The Reds Have A Bad Road Trip

Bill Kelsoe writes in A Newspaper Man's Motion-Picture View Of The City about a baseball game that took place on July 14, 1875 between the St. Louis City Council and a group of St. Louis newspaper reporters.

"A new City Council was elected in the spring of 1875," he wrote, "some of the members being ardent baseball fans, the same as many of the newspaper reporters here. While the Browns were on their first, or maybe it was their second eastern tour, advantage of their absence to use Grand Avenue Park, now called Sportsman's Park, was taken by two nines representing, respectively, the press and the city government...The game was played on the afternoon of July 14, resulting in a victory for the reporters."

Kelsoe goes on to write that "(while) the St. Louis reporters were having a holiday game with our City Fathers...the original St. Louis Browns, were defeating the Atlantics at Brooklyn by the score of 2 to 1. The following day they won a second game in Brooklyn, making their sixth victory, without a single defeat since leaving home the week before, the other victims being the Philadelphias and the New York Mutuals, with two defeats each. The St. Louis Reds...were in Cincinnati for two games, one being with the Covington Stars across the river, which they won, losing the other."

This reference to the Reds playing in Covington in July of 1875 seems to come from Kelsoe's personal recollection and therefore can't be taken at face value unless confirmed by another source. However, it is rather significant because it speaks to why the Reds stopped playing championship matches after July 4, 1875.

Most of the general histories that mention the Reds erroneously claim that the team ceased operations after July 4th. The various reasons given for this are that the Reds never planned on making an Eastern road trip, they didn't have the money to make a road trip, or the players refused to make a road trip. The fact is the Reds made at least two major road trips after July 4th. The first was the trip to Cincinnati and Covington and the second was to Little Rock. Couple these with an earlier trip to Keokuk and Chicago and it doesn't seem that the Reds had problems making road trips. While they did disappear from the history of major league baseball after July 1875, the Reds were still a viable operation and soldiered on until the late 1880's.

However, the fact remains that the Reds did cease playing games against other NA teams after July 4th. The most likely reason for this is two-fold. First, it appears that they had difficulties scheduling games against the Eastern teams that precluded them from making an Eastern road trip. At the same time, the team fell apart. Joe Blong was either expelled from the club for "hippodroming" or bolted the team for greener pastures. Either way, on June 29, 1875, Blong signed a contract to play with the Stars of Covington, Ky. Shortly thereafter, Charlie Sweasy jumped ship and joined a team in Cincinnati and Packy Dillon and Trick McSorley joined Blong on the Stars. Although it's unclear, Silver Flint may also have joined the Stars. In the middle of the season, the Reds lost half their team and were left scrambling to find enough players to field a nine.

One question I always had was how did Blong, Sweasy, Dillon, McSorley, and possibly Flint all end up playing baseball in the Cincinnati area after July 4, 1875? Kelsoe may have provided the answer. If the Reds are in Cincinnati and Covington in early to mid July and at the same time their players are jumping to teams in Cincinnati and Covington, it would follow that the Reds were raided by the local teams during the road trip. It's very likely that if Blong was already playing for the Stars, he might have enticed his former teammates to jump ship.

Another question that remains is why so many of the Reds were willing to jump ship in the middle of the season? It's unlikely that there's one simple answer for that. The influence of Blong would certainly explain some of it. Sweasy's connections in Cincinnati probably played a role. Sweasy himself, an outsider brought in at the last minute and a man known to be difficult to deal with, likely made for a divisive clubhouse and may have drove some people away. The lack of on the field success couldn't have been good for morale. If the Reds were truly a co-op team then the lack of a promise of an Eastern road trip would have hurt the players financially and had them looking for greener pastures. Added together, all of this put a great deal of pressure on the club and its players.

If Kelsoe is correct, and again I believe we need another source to confirm it, then we can place the break up of the Reds' NA team in mid July when they made a road trip to Cincinnati and Covington. While the situation is still unclear and many questions remain, Kelsoe gets us one step closer to figuring out what happened to the Reds in July of 1875.

Commie's First Game With The Browns

I've been skimming through a biography of Charles Comiskey written by G.W. Axelson and published in 1919. Axelson allowed Comiskey to tell much of the story in his own words and, in that sense, the book is almost an autobiography. The year of publication is certainly interesting but it's probably a coincidence.

One of the things in the book that grabbed my attention was an account of Comiskey's first game as a Brown. Axelson writes that "(the) team which took the field in 1882, with Ed Cuthbert as manager, had some good players in its lineup but it did not compare with those which followed. Before the regular season opened in the spring exhibition games were played..." He then gives a box score for the game that the Browns played in St. Louis against the Standards, "the first game in which Comiskey appeared in a St. Louis Browns' uniform".

That, in and of itself, is rather interesting but the best part is who was playing in the game for the Standards: Pidge Morgan, Art Croft, Charlie Hautz, and Packy Dillon. It seems that in 1882 the Standards had almost half of the starting nine of the 1875 Reds.

I find this information significant for a couple of reasons. First, the guys playing for the Standards (including Frank Decker and Eddie Hogan) identifies the Standards as a St. Louis team. While it was assumed that the Browns would be playing a local team to tune up for the season, the fact that the Standards were stocked with St. Louis baseball players pretty much confirms it. I had never heard of the Standards before but I feel comfortable adding them to my list of 19th century St. Louis baseball teams (which I'll post one of these days).

The second reason I'm excited about this information is because we just don't know that much about some of the guys on the 1875 Reds, especially Dillon and Morgan. Any piece of information about them or any reference to them that I find always adds to the record. Information about these guys is so scarce that if I find a paragraph about them it's like hitting the motherload.

Before I read this book, I knew that Packy Dillon had pretty much retired from baseball by 1886 but I couldn't tell you much about his career after 1877. Now I know that he was still playing baseball in 1882. Also, this information probably means that he was still living in St. Louis in 1882. That adds quite a bit to what we know about Dillon.

As God Is My Witness, I Thought Turkeys Could Fly

Oh, the humanity!

Click the link above to watch the single greatest Thanksgiving-related moment in television history.

Happy Thanksgiving

Tom Dolan

"Thomas J. Dolan, at one time one of the very best known catchers in the National League, now drives a fuel wagon for the St. Louis Fire Department.

Dolan learned to play ball with the old St. Louis 'Reds' and he was graduated from there to the Buffalo National League team, where he handled the terrific delivery of Jimmy Galvin.

Ted Sullivan brought Dolan back to St. Louis in 1883 to play with the St. Louis Browns and he left the latter team in the middle of the playing season of 1884 to play with the St. Louis Unions.

On the Browns, Dolan caught the speedy pitching of George McGinnis, Silver King, Elton Chamberlain and Tony Mullane and for the Unions he caught Boyle and Healy.

Before then Dolan faced the best League pitchers and had won a reputation of being one of the best and most reliable receivers in America."

-From The National Game

A couple of quick notes:

• I've yet to find a baseball player or person that Al Spink didn't just love and praise to high heaven. But I'm still looking and will be highly amused when I find the player that Al Spink didn't like.
  
• Happy 87th birthday to Stan Musial, the one and only. Baseball's perfect warrior, baseball's perfect knight.


• I read in the paper today that there is a global shortage of hops. This is nothing but bad. Combine this with a poor global barley harvest and the price of beer is going to go through the roof. These are dark days indeed.


• Things are probably going to be a little slow around TGOG the next day or two with the holiday and all that. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and a perfect time to reflect on all the things that God has given us-plus there's lots to eat and football on tv. The only thing that would make Thanksgiving better is if we held it in early October and we had a baseball playoff tripleheader. But I'm thankful for what I have.

Kelsoe On St. Louis Amateur Baseball In the 1860's

AMATEUR BASEBALL.

The death of Asa W. Smith, president of the Union Baseball Club of St. Louis, was reported in the papers of August 2 and 3 (1874). Asa, who was a son of Sol Smith, the actor, was accidentally drowned off the coast of Maine, at Biddeford Pool. The Keokuk Baseball Club had arrived in St. Louis, but the game scheduled with the Unions was abandoned. The visitors played the Empires, winning by 7 to 6.

