Saturday, December 22, 2007

More On George Tebeau


After George Tebeau died on February 4, 1923, several articles appeared in The Sporting News chronicling his life. His obituary, which was published in the February 8, 1923 issue of TSN, was interestingly headlined "Former Enemies To Honor Dead Tebeau" and is quoted below:

Tebeau had a notable career in baseball as player, manager, and magnate and as the latter, he became famous for his quarrels with fellow magnates. He was born in St. Louis in 1861 and began his career in Denver twenty years later. He soon advanced to the majors as a player, then returned to the minors as an organizer and club owner. He had owned the Denver, Louisville, and Kansas City Clubs, and had been interested in several others. His last venture was the organization of an independent league known as the Mid-Western in Colorado and Wyoming in 1921...

His last appearance in baseball was at the meeting of the minors in Louisville at which time he had two deals on hand. One was the sale of his ball park in Kansas City and the other a claim against the Denver Club for an alleged repudiation of a lease of his park in that city.
John B. Foster, in the February 15, 1923 issue of TSN, had a long piece about George and Patsy Tebeau:

(The Tebeau brothers) were fighters. Pat did most of his fighting on the ball field. George did a great deal of his on the ball field but much more as an owner of a baseball club when he began to meet with other owners and learned something of the politics of a league...

When George played with the Cincinnatis years ago he was called "White Wings." Odd name for a ball player who was one day to be recognized as one of the shrewdest of schemers in the minor leagues. They called him "White Wings" about the time that well known ballad floated from the open windows of every Western boarding house...Tebeau may have been called "White Wings" because he never grew weary but more likely it was because of the splendid figure that he made when running for a fly ball...

As a ball player George gave great promise but he never quite arrived...The first year he appeared in fast company as a player it was predicted that he would make one of the league's best batters. He never did. The first year that he appeared as an owner it was predicted that he would make a failure, but he nearly owned the league before he finished and dominated it thoroughly...

The Federal League broke him as a power in baseball. He bore the brunt of the fight in Kansas City and suffered greater reverse than any other man in the game and yet such was the enmity that he had aroused by the forcefulness of his nature and the fight that he had made for control that he found few sympathize with him.
According to The New York Times, Tebeau was involved in the organization of the American Association in 1901 and owned the Kansas City club in that league. Tebeau expanded his American Association empire the next year when he was involved in the reorganization of the Louisville club. In 1904, he purchased the Denver club in the Western League. Tebeau's entry into the Western League was a complicated venture that involved the elimination of the Western League's Kansas City team, which was a direct competitor of Tebeau's American Association Kansas City team. It appears that Tebeau owned and operated all three clubs from 1902 until he sold the Louisville club in 1909.

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