The Caruthers Deal Hangs Fire

The Caruthers deal hangs fire, and will probably be settled definitely this morning. Late last night it was learned that Charley Byrne, the Brooklyn manager, would be in town to-day, when he will take the matter in his own hands. Joe Pritchard made another attempt to sign the great twirler yesterday. The conversation ran in this way:

"Well, Bob, are you ready to sign?"

"Yes, are you ready with the money?"

"I will give you $4500, with $1500 advance."

"No. Give me $4500 salary, with a bonus of $500 and $1000 advance, and my name will go to your contract."

"No, I can't do that."

"All right; then I don't sign."

This conversation took place in Schaefer's Billiard Parlor, and after Bob had spoken he took up a cue and commenced to play billiards. Pritchard seeing the matter was hopeless, went away to wait for further advices from Brooklyn. Gus Schmelz left for home last night. He saw that there was no chance to sign Caruthers, and gave up the chase. If Byrne arrives to-day Caruthers will sign before night.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, November 26, 1887

Caruthers Sold To Brooklyn

Before this evening's sun disappears Bod Caruthers, the best ball player in the Brown Stocking team, will have signed with Brooklyn for next season. Mr. Von der Ahe had up to the time of his departure for the East resolved to keep Caruthers on his team for next year, but he could not withstand Charley Byrne's big offer, and St. Louis loses the twirler. The amount paid for his release is $9000, and Caruthers will receive $5000. It is $500 of this amount which delayed the deal yesterday, otherwise Caruthers would have been signed last night. He asks Byrne for $4500 salary and $500 for his consent to the transfer. Byrne is willing to pay the amount asked for salary, but objects to the $500 for the transfer, and this is what is delaying the deal. Joe Pritchard, who has been representing the Brooklyn people here, has kept a watchful eye on Caruthers, to see that he was not approached by any other manager. The genial Sporting Life correspondent was dumbfounded yesterday when Gus Schmelz, the manager of the Cincinnati club, dropped into the Laclede Hotel. Joe and Gus are fast friends, but this was a matter of business, and Joe kept a watchful eye on Schmelz. Gus made no secret of the matter that he had come for Caruthers, and took Bob aside to have a long talk with him. The twirler admitted that he would just as soon sign with Cincinnati as with Brooklyn, that it was the stuff he was after, and if given his price, viz., $5000, he would sign with anybody. As a result, a message flashed over the wire to Mr. Von der Ahe in New York, asking him to put a price on Caruthers, stating that Cincinnati would pay almost any price for the great pitcher. Gus waited long and patiently for the answer, which never came. Up to midnight no reply had been received. It is not probable that Von der Ahe will release Caruthers to Cincinnati anyhow. The Porkopolitans are very strong now for the Browns' very much weakened team, and would have a walkover next season if given Caruthers to alternate with Smith and Mullane. Von der Ahe understands this, and while he is willing to make all he can out of the deal, he does not wish to see his once champion club made a show of next season. As soon as Pritchard saw Schmelz he took Caruthers in tow, and Gus had but little chance to speak to him. After supper Joe sent Caruthers over to Schaefer's billiard parlor to play billiards all evening, while he invited Gus to go to the theater with him. Seeing that he could do nothing, Gus consented, and the pair were together all evening. At 11 o'clock last night the scene was shifted to the Laclede again, where Caruthers, Pritchard, Schmelz and a Globe-Democrat reporter formed a group. Pritchard was very anxiously awaiting an answer to telegrams sent to Byrne. As soon as Pritchard found that Schmelz was in town he sent telegrams to Byrne telling him that the scent was getting very hot, to hurry and close the bargain. In reply he received a telegram stating that as far as he and Von der Ahe were concerned, Caruthers was all right, and to sigh the pitcher. Pritchard put a contract for $4500 under Bob's nose, but the latter said, "No; not without the $500." Not having authority to sign Bob at these figures, he wired Byrne the facts in the case. The latter no doubt had gone out with Von der Ahe, secure and happy in the belief that Caruthers was a Brooklyn player, and not returning until late, did not receive the telegram. At any rate, no reply had been received up to an early hour this morning. There is no doubt, however, that the deal will be perfected, as Byrne will not let a paltry $500 stand in his way after expending $13,500. A favorable reply will be received this morning, and before night Caruthers will be a Brooklyn player. This move will be regretted by Caruther's thousands of admirers in this city. He was a very popular player, and will be a tower of strength to the team from the City of Churches.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, November 25, 1887

The machinations surrounding the Caruthers sale are fascinating and read a bit like something out of a Cold War spy novel.