The Unions were the principal competitors of the Empires for the city and state amateur baseball championship, the Reds being excluded from the contest, as some of their players were paid for their services. The Empires had held the championship two or three years and were again winners in 1874. The last president of the Unions, Judge C. Orrick Bishop, remembers that their winning championship team consisted of Eugene Greenleaf and Jim Freeman, pitcher and catcher; Joseph Charles ("Charley") Cabanne, E. C. Meacham and Rufus J. Lackland, Jr., on the bases; Bob Duncan, at short, and Asa W. Smith, Bill Duncan (Bob's brother) and Tom McCordell in the field. The last surviving member of that team, Mr. Cabanne, died in 1922 (March 17). Judge Bishop used to play occasionally, and so did W. C. Steigers (who died May 25, 1923), well known for over forty years as business manager of the Post-Dispatch; also Robert J. Lucas (died May 18, 1922). Judge Shepard Barclay, remembered as a crack pitcher in his college days, pitched for the Unions in a notable victory over the Nationals of Washington. Then there were Arthur Strong, Henry Berning, Harry Carr, Billy Yore and others who had won honors with the Olympics of Washington University or the Pickwicks of St. Louis University before joining the Unions. In their best days the Unions and Empires made a good showing against the best clubs of the country, including the famous Cincinnati Reds, the Forest Cities of Cleveland, the Rockfords and the Nationals, the Atlantics of Brooklyn, the Excelsiors of Chicago, the Unions of Morrisania, N. Y., and the Athletics of Philadelphia.

Among the local ball players of note in the sixties and who became prominent later in the industrial field were John D. Fitzgibbon, Jeremiah Fruin and John W. O'Connell. Mr. Fruin died in March, 1912, and Mr. O'Connell in August, 1918. Mr. Fitzgibbon is still with us. All three played with the Empires, Mr. Fitzgibbon being the club's captain and pitcher. When I called Capt. Fitzgibbon on the phone recently (in November,1923) he named, in addition to Fruin and O'Connell, already mentioned, most of their fellow players of fifty and more years ago-Pitcher Little, Tom Oran (catcher), John W. Shocky (later assistant chief of the St. Louis Fire Department and killed at a fire), Tom Murray, Tom Walsh, Charley Stevens, Adam Wirth, John Heath and Joe Schimper (a fireman who played ball under the name of Cambers, as stated elsewhere, and who, like Shocky, was killed by a falling wall at a fire). All these had passed away, said the veteran builder, except Stevens, one of the last to go being Fireman Wirth of Engine Company No. 14, a famous first baseman in amateur days.

The night of the conversation with Pitcher Fitzgibbon I had one also with Judge Shepard Barclay, referred to in a former paragraph as a crack pitcher of the Unions in his St. Louis college days. The judge had pitched for the Pickwicks of St. Louis University in their games with the Olympics of Washington University before he joined the Unions. He pitched the Unions to victory in one of their games with the Empires for the championship of Missouri and was their pitcher when the St. Louis Unions defeated the Nationals of Washington City. His fame as a pitcher for a college club continued with him after he left St. Louis University. This was the Barclay who pitched in the game that won for University of Virginia the championship of the South over the Washington and Lee University, the contest being reported by Chadwick for his publication. Nor was that all. Not content with his pitching victories in America, the St. Louisan crossed the ocean and pitched a winning game for "Columbia," a newly organized college club in the University of Berlin. The victory, however, dearest to his heart, the one this ex-member of the Missouri State Supreme Court loves to talk about most, was the one played in St. Louis, May 23, 1867, by the Olympics and the Pickwicks, a contest between the college clubs of, respectively, Washington University of St. Louis and St. Louis University, the latter winning with Barclay as the pitcher. The Judge remembers that Nat Hazard pitched for the Olympics and that the only player in that locally famous game still living, besides the two pitchers, is George A. Strong, now a New York lawyer,who played second base for Washington University. The umpire of the game was Adam Wirth, of the St. Louis Fire Department, as before stated, and nationally famous (because of the honor of having his picture in Harper's Weekly) as the first baseman of the old St. Louis Empire Club. The judge told of a game in which one side scored 127 runs, but I think that was another contest, perhaps one between the Unions and Nationals. Judge Barclay died November 17, 1925.

I have several letters somewhere from Henry Chadwick, but have mislaid them. In one he expressed a great desire that I try to locate a championship baseball won by the St. Louis Unions, rivals of the Empires, and have it presented to The Missouri Historical Society, but I have not been able to find it. The ball has gilt lettering and some reader of this page may know where it is.

-From A Newspaper Man's Motion-Picture Of The City

Note: This is a fascinating piece by Kelsoe on the St. Louis amateur baseball scene of the 1860's. The first thing that jumped out at me was Kelsoe's statement that the Union had defeated the Nationals which was simply not true. Also, there's obviously some connection between the St. Louis Fire Department and the Empire Club which I was only vaguely aware of and that needs further research. It's also interesting that Kelsoe states that the Reds were excluded from the amateur championship when I have other sources that say they not only competed for the championship but they actually won it in the early 1870's. Finally, the ball that Chadwick was looking for may have been the ball that was used in the game between the Morning Stars and the Cyclones in 1860, the first game played in St. Louis. Supposedly, the ball was gilded and used as a trophy ball in St. Louis for years. According to Merritt Griswold, the ball was last in the hands of the Empire Club.

Jack Glasscock

"In the 1883 season by common consent Jack Glasscock, then a member of the Cleveland Club of the National League, was considered the greatest short-fielder.

Glasscock was a member of Cleveland's famous stone wall infield, which included Bill Phillips at first base, Fred Dunlap at second, Jerry Denny at third and Glasscock at short-field.

These four were all great players, but in fielding none of them had the edge on Glasscock. He was such a great player that when the Union Association was organized in 1884 and its manager went hunting for phenomenal players, men who would draw the crowds, Glasscock was among the many selected.

He was one of the trio of Cleveland players, Briody and McCormick being the others, who left the Cleveland team in the midst of the 1884 season to join forces with the Cincinnati Club of the Union Association. At this time Glasscock's playing was simply wonderful and his accession by the managers of the Union Association gave that organization a mighty boost.

When the Union Association was disbanded in 1884 Glasscock joined his old partners, Dunlap and Denny, on the St. Louis National League Club, which held forth at the old Union Grounds at Jefferson and Cass avenues for a single season. The St. Louis infield that year included Alex McKinnon, first base; Fred Dunlap, second base; Jerry Denny, third base; and Jack Glasscock, short-field.

St. Louisians were very proud of this organization and expected great things of it. But the team was not successful, either from a playing or financial standpoint and before the season was half over its owners were plunged into bankruptcy. But Glasscock's great playing was often talked of afterwards.

After leaving St. Louis, Glasscock went to Indianapolis, where he led the League short-stops in 1889 and then went to Pittsburgh, where in 1894, he again bobbed up as the leading man in his position.

Glasscock is now a carpenter working at his trade in Wheeling, W. Va. He was one of the greatest players from a fielding standpoint the game has ever known."

-From The National Game

Ubbo Ubbo

Joe Hornung has no connection to 19th century St. Louis baseball that I'm aware of but I just discovered that his nickname was "Ubbo Ubbo" and felt it necessary to share this information.

You have to take this with a grain of salt but there's an explanation for the nickname at Wikipedia. The article on Hornung claims that he earned his nickname because he habitually shouted "ubbo ubbo" when he got a hit or made a nice play in the field. Shockingly, there's no source cited for this claim.

"Ubbo Ubbo"-it's kind of funny, slightly disturbing, and just one more reason to love 19th century baseball.

John Clapp

In The National Game, Al Spink writes that "John Clapp was one of the greatest catchers that ever lived. He was the leading catcher of St. Louis' first major league team away back in 1876. In 1878 he was catcher of the famous Indianapolis team and later he played with the best nines in America. He was a wonderful receiver, handling the speediest pitching with the greatest of ease." Clapp, whom Spink claimed enjoyed a "world wide reputation", played for the 1876 and 1877 Brown Stockings National League team.

