There are only three deserters, Mullane, Mansell and Corcoran. Mansell regrets his perfidy, and told Bill Harbidge, who met him in Pittsburg the other day, that he was sorry he had not lived up to his contract with Mr. Lucas. This is not a bad record for the Union Association, considering the disreputable fight that has been made to induce players to desert.-[Cincinnati Enquirer.]

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 2, 1884

So the Unions got six guys to jump from the NL and the AA. While the Enquirer didn't think that was a bad record, given the effort that Lucas put into getting players, I don't see how it can be seen as anything other than a failure.

The 1884 Maroons: More On The First Signings

The new base ball club has the nucleus for a strong nine in Mullane and Gallagher. Mullane's strength in the pitcher's box is recognized throughout the country, and with a proper man to support him behind the bat the club would have a formidable battery, the presence of which on any ball field would prove an attractive card. Gallagher, who has been pitching for the Lucas nine, is highly thought of by Mr. Lucas, and also by the amateurs who have witnessed his work. He has not the speed that many managers desire, but is nevertheless very effective. His curving and judgment are his elements of strength, and in these qualities he is surpassed by few of the noted twirlers. With these two pitchers the new club is certain to be well represented in the points. The engagement of Jack Gleason is another step toward a nine of uniform strength, and will doubtless cause other professionals to laugh at the reserve rule and negotiate with the management.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, November 8, 1883

I'm not certain who Gallagher was (except that he played for Lucas' amateur club) but he didn't play for the Maroons in 1884. But the idea that he would have been signed is kind of odd. It's as if Lucas hasn't figured out yet what his new club was going to be. On the one hand he's signing Mullane and, on the other, he's signing his buddy from his amateur team. Was he trying to put together a top-flight nine or not? Did Lucas know, in early November of 1883, what the Maroons were going to become? Had Lucas finalized his plans for the Maroons and the UA by this time? I think that the next round of signings will show that he had but I just don't know what to make of this Gallagher thing.

The 1884 Maroons: The First Players To Break The Rule

Tony Mullane, of the St. Louis Base-ball Club, and Jack Gleason, of the Louisville Eclipse, have broken the reserve rule, left their respective clubs, and signed with the new St. Louis organization, which is to form a part of the new Union Association. They are the first players to break the rule. Mullane was offered $1,950 for next season's play in the St. Louis Club, but refused that offer to go with the new St. Louis Club at a salary of $2,500, of which $600 is paid him in advance. The new organization offers Deasley, of the St. Louis Club, $3,000 for next season's work. He says he will accept the offer unless paid $2,500 by the older organization, which has placed him on the reserve list. The new St. Louis Club will to-morrow sign with Dickerson and Taylor, late of the Alleghenys. Gleason says the reason he broke the reserve rule with Louisville is that the Directors of that club wanted to reserve him at a salary of $1,000 for the season.

-New York Times, November 8, 1883

Neither Tony Mullane nor Pat Deasley played for the 1884 Maroons for reasons that I'm sure will become clear over the course of this exercise. Jack Gleason, Buttercup Dickerson and Billy Taylor, however, did play for the club.

Rumors about which players would join the Maroons were flying around fast and furious in October and November. Ted Sullivan was organizing a club for a Southern tour and I'm sure that all the players he was approaching about joining that enterprise were all rumored to be joining the Maroons. And Sullivan probably was trying to talk all of them into joining the new club. The club he put together had Buck Ewing, Jumbo McGinnis, Charlie Comiskey, Brother Bill Gleason, Tony Mullane, Jack Gleason, Old Hoss Radbourne, Joe Quest and Cliff Carroll. I don't know what it would have cost Lucas to sign all of those guys but it would have been a darn good team. Of course, the team he did put together finished 94-19 so he didn't really need all them.

But just imagine Radbourne pitching in the UA in 1884. If there's one thing I want you to take away from this post, that's it-the image of Charlie Radbourne pitching in the UA in 1884.