One of the things that I don't understand is how all of this came to be explained as a function of Von der Ahe's stupidity and greed. The usual explanation for the sale that you hear is that Von der Ahe broke up his championship club and sold off his players for the money. Money played a part in this but, I believe, only to the extent that this was how player transactions took place during the era. Teams were paid to release a player, who then signed with the club that paid for his release. But this wasn't really about money; this wasn't really a fire sale. Von der Ahe didn't have to make any of these moves. They were strategic moves rather than financial moves. And I would have to imagine that later descriptions of the sales as being motivated by greed and financial necessity was a result of Von der Ahe's deteriorating relationship with the press in the 1890s as well as a projection of the impact of Von der Ahe's financial troubles and poor management decisions during that period onto his past actions. The idea of Von der Ahe selling off his best players for the money and destroying his championship team became part of the mythology surrounding Von der Ahe. It became part of the caricature of Von der Ahe that continues to be presented and accepted today regardless of historical fact.

I'll get into all of that when I try to wrap this up. But we still need to finalize the Caruthers deal, look at the fallout and get Foutz sold to Brooklyn.

A Couple Of Good Stories From Gus Schmelz

Manager Schmelz has an inexhaustible fund of baseball anecdotes. In a reminiscent mood the other evening he told of some of the ludicrous things he had seen on the ball field. Probably the funniest of these occurred here in Washington in 1886. In that year Mr. Schmelz was managing the St. Louis Maroons for Henry V. Lucas, who had at that time more money than he could use. But the story is told best in Manager Schmelz's own words.

"The Maroons," Mr. Schmelz said, "were a great team, with Jack Glasscock, Jerry Denny, Fred Dunlap, Al McKinnon, George Myers, and a lot of others just about as good. We arrived in Washington to play the Nationals, and in the game during the afternoon Al McKinnon had reached first base and George Myers was at the bat. McKinnon started for second just as Myers hit the ball on the nose. Hines was playing center for Washington and when the ball was hit it did not look as if Paul would get anywhere near it. By the time McKinnon had turned second it began to look as though Hines might get the ball, so Dunlap, who was coaching at third, yelled for McKinnon to go back. Just then Paul reached for the ball, barely touching but not holding it. By this time Jerry Denny, who was coaching at first, was yelling for Myers, who had turned back in disgust when he thought Hines was going to get the ball, to go on. In the excitement of the moment and the yelling of the balance of the team, who had in the mean while rushed up to the lines, McKinnon started back to first, while Myers ran on around to third. The two men met near second and Myers tried to head McKinnon off and turn him back toward third, but Al, who had been rendered nearly frantic by the noise and coaching cries, thinking Myers was one of the enemy trying to block him, gave George a shove which landed him on his back and continued back toward first. Meyers scrambled to his feet and chased himself up to third.

"Hines had now secured the ball, but seeing one of the Maroons breaking for third while another was running still harder to get back to first, Paul didn't know what to do. Finally he ran in with the ball in his hands, accompanied by the whole Washington team. He found McKinnon, who should have been on third, safely perched on first while Meyers, who belonged on first, was wildly clutching third with both hands.

"Now ensued one of the funniest scenes ever witnessed on a ball field. Paul first went up and touched Meyers with the ball then he was dragged by his club mates over to first for he would not relinquish his hold on the ball to touch McKinnon. Then they changed their minds and dragged Paul back to third and made him touch Meyers again. Needless to say that by this time the procession back and forth across the diamond had been joined by all the Maroons, who had the Umpire in their midst, and were arguing and gesticulating as they dragged that official from one side of the diamond to the other. All this combined with the howls, yells and laughter of the audience, so confused the umpire that it was fully half an hour before he could give a decision and all that time the Senators determined to make sure of at least one man dragged Hines and the ball from third to first and first to third, touching first one man and then the other, according to the direction in which the umpire seemed to be inclined to give his decision. The Maroons, equally determined not to have either man declared out, dragged the poor umpire in the wake of the other procession. Taken altogether the scene was too funny to be described.

"The most remarkable play I ever saw," continued Mr. Schmelz, "was made on the St. George grounds, Staten Island, when Erastus Wiman owned the Metropolitans. I was managing the Cincinnati team at the time. Jim Keenan, of Indianapolis, was the mainstay catcher of our aggregation, and he was the receiving end of the battery that day. A foul tip struck his hands, went straight up in the air, fell on top of his head (he had his cap on), rolled up against the edge of his mask and stayed there. Keenan reached up, picked the ball off the top of his head and the umpire declared the batter out."