William Ryczek, in Blackguards and Redstockings, called Clapp "an outstanding receiver". He went on to write that "John Clapp, a tough youngster from Ithaca with a powerful throwing arm, was brought to (Middletown, Connecticut in 1872) to work behind the plate. In January Clapp had written to Harry Wright attempting to secure a position with the Red Stockings but had been rebuffed. He quickly became a standout with the Mansfields and lasted 11 years in the majors, establishing a then record National League consecutive game streak of 212 between 1876 and 1879, no mean feat considering the lack of protection for the man behind the bat. The streak was due not merely to good fortune, but to Clapp's stoic nature as well. He was an ironman in every sense of the word. In an 1872 exhibition against Yale, the catcher was hit in the side with a bat, hit in the head with a ball, and had a finger dislocated, yet he remained in the game."

Kelsoe And The Old Capitals Visit St. Louis

In A Newspaper Man's Motion-Picture of the City, W.A. Kelsoe has a nice piece on the great Boston Red Stockings' visit to St. Louis in 1875. One of the baseball writers covering the trip was Phil McDonald, who was working for the New York Clipper. McDonald was "a tall, rather slender young man who had seen much active ball playing in St. Louis late in the sixties, when he was manager of the Imperials, an amateur club whose players (with one or two exceptions) lived on or near Easton avenue between Twenty-fourth street and Grand avenue." Kelsoe, in a fascinating digression, tells about his days playing baseball for the Old Capitals of Vandalia and a trip they made to St. Louis to play the Imperials and the Empires.

Kelsoe writes that "(the) Imperials played in the first ballgame I ever attended (either as spectator or player) in St. Louis. The match, as such games were then called, took place August 18, 1869, at the Grand avenue park (now the home of the St. Louis Browns and Cardinals), their opponents being the "Old Capitals," of Vandalia, Ill., the capital of that state back in the twenties and thirties. (A few years later the Old Capitals won the baseball championship of Southern Illinois.) McDonald's club had played a short time before in Vandalia (my home town then) and Greenville (my home town earlier in my life) and this was one of the return games. The Old Capitals were the victors here, as at home, but the next day we were soundly trounced by the Empires, the champions of Missouri, on the same grounds...Not long ago (December 16, 1921) I received a visit from (a former Old Capital teammate) and during the conversation the two St. Louis games here mentioned were recalled and our defeat the second day attributed to our poor playing condition after a night of conviviality in a big city, particularly the illness of our man on second base (my regular position later, but in the St. Louis games I covered third)."

During his friend's visit in 1921, Kelsoe "made a search for a little memorandum book in which, on the day of the game in Vandalia, July 20, 1869, I had written the names and addresses of the visiting Imperials, but...I failed to find it. Later the little book turned up and knowing my liability to mislay things, I have copied off the list (including the names of the substitutes and manager) for (this book): 'Phil. McDonald, corner of Twenty-sixth and Mills streets; Ben. Bonner, 2618 Franklin avenue; Joe. Dubuque, Sixth street and Franklin avenue; --Granger ,Grand and Easton avenues; --Kenefick, Mills and Twenty-sixth streets; Fred. Skeele, Twenty-fourth and Morgan streets; -- Easton, Alby and Easton avenues; --Eaton, Bell street and Grand avenue; Jake Corbett, 2822 Easton avenue; --Mathews, Cass and Grand avenues; -- Gannett (or Garnett), East St. Louis; --Fitzgibbon, 2822 Easton avenue.'"

David Reid

In a post about George Munson, I mentioned the death of David Reid, a prominent 19th century sportswriter. Al Spinks wrote that there "were few newspaper men, if any, who were more prominently and actively identified with the National Game from the inception of professionalism up to his retirement..."

At Baseball Fever, Bill Burgess has a great thread about baseball writers. One of the more than three hundred writers that Bill chronicles is David Reid. Bill dug up Reid's obituary in The St. Louis Republican and posted it in his thread. The obituary was published in the May 3, 1885 issue of the Republican and I'm presenting it in full below.


Dave Reid Dead; Sudden demise of a Well-Known Sporting Editor.

David Lytton Reid, one of the best known sporting writers and base ball enthusiasts, died at the residence of his friend and chum, George Munson, 1321 Pine street, very unexpectedly last evening at 9:40. His death was a very unexpected after a very brief illness. Late Friday afternoon, while at Grand and Easton avenue, he was suddenly taken with a congestion chill, resulting in severe cramping of the stomach and the pain became violent after he arrived at Mr. Munson's room on Pine street. He laid down on the lounge for a while and his wants were administered to by Mrs. Brothers, who at his suggestion called in Dr. Rutledge and after a short while relief was afforded and he passed an easy night, relieving to a great extent the anxiety and fears which the symptoms first aroused. In the morning he woke up early about 6 o'clock, and seemed greatly refreshed over his night's rest. He spoke cheerfully of his condition, and in response to inquiries stated that he was very greatly relieved. During the day, however, he became worse, and toward evening the hand of death became visible over his cold body. Surrounded by a large number of friends, he quietly passed away at 9:10 P. M., being conscious to the last. His death will be a severe blow to his legion of friends throughout the country, his many excellent qualities of heart and mind endearing him to all with whom he came in contact. He was best known by his remarkable knowledge of national game affairs, his writings on base ball having been recognized everywhere as authoritative and thoroughly reliable. Dave Reid was a name familiar to all baseball men, managers, players, and all those associated with the national game, and his untimely death will be all the more mourned, because of the loss of one whose versatile talents and fine abilities as a writer and grand characteristics as a man made him a prominent figure in the everyday walks of life. He was born in Nashville, Tenn., nearly thirty-seven years ago. His parents soon removed to New York city, where he was reared and received his education. He began life in the dry goods business, but his remarkable natural bent for newspaper work soon found cultivation in the large range of the metropolitan press. He wrote largely for the New York Clipper, Herald, Sunday Dispatch, New York Times, Sunday Mercury and other noted New York papers. Early in the seventies he moved to Philadelphia and became one of the managing editors of the Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch, devoting the greater portion of his time and talents to the base ball department, which was recognized as the leading authority on the national game, and established for the paper a grand reputation.

He was secretary of the Athletic club of Philadelphia in its palmiest days - 1872-73. He came to St. Louis, about ten years ago. He was the official scorer of the original Brown stockings club, and for several years did most of the base ball writing for the St. Louis Times. During the base ball season of 1883, and for some years afterwards he was sporting editor of the Republic and afterwards held the same position on the Post-Dispatch and at the time of his death was running the baseball department of that paper. He has also done a great deal of work for the Critic, Sunday Sayings and other weekly local papers. He was also for more than a year amusement editor of the Post-Dispatch. He was unmarried, but leaves a mother and two brothers in New York city.

Jack Brennan Was A Piece Of Work

It seems that Jack Brennan had a nose for trouble. Just a few months after getting out of jail in St. Louis, Brennan returned to the city and had a sordid tale to tell in the December 4, 1886 issue of The Sporting News.

"Jack Brennan, the catcher for the old St. Louis Union team, has just returned from Little Rock. He tells quite a story of how a gambler down here gave him $50 to throw a game. As soon as Jack had the money in hand, he told the manager of the Little Rocks about the offered bribe, and then went in and instead of helping to throw the game, he helped win it. And he was able to do that, because he was catching. The Madisons, of Edwardsville, were playing in Little Rock at the time. After the disposal of three games they were about to leave town for St. Louis, when a man named Rich approached the manager of the Madisons and asked if he would stay over and play a fourth game. The manager asked what there was in it. Rich replied that he had bet the Little Rock Club $500 that the Madisons could beat them and he had put up a $200 forfeit. The manager replied: 'I will play if we get half of the gate receipts.' After talking the matter over with the manager of the Little Rock Club it was decided to give the Madisons half of the gate receipts in order to keep them over to play for the $500 bet.

"The same night a certain person approached Rich, saying: 'Why don't you get somebody to sell the game?'

"Rich replied: 'Who can I get?'

"The other person (who, by the way, pretends to be an honest player) said: 'Why not get Jack Brennan? If you get him to sell the game, we will have them, for he is the 'kingpin' of the team.'