The Empire Club Defeated

The Atlantics, State Champions.

The veteran Empires were taken into camp for the second time this season by the Atlantics, at the Stocks' Park on Sunday. The Atlantics outfielded and outbatted their opponents. After a long delay on the part of the Empires, who were short one man, they substituted Gleason, formerly of the professional Stocks. A. Blong umpired the game to the satisfaction of all. With the stick, Gleason, of the Empires, made three of the seven base hits, and Levis, Jones and Rippey, of the Atlantics, also did excellent work. The former made a trio of two-base hits and two singles. The fielding of the Atlantics was excellent throughout. The pitching of Levis was effective, while Rippey supported him in his old style, and Duke at short distinguished himself by his many fine stops and excellent throws to first. On the whole, the fielding of the Atlantics was as good as has been seen on any field this season, while the Empires did poorly, and still worse at the bat.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 11, 1876

My assumption is that this victory over the Empires gave the Atlantics the championship (hence the headline). If this is true than the amateurs had changed their championship series from a best of five back to a best of three, as it had been in the 1860s.

A couple of more thoughts:

-The Atlantics were the first club other than the Empires and Unions to win the Missouri state amateur baseball championship. They were also the first club to wrest the championship from the Empires since the Unions in 1868. The Empires had held the championship for seven years and nine of the previous eleven years.

-Adam Wirth was the last of the old guard. Wirth had been a mainstay of the Empires' first nine for their entire championship run and it's a bit sad to see him playing on losing club. I've written elsewhere that I believe Wirth was the best St. Louis baseball player of his generation.

-It's impossible to say which Gleason we have here, Bill or Jack, because I have no record of either of them playing for the Stocks or the Empires. I'm inclined to say Bill because he worked (at some unknown point) for the St. Louis Fire Department and the Empires had deep ties to the StLFD. But I'd really like it to be Jack. Jack Gleason, in the course of his career, played for NL Brown Stockings, the AA Browns, the UA Maroons, the post-NA Reds, the NL Maroons, and Ted Sullivan's Dubuque club. It would be nice to add the Empire Club to that list.

St. Louis Players Rabbit To Dubuque

Jack Gleason, Billy Gleason and Tom Sullivan, three of the best players St. Louis ever turned out, left for Dubuque on Friday evening.  Tom Loftus, who is to Captain the team, having preceded them.  Sullivan, who caught so well for the old Red Stockings and Live Oaks, of Lynn, is to fill the same position in the Hawkeye team.  

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 13, 1879

Some interesting questions: Would Dubuque have come to St. Louis and played if there weren't several St. Louis players on the team?  Would Ted Sullivan and Charles Comiskey have been brought in if the Rabbits hadn't played in St. Louis?  Would the Browns have been a success without Sullivan and Comiskey?  Would professional baseball in St. Louis have suceeded without the success of the Browns?  Was Loftus, Sullivan, and the Gleason's signing with Dubuque one of the more pivotal moments in the history of St. Louis baseball? 

St. Louis Players Wanted At Ludlow, Kentucky

Mr. J.H. Gifford, manager of the Ludlow club, which is being reorganized, writes that he is anxious to engage first-class players. He says that the club will not pay any fancy salaries, but that the men will be sure of their money as fast as it falls due. The organization is in need of a catcher, change pitcher, short-stop and third baseman. Manager Gifford would like to hear from Seward, Pearce, Redmond, Gleason, McCaffrey and other players now in St. Louis. If they will write, stating their lowest terms, an agreement may be arrived at. Out of the material mentioned above a very strong team could be placed in the field.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 5, 1877

At first glance, I was rather dismissive of Gifford's attempt to land the mentioned players for the Ludlows. I particularly liked the part about how he wanted the players to mail him their lowest terms and thought it was funny. But if you look at it, the players that Gifford was targeting were certainly attainable. Dickey Pearce was 41 years old and at the end of the line. George Seward and Billy Redmon weren't big stars and neither played more than seventy big league games. The Gleasons and Harry McCaffrey were youngsters. There was no reason, given enough money, that Gifford couldn't have signed all five.