-Washington Post, April 1, 1894

Gus Schmelz

Augustus H. Schmelz, the popular and capable manager of the Washington Club of the National League and American Association, was born in Columbus, Ohio on September 26, 1850. In his youth he was one of the best players in his native city and as he approached manhood gained a state reputation for his skill in the National game. The success with which he handled the Eastons, the crack semi-professional team of Columbus, lead to his engagement to manage the Columbus Club in 1884, in the American Association, then composed of twelve clubs, in which race his team finished second. In 1885, he managed the famous Atlanta team, the pennant winners in the Southern League of that year. Then came his engagement with the ill-starred Maroons, of St. Louis, who, however, finished higher under his management than they ever had before. In 1887, 1888, and 1889, he held the managerial reigns over the Cincinnati Reds, going to Cleveland in the Brotherhood year and remaining with the National League club of that city unit August 1 of that year...He is unexcelled in the development of young players...No one connected with base ball enjoys greater popularity with the players and patrons of the game than Gus Schmelz.

-From The Sporting News, February 15, 1896

Schmelz Gets Fired

Last night the board of directors of the St. Louis League Club released manager Gus Schmelz, and that gentleman will return to Columbus. From this time forward Jack Glasscock will have charge of the team both on and off the field, President Stromberg attending to the business interests. Mr. Schmelz carries with him the good will of all with whom he has come in contact. He will probably manage the Cincinnati Club next year, although he has made no contact with any club so far.

-From The Sporting News, October 18, 1886


David Nemec writes in The Beer & Whiskey League that Schmelz full name was Gustavus Heinrich Schmelz and that his only credentials for taking over the Columbus Association team, Schmelz' first managerial job, "was his flaming red beard, which gave him a rather fierce look." Interestingly, the only reason Schmelz got the job in Columbus was that, according to James Tottle in Baseball in Columbus, "(local) favorite Jimmy Williams had already taken the job as manager in St. Louis, so ownership hired Gus Schmelz of Columbus to manage the Buckeyes in 1884."

He never won a pennant, but Schmelz was a highly respected manager. He believed the most important factor in success was the players' confidence, in themselves, one another, and the manager. He had a big, thick beard and supposedly gave signals by pointing with it. An opponent of the Brotherhood League, he advocated banning for life all who played in it. Schmelz gave John Heydler his start in baseball. When an assigned umpire failed to appear for a game, Schmelz called Heydler out of the stands to substitute. Heydler went on to become a regular umpire and eventually rose to NL president.

-From Baseball Library.com


There are much better photos of Schmelz then the one I posted above but they're mostly team photos, like this picture of the 1886 Maroons. I had never seen Schmelz' Old Judge card before I found it today and, even though it's pretty rough, I like it.

The Maroons Visit Little Rock

After the Maroons finished the city series with the Browns in October of 1886, the team traveled to Arkansas in early November for a series against the Little Rock club. It was a hodge-podge group of players that made the trip. Jack Glasscock, who ran the team after manager Gus Schmelz was fired in October, did not travel with the team. The only regulars who went to Little Rock were Emmett Seery, John Healy, and Joe Quinn. Henry Boyle (the team's third pitcher) and Joe Murphy (a nineteen year old pitcher who had appeared in four games) also made the trip.

This motley group of Maroons had their hands full with the Little Rock nine. In the first game, played on November 2, the Little Rocks got two runs in the ninth to upset the visitors by a score of 3-2. The next day, the Maroons jumped out to a 5-1 lead and won 5-2. On November 5, the series concluded as the Maroons were able to hold on for a 3-2 victory.

As far as I can tell, these were the last games ever played by the St. Louis Maroons.

Fred Dunlap And The Business Of Baseball

In November of 1887, Fred Dunlap made a statement that today would sound rather reasonable but must have been fairly shocking at the time. Speaking about his contract demands, Dunlap said that "he had adopted baseball as a profession and he was in the business to make money..." While baseball players had been playing the game for money for well over twenty years by 1886, people had been listing their profession as "baseball player" on census forms since 1880, and countless players were making a living by playing the game, the idea that a baseball player was a craftsman making a living at his trade the same as a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker in many ways flew in the face of the conventional wisdom of the day.

In 1887, baseball was not very far removed from the days of the baseball club as a vehicle for social interaction and exercise. The game itself was still in the process of organizing itself into the business that would become Major League Baseball. The vast majority of players in the country either played simply for the love of the game without any financial compensation or played for a portion of the gate receipt rather than a contractual salary. The fawning, supportive press of the day portrayed the players as sportsmen/heroes rather than craftsmen engaged in a trade. But those involved in the game at the highest levels-the owners, operators, managers, and players-knew that they were involved in a business and knew that the goal of all of their machinations was to make money.

Fred Dunlap, who over the course of his life would show an astute business sense, understood the nature of the game as a business. As one of the best players in the game, he would press every advantage that he had to gain the financial upper hand over his employers. Throughout the 1880's, Dunlap would press these advantages to become the highest paid player in the game. His tactics would be described as "astounding" and "disturbing". When taken within the context of the reserve clause, the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players, the Brush Classification Plan, the Players' League, and the general struggle of baseball players for what John M. Ward would call their "rights", Dunlap becomes a fairly significant figure.