"After some further conversation, it was agreed to get Brennan to sell the game that night. While Brennan was passing the Capital Hotel he was approached by Rich, who asked Brennan to take a buggy ride with him. After riding around awhile and taking a few drinks, Rich said: 'Jack, how would you like to make fifty dollars?'

"'That would hit me were I live,' said Brennan, 'but how am I to make it?'

"'I can put you on to a scheme that will work to perfection,' said Rich, at the same time giving Brennan a poke in the ribs.

"'Well, spit it out,' said Jack.

"'Well,' said Rich, 'if you will throw this game for me to-morrow, I will give you fifty dollars.'

"Brennan said: 'All right; give me the fifty.'

"Rich replied: 'I have not got it just now, but if you will meet me at the Capitol Hotel in about five minutes, you can have it.'

"Brennan went around to the hotel and there met Zlick Alexander, the assistant manager, and Douthett, the centre fielder of the Little Rock Club.

"After standing there about three minutes, who should come out of the door of the hotel but Rich, who called Brennan to him, and walking along side of him said, 'Here is your money,' and slipping it into Brennan's hand, walked away. After Rich had gone, Brennan went up to Alexander and Douthett and said: 'Let's take a walk in the park. I want to tell you something.'

"When in the park they seated themselves, and Brennan said: 'Zlick, a man approached me and asked me to sell to-morrow's game and gave me fifty dollars to signify that he meant business.'

"'Well, are you going to sell the game?' asked Douthett.

"'No, you fool; what do you take me for? I'm no chump,' said Brennan. 'I only want to show the sucker how easily he can be bled.'

"The next day, as already stated, Brennan went in and played like a good fellow, his side winning the game easily. Of course the gambler was enraged and threatened to shoot Brennan, but that was all. The fifty dollars was turned over to the Little Rock management, who in turn gave it to one of the local charitable institutions."


I have to give a big hat tip to Jason Christopherson, who sent me a bunch of information on Brennan, including the above piece.

W.A. Kelsoe

There's a large section of The National Game devoted to profiles of baseball writers. Al Spink, a baseball writer and newspaper man himself, believed that these men played a prominent role in building up the game and making it the national pastime. He believed that their role in the history of the game deserved to be chronicled. One of the baseball writers that he profiled was W.A. Kelsoe, author of my new favorite book, A Newspaper Man's Motion-Picture Of The City When We Got Our First Bridge, And Of Many Later Happenings of Local Note.

Spink wrote that "(one) of the first of St. Louis baseball writers was William A. Kelsoe, now a member of the editorial staff of the Post-Dispatch. Mr. Kelsoe was one of the men who reported the famous game between the St. Louis Browns and the Syracuse Stars on May 1, 1877. In those days the local newspapers placed an embargo on baseball news. And the man who wrote that sort of thing did it through sheer love of the game and then had to beg his way into print. 'Bill' Kelsoe, as we called him in the long ago, was one of the men who wrote the game because he loved it. He was the city editor of the Republic in the early eighties and I was a cub reporter on that newspaper then. It was my ambition in those days to write of the baseball games and to smuggle as much of the stuff into the newspaper as possible. In my essays in this direction I always found a true friend in 'Old Bill.' He passed my copy early and often, and was so kind and good always that I learned to love him as did the other reporters who followed me. To-day 'Old Bill' often goes to the ball games and of the little army of newspaper men that follow the game there are none so universally beloved, so well honored and respected or so well thought of as he."

The 1877 game between the Brown Stockings and Syracuse that Spink mentions was a fifteen inning, 0-0 game that was called on account of darkness. Kelsoe entitled his piece about the game in A Newspaper Man's Motion-Picture Of The City "The Greatest Of St. Louis Ball Games". I can't remember if I've posted anything about this game or not. I'll have to check. Regardless, I may post some of Kelsoe's recollections about that game this weekend.

Update: It looks like I did post something about the game here. It's getting harder and harder to remember what I've covered and what I haven't. Premature senility, I guess.

General Sherman Visits The Ballpark

W.A. Kelsoe, in A Newspaper Man's Motion-Picture Of The City, describes the second Brown Stockings-White Stockings game:

"The second game between the Chicago Whites and the St. Louis Browns, played here Saturday, May 8 (1875), resulted in another victory for the home club, but this time St. Louis made only four runs and Chicago scored three, all in the last inning. The crowd was even larger than at the first game, being estimated at over 8,000 people. One of the spectators was General Sherman, who viewed the game from a seat with the reporters in the press stand. He seemed to enjoy the game fully as much as he did the trotting when with General Grant at the 'Big Thursday' races of the St. Louis Fair a few months before, in October, 1874. The headquarters of the United States Army were still in St. Louis, southwest corner of Tenth and Locust streets. It was a splendid game throughout, 'the best ballplaying ever seen west of the Mississippi,' said City Editor Stevens in one of his headlines for my report of the contest. Ed. Cuthbert, noted as an outfielder, caught three flies in this game and ended the eighth inning with a foul-bound catch, fouls taken on the first bound then counting as outs. Chicago had now had seventeen innings in succession (counting those of the first game) without making a single run. Then came the last inning of the second game, when Bradley, the St. Louis pitcher in both games, was batted for three safe hits, as many as Chicago had made in the other eight innings, and three runs resulted, every one of them earned. The umpire was James Baron, shortstop of the old Missouri champion Empires."

Sherman, who had been appointed Commanding General of the United States Army by President Grant, had moved his headquarters to St. Louis in order to escape the political infighting of Washington D.C. Prior to the Civil War, Sherman had lived in St. Louis and served as president of the Fifth Street Railroad. Interestingly, Sherman writes in his memoirs "that Mr. Lucas...held a controlling intrest of stock" in the railroad and was one of the people who wanted to hire him for the job. Lucas was most likely J.B.C. Lucas, one of the richest men in St. Louis and president of the Brown Stockings. Sherman, who died in 1891, is buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.

The "St. Louis Fair" that Kelsoe mentions is, of course, not the World's Fair that was held in 1904 but rather an event that was held annually in the city. In 1856, a group called the St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association purchased a site of 50 acres north of the city on Grand Avenue and set up the Fairgrounds, which included what was at the time the largest amphitheater in the United States, a mechanical hall, a agricultural hall, a floral hall, a Gothic fine arts hall, a three stories high "Chicken Palace" for displaying poultry, a race track, and a grandstands. According to the Fairground Park website, "(the) fair was an immediate success and soon became noted all over the country. It was, in reality, a gigantic country fair. There were booths for vending wine, beer, and other delicacies. There were displays of livestock, poultry, vegetables, grains, and the latest inventions in farm machinery, tools, household gadgets, etc." In 1860, the first baseball game ever held in St. Louis took place on the Fairgrounds.

I think that Sherman's presence at the game shows the significance of the Brown Stockings' May 6th victory over Chicago. The hoopla that followed that game brought out not only a larger crowd, as noted by Kelsoe, but also one of the city's most prominent citizens.

"Chicago Is Sorry She Was Ever Rebuilt"

If I could choose one game in the history of baseball to attend, I would without hesitation choose the May 6, 1875 game between the St. Louis Brown Stockings and the Chicago White Stockings at the Grand Avenue Ballpark. While the game itself was not a great one, its significance was enormous.

Since its inception, the Chicago club had been coming down to St. Louis and having its way with the best teams the city had to offer. This was extraordinarily galling to the people of St. Louis for several reasons. First, they were proud of their baseball teams, players, and tradition and were not pleased to have outsiders come in and trounce their favorites. Second, and more importantly, the rivalry between St. Louis and Chicago was alive and very real by this time. The two cities were in a fight for the economic dominance of what would come to be called the Midwest. Both cities were experiencing tremendous growth in population and economic development and were, by 1870, the fourth (St. Louis) and fifth (Chicago) largest cities in the United States. This rivalry with Chicago, both on the baseball diamond and in general, was the major impetus for the creation of St. Louis professional teams that would compete in the NA for the championship.

In A Newspaper Man's Motion-Picture of the City, W. A. Kelsoe has a nice account of the first meeting between the new St. Louis professional club and the hated White Stockings which is reproduced in full below.