Something I Never Noticed Before

Jack Gleason, Bill Gleason's brother, is the only person who played for the NL Brown Stockings, the AA Browns and the UA Maroons. For good measure, he also played with the post-NA Reds, Ted Sullivan's Dubuque team, and the NL Maroons.

Interestingly, over at Baseball Reference they list Keith Miller as the most comparable player to Gleason. I can remember Miller as a utility guy for those good Mets teams of the late 1980's. Miller was also one of the guys shipped over to Kansas City in the Saberhagen deal.

Jack Gleason...started out playing ball with the Stocks team of St. Louis in the early seventies. Later (he) joined the St. Louis Reds. (He) also played with the St. Louis Browns, the co-operative team of 1881. In the following year (he) joined the St. Louis Browns, the first member from this city to join the American Association...Later Jack Gleason went to Louisville...Jack Gleason was the hardest hitter St. Louis ever gave to the professional field. He was one of the few men able to drive the ball over the left field fence in old Sportsman's Park, a feat he accomplished early and often. He was also one of the best of third basemen.

-The National Game

I believe that Gleason played for the Reds in 1876, after they dropped out of the NA. While no person played for every 19th century major league St. Louis club, Jack Gleason came the closest.

A First-Class Police Officer

Long John Healey makes a first-class police officer. Captain O'Malley shows his confidence in him by keeping him on the toughest beat in the city and the Egyptian makes the evil-doers keep in line, or treats them to a ride in the patrol wagon. John is in splendid condition physically. He says that he is satisfied with his position, but his friends declare that he is growing restive as reporting time approaches and that they will be surprised if he does not return to the game. He spends an hour or more each day in the gymnasium at the Four Courts and he is considered one of the best athletes on the force. His arm is all right and in two weeks preparation he could pitch as good ball as he ever did. Jack Kirby, another old Maroon pitcher, is walking a West End beat. Sergeant Cal Watson, who has charge of the district in which Healey is stationed, was once a professional ball player. It is announced that there will be a game in the spring between teams representing the police and fire departments. Tom Dolan, Jack and Bill Gleason and other retired ball players are firemen, and good ones too. The proceeds of the game will be devoted to charity.

-From Sporting Life, February 6, 1897

Person Tom Dolan

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The Browns Of The Interregnum

(The) original Brown Stocking Club which first represented St. Louis in the National League...died in 1878 when the news came that Hall, Devlin, Nicholls, and Craver had been expelled from the Louisville Club for crookedness. This announcement was a death blow to the St. Louis Brown Stockings Club of that year by reason of the fact that Devlin and Hall, two of the expelled players, had signed with St. Louis for the following season. In 1879 St. Louis had no baseball to speak of. In 1880 a nine called the St. Louis Browns, under the management of the veteran Cuthbert, played games on the co-operative plan and furnished patrons with the only base ball that was going that year. That nine included Cuthbert, Shenck, Decker, McDonald, Croft, McGinnis, Pearce, Bowles, Cunningham and Morgan. This team played twenty-one games, losing but one, and that to the Louisville Reds, a semi-professional organization, by a score of 14 to 8. Its success in fact led to the organization of what is now known as the Sportsman's Park and Club Association, a company which was really organized for the purpose of refitting the present Sportsman's Park for baseball purposes. After the park had been fully equipped the Brown Stockings of the previous year were asked to reorganize and take possession of it. This they did with a nine which included the Gleason brothers, Baker, Seward, McCaffory, McSorley, McGinnis, Magner, McDonald, Gault and Cuthbert. This nine, like that of the previous year, played great ball, and the famous Akron team was the only nine it met that year that proved too much for it. It was so successful, in fact, that in the fall of 1881 steps were taken to put a professional team in the then talked of American Association.