Dunlap seized control of his financial destiny in 1883 when Henry Lucas went looking for players for his St. Louis Maroons team in the fledgling Union Association. Dunlap, who had broke in with the National League's Cleveland team as a rookie sensation in 1880, was the best defensive second baseman in the game and one of the top players in the League. Initially brushing aside Lucas' offer, Dunlap eventually joined the Maroons after Lucas offered him a two year, $5,000 a year guaranteed contract. According to The Sporting News, Lucas paid Dunlap the $10,000 upfront.

Cleveland made a concerted effort, with the support of League President A.G. Mills, to get Dunlap back from the Maroons in the early part of 1884. Dunlap made it known that he was willing to return to the League-specifically, he wanted to join the New York League team-if he could get a guaranteed contract for $4,000 a year. Pressure was put on Cleveland to release Dunlap to New York but Mills killed the deal, fearing that Dunlap, in the process of the release, might end up with a club in the American Association. Dunlap, because of his signing with the UA, was eventually blacklisted from Organized Baseball although rumours persisted that Cleveland was still trying to get him back.

Things did not go well for Dunlop in St. Louis, in spite of the on-field success that both he and the Maroons enjoyed in 1884. While specifics of the problems are unknown, Lucas called Dunlap "the most ungrateful man I had ever seen" and told the New York Times that he and Dunlap "could not get along together". In December of 1885, the Maroons tried to sell Dunlap to the Philadelphia League team for $3,000. Supposedly, the deal had been agreed to and Lucas was only waiting for Philadelphia to pay him the money. For whatever reason, the deal fell threw and Dunlap resigned with St. Louis. On December 30, 1885, Dunlap's resigning made the front page of the New York Times.

In August of 1886, Dunlap was sold to Detroit for a price reported to be between $4,000 and $5,000. Maroons' manager Gus Schmelz claimed that "Detroit paid more for Dunlap than was ever paid for a single player" and that "Dunlap has been dissatisfied with St. Louis all season, and that is one of the reason for his release." Reportedly, Dunlap was given a $2,500 bonus to accept the sale, on top of a salary of $6,000 that was the highest on a Detroit team that would win the League and World Series championships in 1887.

After their championship season, Detroit tried to sell Dunlap to Pittsburgh in November of 1887 for $4,000. Dunlap "astounded" Detroit by saying that he would not agree to the transfer unless he received half the sales price and a two year guaranteed contract at $5,000 a year. While in 1895 the Brooklyn Eagle would call Dunlap a player who knew how to drive a sharp bargain, at the time the Eastern press, in reaction to Dunlap's demands, called the player a "disorganizer and a disturbing element."

Dunlap had quite a bit to say about his demands and his potential transfer to Pittsburgh. While stipulating that he would agree to the transfer if "arrangements suitable to him were made", Dunlop told the New York Times that "I will not consult to be sold unless I can benefit by it...I want one half of the (sale) sum or you cannot do business with me...I am sick and tired of being sold without gaining anything by it, and it is about time that my bank account was benefited by these transfers...If (Detroit President) Stearns refuses to give me one-half of the money he procures for my release I will not agree to play in any city that he designates...(If) my requests are not complied with I will refuse to play baseball...and devote my time to business." Dunlap claimed that he had saved and invested enough money that he no longer needed to play baseball to make a living.

In a fascinating statement, Dunlap went on to say that the Detroit manager "will have to do one of three things-give me half of the money secured for my release, allow me to go where I please, or fulfill the contract made with me for next year." Dunlap had offered to release Detroit from their guaranteed contractual obligations to him if they allowed him to become a free agent and "go where I please". It was a radical statement for a baseball player to make ninety years before the Messersmith case and the advent of modern free agency.

Detroit and Pittsburgh eventually capitulated to Dunlap's demands and, on January 3, 1888, Dunlap was sold to Pittsburgh for $4,000. Dunlap received a $2,000 bonus and the two year, guaranteed contract. In the twilight of his career, and already plagued by the leg injuries that would end his playing days, Dunlap received a total of $12,000 over his final two full big league seasons.

Dunlap's actions in 1887/88 stand at the center of what Harold Seymour called "The Great Player Revolt". The Brotherhood was formed in 1885, partially in response to the restrictions of the reserve clause. The Classification Plan that would set maximum salaries for players was formulated in 1889. Finally, in 1890, the Players' League was formed, attempting a radical restructuring of the business of baseball. Ethan Lewis called the Players' League "a case of skilled laborers attempting to regain control over the sale of their product (baseball games) from the profit driven entrepreneurs who controlled the established major leagues. The Players' League was a...revolution...which enabled players to have more rights and options than the established major leagues permitted." Dunlap's actions are a forgotten part of this movement and a significant moment in the history of the business of baseball.