DEDICATION OF SPORTSMAN'S PARK TO PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL

Under an announcement, May 6, that the Chicago Baseball Club would arrive in St. Louis from Keokuk at 8:30 that morning, the Times printed this item under the headline "Spicy Correspondence":

"A telegram was received from Chicago as follows: 'To W. C. Steigers, Times Office, St. Louis, Mo.-I am authorized to ask of you if the St. Louis club will bet $1,000 against the Chicago club on the result of the coming match. Money up. Answer. (signed), Ralph A. Ladd, Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago.' Mr. Steigers, vice-president and acting president of the St. Louis club, promptly replied: 'St. Louis, May 5. To Ralph A. Ladd, Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago. The St. Louis club will not gamble. I think individuals here will accommodate you in any amount from one to ten thousand dollars. (signed), W. C. Steigers.'"

The morning these telegrams were published (May 6) the famous Chicago White Stockings arrived in St. Louis and that afternoon the city's second professional baseball game was played, the first one for St. Louis in which another city was represented. It was the dedication of Grand Avenue Park, now called Sportsman's Park, to professional baseball. The contest ended in a victory for the Browns by the score of 10 to 0. Adam Wirth, a member of the St. Louis Fire Department and a member also of our crack amateur ball club, the Empires, umpired that historic game. It was a one-sided game and Adam had no close plays to decide. George Washington Bradley held the visitors to four hits, all of them singles, and only three Chicago men were left on base. St. Louis made 13 hits, with a total of twenty bases, and seven men were left on base. "The crowd was simply enormous," said the St. Louis Times next morning, and a little further on the paper continued: "A rope had to be extended across a portion of the right field (then on the northside of the park) to give relief to those who were packed like sardines in a box against the fence between the field and the seats (bleachers).

* * * A comical sight was when the occupants of the eastern tiers rose en masse to stretch, the effect being indescribably ludicrous * * *

When the surprise was over and the fact that the Whites had drawn a nest of goose-eggs was realized, the entire assemblage in the seats arose and shouted until they were hoarse. They danced and sang and threw their hats in the air. They kissed, wept and laughed over each other, embraced, shook hands, slapped each other's backs and ran to and fro like mad men. " When the Boston champions were here a little later another such scene occurred, but it hardly equalled this one as seen from the press seats. All the St. Louis papers made a big ado over our victory. The Globe's report (written by Wm. M. Spink), had a long head topped with the one word "Chicagoed," which was explained in the introduction in this way: "In 1870 when the Mutuals (of New York) defeated the Chicagos by the score of 10 to 0, the baseball term 'skunked' was changed to the less vulgar and equally suggestive expression 'Chicagoed,' which the Whites (Chicagos) now, more than ever, are fairly entitled to." How the Chicago papers took the defeat of the Whites in St. Louis may be inferred from one (the third) of ten "lines" in the head of the Chicago Tribune's report of the game: "The fate of the two cities decided by eighteen hired men. St. Louis no longer wants to be the national capital and Chicago is sorry she was ever rebuilt."

Kelsoe was not exaggerating about the reaction of the crowd to the victory. Other sources tell of the people streaming out of the ballpark and parading jubilantly through the streets of the city with the crowd growing and growing as news of the victory spread. The celebration lasted throughout the night, the next day, and carried over into the second game between the Brown Stockings and White Stockings on May 8th. When the home team won that game 4-3, the celebration again went well into the night.

With the victory on May 6th, coupled with that of May 8th, the baseball honor of St. Louis was restored, a blow was struck in the rivalry with Chicago, and professional baseball was established in the city on a firm foundation of popular support.

So Run, That Ye May Obtain

"When I played ball I could outrun any man in the National League," (Billy Sunday) said. "Arlie Latham could do the same in the American League, so we fixed it up to have a race one Sunday afternoon. But in the meantime I got converted. I went to Cap Anson and said : "Cap, I can't do it. I'm converted and I can't run that race on Sunday." Cap said to me, "Bill, don't show the white feather. We've got $12,000 bet on you and all the boys have bet their last cent on you. If you don't win that race they'll have to eat snowballs next winter. You go down to St. Louis and run that race and fix it up with God afterwards."

"Well, I ran the race and I beat Latham by 15 feet and came home with my pockets full of money. I then went before the presbytery and told 'em all and stuck to the church, and after eight years they ordained me as a minister. And then the other day Westminster gave me an honorary "D. D." Say, that's going some for an old sport that's never seen the inside of a college, isn't it?"

-From The Spectacular Career of Rev. Billy Sunday by Theodore Frankenberg

Bill James, in The Historical Baseball Abstract, has a nice account of the big race, which took place in August of 1885. James wrote that "(Latham) had a famous foot race with Billy Sunday, the fastest man on the Chicago White Stockings. The Browns players bet on Latham; the White Stockings, on Sunday. Sunday beat him easily, ran away from him. Latham was maybe the fastest man in the American Association, but Sunday, as it turned out, was way faster."

A Newspaper Man's Motion-Picture Of The City

I recently found a great book, written by W.A. Kelsoe, with the unwieldy title of A Newspaper Man's Motion-Picture Of The City When We Got Our First Bridge, And Many Later Happenings Of Note. Kelsoe, who worked as a newspaper man in St. Louis from the mid 1870's until July of 1919, wrote in the introduction that the book was "a record of the local news in St. Louis..." covering "the twelve months ending June 31, 1875." While Kelsoe used contemporary newspaper accounts from the period, including those from the Times, the Globe, the Democrat, the Globe-Democrat and the Republican, he also certainly based much of the book, which was published in 1927, on his own personal recollections and those of his friends.

The best thing about this book, from my point of view, is that during 1874 and 1875, Kelsoe was covering baseball for the St. Louis Times and he has quite a bit to say about baseball during this period. Besides being a sportswriter, Kelsoe also happened to have been a baseball player, having played with the Old Capitols of Vandalia in the late 1860's when they visited St. Louis to play the Empire Club and the Imperial Club.

While it's definitely a gold mine of information, the book presents some difficulty. Kelsoe was writing the book in 1920's and his memory was faulty in many instances of fact. It's difficult to tell sometimes when Kelsoe was using a contemporary source or was writing from memory. There are enough minor errors in the book to make one question the entirety of the work and there are just enough whoppers (such as Kelsoe's claim that the Union defeated the Nationals of Washington) to make one wonder if Kelsoe was senile when he wrote the book.

One example of the difficulty I have with the book is the report of a game on July 29, 1874 between the Reds and the Atlantics. According to Kelsoe, "the St. Louis Red Stockings were defeated on their grounds, the Compton Avenue Ball Park, by the Atlantics of Brooklyn, one of the best baseball clubs in the country. This Compton avenue park could be reached by trains on the Missouri Pacific railroad, but it was seldom the attendance was sufficient to justify the running of such accommodation trains. Manager Thomas McNeary's club, as the Reds were called, was a member of the National Baseball Players Association the next year (1875), the year 'our original Browns' were organized, when St. Louis was represented in the National organization by two clubs."

I find that paragraph significant for several reasons. First, due to my 21st century point of view and my personal experience with trains and railroad tracks in St. Louis, I never considered the fact that the Missouri Pacific yards at Compton Avenue could be used to bring people to the game. Trains are used to haul freight not people. Kelsoe has caused me to adjust my view of what a game at Compton Park would be like. Second, he writes that "seldom the attendance was sufficient to justify the running of such accommodation trains." This also gives me a great deal of information. It tells me that sometimes special trains were run to Compton Park for games and also that the Reds' attendance, in general, wasn't that great (which is supported by most contemporary sources that have their attendance on average at around 500-1000 people). Also, it's interesting that Kelsoe claims that the Reds were referred to by the name of their manager, Thomas McNeary. There are several references in the book to "the McNeary's" or "the McNeary Reds". I had never seen that before.

But the problem is that the Reds most likely never played the Atlantics of Brooklyn on July 29, 1874. I can find no supporting evidence anywhere that the Atlantics were in St. Louis in 1874. On July 15th, they played a game in New York against the Mutuals. On July 22nd, the Brooklyn Eagle reports that the Atlantics are in Canada. During the first week of August, they played the Dayton Club in Ohio. So while the Atlantics were certainly on a road trip in the second half of July of 1874, I can't find any source that supports Kelsoe's claim that they came to St. Louis and played the Reds. It's possible that the Reds played a team called the Atlantics that day and Kelsoe, writing fifty years after the fact, assumed it was the Atlantics of Brooklyn.