-From The Sporting News, October 11, 1886


Al Spink had much to do with the Interregnum Browns and wrote the following in The National Game:

At this time my brother William Spink was the sporting editor of the Globe-Democrat and I held that sort of position on the then Missouri Republican, now the St. Louis Republic. After the failure to land a professional team in St. Louis in 1878 we did our best and worked together to replace the game here on a substantial footing.

But the baseball-loving public, disgusted at the way they had lost the splendid team they had hoped for, would have none of it.

Out of the remnant of the old St. Louis professional team we organized a nine that included holdover veterans like Dickey Pearce, Edgar Cuthbert, Lipman Pike, Mike McGeary, Joe Blong, Arthur Croft, Charles Houtz, Tom Sullivan, Packie Dillon, Danny Morgan and others.

This team played games on Sundays sometimes at Grand Avenue Park, now Sportsman's, and sometimes at the Reds' Park on Compton avenue, to which Shakespeare would have termed a beggardly array of empty benches. One day in the summer of 1878 we went to the pains of bringing the Indianapolis Browns here, a team that had won the championship of the International Association and that included in its ranks such famous players as the "only" Flint and the "only" Nolan.

But this team and our picked nine of professionals did not take in enough money at the gate at its initial game to pay the street car fares of the twelve players on the Mound City bob-tailed cars from the park back to their hotel quarters downtown.

The season of 1879 was as unfruitful of results as that of the season which preceded it. A picked up team of left-over professionals was again organized, called the St. Louis Browns and it stood ready to play any team of players that happened on Sundays to drop into Grand Avenue Park. During the close of the season of 1879 the game showed signs of returning to life, and with my brother William, I again set out to reconstruct the old edifice and bring it back to its own.

Together we brought about the meeting which at the close of the season of 1880 led to the organization of the Sportsman's Park and Club Association, an organization effected for the purpose of fitting up Grand Avenue Park for baseball purposes. This organization included Chris Von der Ahe, president; John W. Peckington, vice president; W. W. Judy, treasurer; and A. H. Spink, secretary.

The Grand Avenue Park, which at this time contained a weather beaten grandstand and a lot of rotten benches, was torn away and in its place was erected a new covered stand and an open "bleachers."

Sitting out in the field early in the spring of 1881 before the new grandstand was completed, I organized the St. Louis Browns of that year, Edgar Cuthbert, the only one of the old professionals still remaining in the city assisting me in the selection of a nine which included George Baker and George Seward, catchers; George McGinnis, pitcher; Edward Gault, first base; Hugh McDonald and Dan Morgan, second base; Jack Gleason, third base; William Gleason, short field; Harry McCaffrey, center field; Edgar Cuthbert, left field; and John T. Magner, right field.

It was agreed as we all sat there on the green sward that we would work together to build up the sport and each player promised to be prompt at each game, to do his level best at all times and to take for his pay just as small a percentage of the gate receipts as the general welfare of the park and its owners would allow.

On Sunday, May 22, 1882, these grounds were really opened with an exhibition game between the newly organized St. Louis Browns and the St. Louis Reds. The Reds won by 2 to 1...

Despite the good attendance at this opening game between the Reds and Browns the outlook seemed cold and bleak, for St. Louis stood badly then in the eyes of the outside world.

Tom Loftus

Tom Loftus was a prominent 19th century baseball man who was involved in the game for more than 25 years. A player, captain, manager, and team president, Loftus was described by Al Spink as a person who "did much to bring the game into its proper sphere" and as "one of the great builder's up of the national game".

Loftus was born in St. Louis in 1856 and first gained notice on the baseball field while playing for the 1875 St. Louis Reds. In 1876, Loftus was regarded as the best player on the Red Stockings.

Living a rather nomadic baseball life, Loftus played with a Memphis team in 1877, captained Peoria in 1878, and joined the Dubuque nine in 1879. Loftus would call Dubuque home for the rest of his life, even as his baseball career took him from city to city.