Also, Kelsoe writes that the Reds were a member of "the National Baseball Players Association" in 1875 when he meant the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. That may seem nit picky but the book is full of small errors like that where Kelsoe misidentifies a league or a team. As a reader, you know what he means and adjust mentally but it still makes you scratch your head.

All in all, A Newspaper Man's Motion-Picture of the City is a great book and worth reading if you're interested in the history of 19th century St. Louis. As a baseball researcher, I find the book to be both a treasure trove of information and a source of extraordinary frustration.

A Newspaper Man's Motion-Picture Of The City When We Got Our First Bridge, And Many Later Happenings Of Note can be found online here.

"A Character All Its Own"

There's a fantastic article written by James Parton in the June 1867 issue of The Atlantic Monthly entitled The City Of St. Louis, telling of a trip the author made to St. Louis in that year. The author manages to be both amazingly condescending to the people of the city while at the same time being highly impressed with all that he saw. He went so far as to proclaim that St. Louis would one day be the capitol of the United States.

Parton states that "(St. Louis) has a character all its own, to which many elements have contributed, and which many influences have modified. The ball-clubs, playing in the fields on Sunday afternoons, the billiard rooms open on Sunday, the great number of assemblies, balls and parties, the existence of five elegant and expensively sustained theatres in a town of two hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, the closing of all the stores by sunset in winter, and before sunset in summer, and an indefinable something in the tone and air of the people, notify the stranger that he is in a place which was not the work exclusively of the Puritan, nor even of the Protestant." So I guess you can blame Sunday baseball on all of us evil, lazy Papists here in St. Louis where, the author writes disdainfully, "the civilization is...essentially Catholic."

Parton goes on to write about the influence of African-Americans on St. Louis. "As the chief city of a State that shared, and deliberately chose to share, the curse of slavery, it has much of the languor and carelessness induced by the habit of being served by slaves. The negro, too, has imparted, his accent to the tongue of the city..." Obviously suffering under the sinister influence of the Catholics of the city, even "the imitative negroes turn out on Sundays and play matches of base-ball in costume." Parton's article is the earliest reference that I've found so far of African-Americans playing baseball in St. Louis.

Note: The above picture of the St. Louis riverfront was taken from the cupola of the Old Courthouse sometime in the 1870's. The steeple of the Basilica of St. Louis, King (also known as the Old Cathedral) is visible in the picture.

Dunlap's End

On May 15, 1890, Fred Dunlap was released by Pittsburgh. A series of leg injuries had limited Dunlap to a total of 147 games in 1887 and 1888 and had essentially ended his usefulness as a baseball player by the time he was thirty years old. In his last full season in the major leagues in 1889, Dunlap hit a mere .235 with an OPS+ of only 74.

After his release, Dunlap joined a very good New York Giants Players League team for one game. It's ironic that at the end of his career Dunlap finally fulfilled his desire to play in New York and was able to do so in a league that was created by a labor movement that he had helped facilitate. The following year, his playing days came to an end after he managed to play in only eight games for the Washington Nationals of the AA.

Dunlap, who was known to be thrifty, had made a lot of money while playing baseball and "being of an economical turn he put away a great deal of this sum." The Brooklyn Eagle, in an 1895 article, wrote that "his savings was turned into real estate and out of these investments he has grown comparatively rich." When Al Spink ran into Dunlap in 1901, the former second baseman told him that he had saved most of his money and invested it in Philadelphia real estate. He also claimed to have $100,000 in the bank.

The last year of Dunlap's life was a difficult one. Although the circumstances are unclear, sometime in 1902 Dunlap lost his savings and investments and fell on hard times. Financially ruined, he was described in his final year of life as living as "a pauper". While no one seems to know what happened to Dunlap's money, it's probably safe to assume that he lost his investments in the economic instability of the era rather than through dissipation.

Fred Dunlap died on December 1, 1902 at the age of 43 of a "tubercular distended rectum". At the time he was living in what is variously described as an alms house or a seedy rooming house. His body lay unidentified in a Philadelphia morgue for some time until it was finally identified by a former teammate. Since Dunlap had died destitute, he was to have been buried in a potter's field until a local sportswriter arranged for him to have a proper funeral. According to Spink, "(his) funeral...was ignored by the professional players of the Quaker City with whom he was never a favorite." The sportswriter who had arranged Dunlap's funeral later told Spink that "(there) was not enough friends of Dunlap at his funeral to bury him and we had to call on the hack drivers to make up the list of active pall-bearers."

The Sad, Lonely Life Of Fred Dunlap

Fred Dunlap was born in Philadelphia on May 21, 1859. It was in Philadelphia that Dunlap learned to play baseball and was discovered by the Cleveland League team.

Orphaned sometime before his tenth birthday, Dunlap never attended school, could neither read nor write, "and the people that he lived with cared little were he went." Al Spink wrote in The National Game that "when he was not 'at home' eating his meals he was out...hitting fungoes, catching the ball, throwing it...the lad learned nothing but ball-playing, it was his only source of delight."

I find Spink's choice of words rather sad. Dunlap didn't have family. He had "the people that he lived with". Home was only a place to eat meals and sleep. Dunlap, who never married, lived his entire life alone, with no family and few friends.

Without trying to psychoanalyze him, it seems that much of Dunlap's behavior can be explained by this upbringing. The fights, the interpersonal difficulties, the moving from team to team, the preoccupation with money, the "me first" attitude-all of this can be seen as the behavior of a man who never learned to trust people. It doesn't take Freud to see a person in Dunlap who lost his parents at a young age and never was able to form strong bonds with people ever again.

Dunlap tried to replace personal relationships with money in an attempt to find the security that he lost when he was a boy. Ironically, Dunlap lost his fortune around the turn of the century and died broke and alone.

Report Of The Baseball Game

Hoosier Lyrics is a book of poetry by Eugene Field, who was born in St. Louis in 1850. While Field was raised in Massachusetts and lived in various places throughout his life, he returned to St. Louis as an adult and worked for several local newspapers from 1876 to 1880. Hoosier Lyrics contains three poems that have baseball as its subject and, in my opinion, the best is Report of the Baseball Game, a humorous account of an 1886 World Series game between the St. Louis Browns and the Chicago White Stockings. The fact that Field lived in Chicago from 1883 until his death in 1895 gives the poem an interesting perspective. I post it here for your pleasure.

REPORT OF THE BASEBALL GAME.

It was a very pleasant game,

And there was naught of grumbling

Until the baleful tidings came

That Williamson was "fumbling."

Then all at once a hideous gloom

Fell o'er all manly features,

And Clayton's cozy, quiet room

Was full of frantic creatures.

"Click, click," the tiny ticker went,

The tape began to rattle,

And pallid, eager faces bent

To read the news from battle;

Down, down, ten million feet or more,

Chicago's hope went tumbling,

When came the word that Burns and Gore

And Pfeffer, too, were "fumbling."

No diagram was needed then

To point the Browns to glory-

The simple fact that these four men

Were "fumbling" told the story.

There is not a club in all the land-

No odds how weak or humble-

That beats us when our short-stop and

Our second baseman "fumble."

There was some talk of hippodrome

'Mid frequent calls for liquor,

Then each Chicago man went home

Much wiser, poorer, sicker;

And many a giant intellect

Seemed slowly, surely crumbling

Beneath the dolorous effect

Of that St. Louis "fumbling."

Ah, well, the struggle's but just begun,

So what is the use of fretting

If by a little harmless fun

Our boys can bull the betting?

When comes the tug of war there'll be

No accidental stumbling,

And then, you bet your boots, you'll see

No mention made of "fumbling."

And He Was A Tough Guy Too

When Fred Dunlap was the captain of the Maroons, he had a problem with one of his players who, according to Al Spink, had "abused (Dunlap's) captaincy and threatened to beat him to death." Reaching a gentleman's agreement, Dunlap and the player decided to settle the dispute in a fight were blows to the face would be illegal because "(such) disfigurement would result in their being unable to appear in the next days game and render service to their club." They "(repaired) to a room accompanied by a friend each,...(stripped) to the waist and (fought) it out...The fight was a terrific one, but ended in a few minutes, Dunlap giving his opponent the worst beating a man ever received."

Dunlap was also involved in a fight with Curt Welch, "the toughest man on the St. Louis Browns". Dunlap "sent him back (to the Browns)...crushed and badly beaten." It's unclear whether this fight was a personal matter between the two men or simply a sporting contest between two tough guys.

Spink went on to write that "this great strength" that Dunlap displayed in fighting made him a "great batsman".

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.

Fred Dunlap And 1884

Any discussion of Fred Dunlap must at some point address his 1884 season with the St. Louis Maroons. It was, without a doubt, a brilliant season and one of the most dominant seasons any player has ever had. The problem is, of course, that this season took place in the Union Association.

In 1884, Dunlap, according to Baseball Reference, hit .412 with an on base percentage of .448, a slugging percentage of .621, and an OPS+ of 258. He had 185 hits and scored 160 runs (setting a new major league record). He also had 39 doubles, 8 triples, and 13 home runs. He lead the UA in hitting, on base percentage, slugging percentage, runs, hits, total bases, home runs, OPS, OPS+, runs created, and extra base hits. He was also second in doubles and fourth in triples. All of this while being the best defensive player in the league and the captain of the team that won the league by twenty one games.

Dunlap lead the UA in hitting by 52 points. He lead in on base percentage by 51 points. He lead in slugging percentage by 120 points. He scored 30 more runs than anybody else in the league. Dunlap was far and away the best player in the Union Association in 1884.

At Alex Reisner.com, Dunlap's 1884 season is shown to be the most dominate season any player has ever had. No baseball player has ever risen so far above the mean as Dunlap did in 1884. I would argue that no professional athlete has ever dominated a league the way that Dunlap did in 1884.

But...

The UA wasn't much of a league and Bill James, in the Historical Baseball Abstract, has constructed a powerful argument that it shouldn't even be considered a major league. I have no reason not to accept James' argument and conclusions about the UA. It was a crappy little league with only one decent team and maybe a dozen players that could be considered of major league quality.

But Fred Dunlap dominated that league. He dominated the UA in a way that no other baseball player has ever dominated a baseball league. He wasn't just the best player in the league-he was far and away the best player in the league. He was the best hitter in the league. He was the best second baseman in the league. He was the best defensive player in the league. He captained the best team. He was essentially a man among boys.

It would be one thing if Dunlap had joined the Maroons in 1884 and just had a career year. You could look at it and say "Oh, that's a nice little year but it came in that crap little league that only lasted one year." But that's not what this season was. Dunlap's 1884 season is a great player dominating lesser competition. His season says as much about Dunlap as a player as it does about the UA as a league.

I think that's what needs to be stressed. Dunlap's 1884 season was a direct result of his talent. Yes, the numbers themselves are inflated by the quality of the league and Dunlap would never have been able to rise so far above the mean if he was playing in a better league but no other player in the UA did what Dunlap did in 1884. No other player in any league at any time was been able to do what Dunlap did in 1884. And while some may want to dismiss the UA, they shouldn't be allowed to dismiss what Dunlap accomplished.

How many players were capable of doing what Dunlap did? How many players could have dominated a league, any league, offensively and defensively? Fred Dunlap did that in 1884 and, regardless of circumstances, that should be respected.

Fred Dunlap's Defense

Fred Dunlap was considered, according to David Nemec, the best defensive second baseman of his time. He has been described as a "slick fielding" defender who had "great range". Through 2006, Dunlap was fifth among second basemen in career putouts, fourth in assists, fifth in total chances, and seventh in double plays. He once turned five double plays in one game.

Al Spink wrote that "Dunlap was the right size for a second baseman, being just a little above the medium height, and he was built so close to the ground that it was an easy task for him to get down quick and handle the meanest hit grounder or the poorest throw." While he had small hands and played in an era before gloves, Dunlap "could handle any sort of throw or hit." He was also ambidextrous and "could run and catch a badly thrown ball with his left as with his right hand."

Spink also wrote that Dunlap's arm was even better than his hands. "His aim was as accurate as the best rifle shot. And as he was accurate, so was he speedy as lightning." Dunlap earned the nickname "Sure Shot Fred" for his accurate throws.

"Dunlap swung the ball," wrote Spink in The National Game, "rather than threw it. This single motion game him a marked advantage...And there was no limit to the length of his low throws. He would run far out on the field after a fly ball and...shoot it home to head off the runner for the plate and with such fearful speed and accuracy that the ball seemed to sing as it flew."

Fred Dunlap And The Conventional Wisdom

The conventional wisdom regarding the best second basemen of the 19th century usually has Fred Dunlap well back of such players as Bid McPhee, Cupid Childs, Ross Barnes, and Hardy Richardson. While I'm not one to play "who's better than who" and I don't keep a list of my top 1000 players at each position, I will say that the idea that Hardy Richardson was better than Dunlap flies in the face of some basic evidence such as the fact that when the two men were on the same team, Dunlap was the starting second baseman. As to the others, I honestly couldn't tell you if they were better than Dunlap. But there are plenty of people who saw all these guys play and many of them believe that Dunlap was the best second baseman of his generation.

Al Spink called Dunlap "far and away the greatest second baseman that ever lived" and said that "of the great players of the olden times Fred Dunlap was considered by many the greatest." "(None of his contemporaries) could begin to compare with Dunlap in all around work or in covering the bag," he wrote in The National Game.

And Spink is not a lone voice in the wilderness. Stanley Robinson called Dunlap the greatest second baseman of his time and "perhaps the greatest player that ever lived." James Spaulding called Dunlap "the greatest second baseman who ever lived." Al Bauer, in 1886, called Dunlap "the best baseball player on the diamond." The Sporting News, at the same time, called Dunlap "the king pin of second basemen and the greatest fielder in America."

But Bill James doesn't think much of Dunlap as a player. He sees Dunlap's great 1884 season as illegitimate and goes so far as to say that Dunlap was "never a legitimate star" or that he was only a "minor star". The influence of James is wide and deep and, for those who know little or nothing about Dunlap and 19th century baseball, his word is the gospel truth. The Wikipedia article on Dunlap is an example of this. Just one paragraph long, the only reference that it sites is The Historical Baseball Abstract. It's final sentence, parroting James, claims that Dunlap "was never a star player in a full major league."

The problem is that James' assertion and the conventional wisdom can not be reconciled with the opinions of people like Spinks, Robinson, Spaulding, and Bauer. It can't be reconciled with the fact that Dunlap went to Detroit and took the starting second baseman's job from Richardson (James' choice for the best second baseman of the 1880's). It can't be reconciled with the fact that Dunlap's injuries and contract squabbles were front page news in the New York Times. It can't be reconciled with the fact that Dunlap was considered the best defensive player in the game. It can't be reconciled with the fact that Dunlap was the highest paid player on two championship teams. It can't be reconciled with the fact that he dominated the UA in a way that no professional athlete has ever dominated a league.

Fred Dunlap was a legitimate star in a legitimate league prior to 1884 and he was a legitimate star in a legitimate league after 1884. In fact there were very few players who had as much of an impact on baseball in the 1880's as Dunlap did. It's a shame that James and others don't recognize that.

Fred Dunlap And Frank Grant

Frank Grant, an African-American baseball player in the 1880's, played with Meriden in the Eastern League, Harrisburg in the Atlantic League, and Buffalo in the International League among other teams. Lawrence Hogan, in Shades of Glory, wrote that "a sportswriter referred to (Grant) as the 'Black Dunlap', a very flattering comparison to Fred Dunlap...considered the best-fielding big-league second baseman of his day." In 2006, Frank Grant was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Without judging Grant's qualifications for the Hall of Fame, it must be considered the height of irony that the "Black Dunlap" is in the Hall but the actual Dunlap isn't.

Fred Dunlap Appreciation Week

I'm officially declaring November 4-10 Fred Dunlap appreciation week here at TGOG. I finished the research yesterday and I would have had the giant Dunlap piece written by now if I hadn't gone out last night and sampled numerous hop-flavored beverages.