The 1879 Dubuque Rabbits were an outstanding baseball team. The nine consisted of Loftus, Charlie Comiskey, Old Hoss Radbourne, the Gleason brothers, Tom Sullivan, Billy Taylor, William Lapham, and Larry Reis. Loftus played second base as the team won the championship of the Northwest League and a victory over Cap Anson's Chicago White Stockings.

In 1882, Ted Sullivan, who had put the Dubuque team together, went to St. Louis to manage the St. Louis Browns and brought the core of his Dubuque team with him. Loftus, Comiskey, and the Gleasons all joined Sullivan on the Browns. Coming down with a serious illness, Loftus played in only six games for the Browns in 1882 and 1883.

In 1884, Loftus's health had recovered enough for him to sign with Milwaukee in the Union Association as both player and manager. However the illness had taken its toll and Loftus only played the early part of the season before retiring as player and devoting his full time to managing.

Over the next seventeen years, Loftus would manage numerous teams. In 1885, he returned to St. Louis to skipper the Whites. From 1887 to 1889, Loftus managed in Cleveland. He then managed two seasons in Cincinnati from 1890 through 1891. In 1894, Loftus was managing the Columbus Western League team and remained there until 1900 when he took the manager's job with the Chicago Orphans of the NL. In 1901, Loftus took his last baseball job, managing the Washington Senators. Staying in Washington for two seasons, Loftus also served as team president.

Retiring from the game in 1902, Loftus returned home to Dubuque to devote himself full time to his business interests, specifically the ownership and management of a hotel. He received numerous offers to return to the game but preferred to remain in Dubuque.

While no longer active in the game, Loftus was still a respected figure in baseball circles. Al Spink wrote that "(while) he was not active in the game from 1902, he was one of the counsellors of both big leagues and was regarded as one of the substantial men in baseball. His advice was sought and heeded..." Ted Sullivan would write that Loftus was twenty years ahead of his time when he was playing and remained so throughout his baseball career. Henry Chadwick regarded Loftus as one of the greatest baseball men who ever lived.

Loftus, who according to Al Spink was"one of the best fellows ever prominently identified with the game," died at his home in Dubuque on April 16, 1910.

The Stocks Shock The City

The Stocks, one of the best teams in St. Louis in 1874, staked their claim to being "the best amateur nine" in the city in October of 1875 with a string of three straight victories over their top competition. Over three consecutive Sundays, the Stocks defeated the Reds, the Empire, and then the Reds once again.

The Stocks first victory was on October 3rd. In the first of a four game series between "the famous Red Stockings and the amateur Stocks" at the Compton Avenue Park, the Stocks shocked the over-confident Reds in what would later be described as "a hard fight". While the Globe-Democrat failed to report the Stocks win, coverage on the day of the game predicted a "massacre" of the Stocks by the Globe's favorite baseball team.

A week later, at the Grand Avenue Grounds, "the Stockyard nine" took on the "State champions of Missouri", the Empire Club. On a cool fall afternoon, the Stocks took it to the Empire, jumping out to a 4-1 lead after two innings before winning in a rout, 10-3. The Globe praised the Stocks play, saying it was "up to the professional standard".

The Stocks completed their run on October 17th against the Reds in what must have been one heck of a ballgame at the old Compton Avenue Park. Falling behind 5-4, the Stocks tied the game with a run in the seventh. In the eighth, they pushed across two runs to take the lead and won the game 7-5. "(This) victory," wrote the Globe, "places (the Stocks) in the front ranks of amateur clubs" in the nation.

The Stocks team that shocked the city of St. Louis with this string of upsets consisted of Bill Gleason ( 1b), McManus (2b), Jack Gleason (3b), Newell (ss), Monsel (lf), Gunsolis (cf), Glenner (rf), and a battery of Rippey (c) and Meagher (p). Newell is probably T.E. Newell.