To tide us over until I get the piece finished, I leave you with something Dunlap-related to think about. Bill James, in the Historical Baseball Abstract, called Dunlap a "minor star" and said that he was "never a legitimate star in a legitimate league..." Stanley Robinson said that "(Dunlap) was not only the greatest second baseman, but take him in all departments of the game, he was perhaps the greatest player that ever lived." So either Dunlap was never a star at all or he was the greatest player of all time. Or maybe the truth lies somewhere in between.

The Waltons

"The Walton nine held a meeting Wednesday evening, March 24, at Walton's express office, No. 212 North Sixth street every member being in attendance. Most of the players are old 'vets' in the business, and having played together for a long time they always play a good steady game of ball. Andy Kolley has covered first base for the past seven years. He played one season with Waite's Warriors. Genins is also an old timer and plays second base for all he is worth. He will be captain of the nine. Coffey is a regular veteran and one of the best fielders in the city. He will be placed in the left garden. Ehrhardt is a little daisy and has played with the Walton's for the last three years and will attend to all balls going in right field. Albrecht has played with several of the crack semi-professional clubs for several seasons past, and will cover third bag in his best style. Haber, the center fielder, is a lightening thrower and a good base runner. Reinagle, late of the Jacksonvilles and the St. Gotthardts, is to cover short and he knows how to do it right up to the handle. Healy, one of the speediest pitchers in town, will do the twirling. He has pitched several seasons, and is well known as one of the best amateur pitchers that ever occupied the box. Goodeli, late of the St. Gotthardts and Papins, will support Healy behind the bat in Bushong style. Dreckage the tenth man, late of Cincinnati, is a rattling all-around player, and will fill any gap that may occur at any time. This completes the nine, and they are ready for challenges."

-From The Sporting News, March 29, 1886

More On The Organization Of Amateur Clubs In 1886

"The amateur clubs of St. Louis will outdo themselves this year in the number and character of their players, clubs and leagues. The Amateur Park Association of clubs will, of course, be first in point of quality and general excellence. The League formed will be the first and only one ever formed in St. Louis on a solid basis. The players will all be required to sign regular contracts with the clubs they join, and should they break any of the rules they will be forever disbarred from taking part in a championship struggle, and also from playing in any St. Louis park: and, moreover, the members of all clubs belonging to the League will be prohibited from taking part in any game where any player under suspension from the League is engaged. This rule will have a tendency to make the sore-heads come to reasonable terms and will prevent all revolving from one club to the other as has been the case in the past, and always to the detriment of strictly amateur ball playing."

"The Business League profiting by past experience will no doubt make some iron-clad rules to prevent clubs from grabbing up such semi-professional players as may chance to be out of an engagement. In fact, all amateur organizations in St. Louis have made a careful study of the word amateur, and they intend to carry out the meaning to the letter. The right men are now at the helm, and, with proper encouragement, will bring out the latent qualities of who now are compelled to play second fiddle for the benefit of older players of reputation."

"The Amateur League will have the following clubs represented: Amateur Park Club, St. Gotthard's, Drummand's, Enterprise, St. Louis Amateur, West Ends, and Union Blues. This will make eight evenly matched teams, and the winners of the bunting will have many a hard fight before securing the trophy."

"The Business League will open the season with six clubs and will try and keep this number as they are anxious to finish the schedule, which would be impossible with more members. The clubs likely to be selected from the score of applicants are as follows: Crow, Hargadine & Co., Sam'l C. Davis & Co., St. Louis News Co., Wm. Barr Dry Goods Co., Rice, Stix, & Co., and Brown, Daughaday, & Co. This will insure good games, as all of the teams will be equal in playing strength, and the struggle for supremacy will be long and hard."

"In fact, from the present outlook, amateur base ball will be a feature in St. Louis this year, something it never has been before. The managers have the correct idea and have only to carry out the policy laid down at the recent meeting to meet with the success their efforts deserve."

-From The Sporting News, March 17, 1886

It's interesting to see the machinations of the smaller clubs in St. Louis as they organize for the season. Groups and leagues and associations are being formed as clubs compete for players, fans, money, and survival. These clubs are competing against not only each other but also the bigger clubs in St. Louis. In 1886, there was not only the Browns and the Maroons in St. Louis but also the Peach Pies, the Prickly Ash, and the Reds while just across the river were the Madisons of Edwardsville, the Alton Club, the Belliville Club, and the East St. Louis Club.

In the face of such competition, organization had to have been crucial for the clubs to survive. Reading between the lines of the above article and some of the other ones posted this week, it's clear that these clubs were in the habit of raiding each other for players. Revolving was obviously a major problem. Making and keeping a schedule also must have been difficult. Arranging games so that they were economically beneficial to both teams was also an issue.

The Sporting News, as an advocate of the game, was not only reporting on these undertakings but was actively encouraging them. They toted the beneficial nature of such organizations and chided the poor management that often stood in the way of achieving them.

One interesting note about the above article is the quote at the end about the status of amateur baseball in St. Louis. Al Spink, of all people, should have known better then to write something like that, given the tradition of 19th century amateur baseball in St. Louis. The "Golden Age" of St. Louis amateur baseball had certainly passed but it had passed only a scant eleven years previous to this article being written and certainly within the living memory of most of the readers of The Sporting News in 1886.

Trouble In Paradise

"There is talk of the amateur clubs of the city forming a combination for the purpose of establishing rates and guarantees in cases where they are asked to go out into the country and play the suburban clubs. It is believed that this is the only way to secure fair play at the hands of outside clubs. Heretofore the amateur teams have visited outside points on a guarantee barely sufficient to meet expenses. The majority of the suburban teams are composed largely of the best local players and could afford to give visiting teams a fair guarantee. Instead of doing this they only guarantee expenses and this leaves a big margin for themselves. They are thus enabled to engage all the good local players at a good salary, the latter naturally going with the team that makes the most money. As an example of this the Belliville Club last year engaged Peters, Oberbeck and a lot of other St. Louis players and paid them a good salary while the players of the teams visiting that point got nothing but their fare to Bellivelle and back. By combining it is believed this evil can be wiped out and St. Louis players who remain loyal to the local clubs will be enabled to earn as much money as those who play with the clubs in the adjacent towns."

-From The Sporting News, March 17, 1886

A Good Way To Spend An Evening

I just had an interesting evening. A friend of mine lives next door to the brother of Salty Parker. Parker was a baseball man who spent 58 years in the game as a player, coach, manager, scout, and instructor. In 1936, he got a cup of coffee with the Detroit Tigers.

His brother, who lives here in Granite City, has an autographed team ball from the San Francisco Giants, for whom Parker was the third base coach. Mays, McCovey, Marichal, Cepeda, et al. He wasn't sure exactly what year the ball was from and I helped identify it as a 1960 Giants team ball. It was pretty neat to hold that in my hand.

Parker, who devoted his whole life to baseball, is the kind of guy who helped make the game what it is. I've promised to put together a player profile on Salty Parker for his brother and when I finish it, I'm going to post it here. Although not 19th century related, I think it'll be a nice way to honor a baseball lifer.

The Southern Illinois League

From The Sporting News, March 17, 1886:

"Cairo, Ill., March 11.-Editor Sporting News:

The baseball season here will open up early in April. On April 26 there will be some eight thousand Odd Fellows in town. The Cairo manager will pay any two League or American Association Clubs a good big guarantee to come here and play on that day. As there will be any number of professional teams in the South at about this time, some of them will doubtless take up this offer. Duquoin wanted Cairo to join the contemplated Southern Illinois League, but the management here declined. Duquoin will have a good team this year, Moore of Cairo and other good players having gone there. Besides Duquoin the new association if formed will have Belleville, Nashville and East St. Louis in its ranks. The Paducah, Ky., Club which played such rattling games with Cairo a year ago, has gone under."

I'm still digging and trying to find out more information about the Southern Illinois League but I wanted to share this little article because it gives you a good sense of the state of baseball on the East Side and in Southern Illinois. It pretty much covers the major teams in the area except for Alton and Edwardsville and it's surprising that those two wouldn't be a part of an association of Southern Illinois clubs.