Adam Wirth Gets Some National Ink (Sort Of)

We present to our base ball readers in this week's issue, the third of our series of illustrations, and the second of the portraits of leading players of the country, the subject of our present sketch being Mr. Adam North, of the Empire Base Ball Club of St. Louis, Mo.

The furore for base ball which existed in the Middle States in 1860 to such an extent, reached as far West as St. Louis, and in that year it led to the organization of the Empire Club of that city-then, as now, the champion club of the Western States. The war, however, affected the Empire Club, as it did all base ball clubs, and for four years, play was, in a measure, suspended. In 1865, however, the activity and enterprise which marked the action of the Empire Club in 1860 were resumed, and by several finely-contested games with leading organizations of sister States and cities, the Empires fully established their claim to the title of the Champion of the West, and it will, doubtless, be some time ere the laurels will be wrested from them; for this season they open play stronger and seem more enthusiastic than ever before.

In accordance with our request, we have to acknowledge a prompt reply to our circular from Mr. H.C. Sexton of the Empire Club, the first Vice-President of the National Association, who has sent us the name of Mr. Adam North, the first baseman of the Empire Club of St. Louis. Mr. North is of the typographical fraternity, and as such, as a matter of course, is "a gentleman and a scholar," and, moreover, a first-class ball-player. His strong points of play are his accuracy in throwing and his certainty in holding a ball, these two physical attributes making his services exceedingly useful in other positions besides the one he has made his specialty-viz., the first base of the nine. To these desirable qualifications he adds calmness and steadiness of play, and presence of mind and evenness of temper in exciting and critical positions of the game.

Mr. North is about twenty-two years of age, possesses a manly physique, and considerable power of endurance, and his strength of muscle is shown in his batting skill-his average play at the bat being of the best of his club. At present he is an employee in the office of the Missouri Democrat, and is highly esteemed by his companions and employers. Among the games in which Mr. North has conspicuously figured are the contests between his club and those of Freeport, Ill., Dubuque, Iowa, and with the Morning Star and Commercial Union Clubs of St. Louis.

-Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, August 4, 1866


This is a great piece and I have to give a hat tip to Richard Hershberger who was kind enough to send it to me. There's just one little problem with it though. The Empire Club never had a first baseman named Adam North. The guy they're talking about is the great Adam Wirth, first baseman extraordinaire and arguably the best player the Empires ever had. How would you like to be Adam Wirth in 1866? You get some serious national ink but they get your last name wrong. Such is life.

More On Pat Deasley

New York purchased catcher Tom Deasley from St. Louis, or more probably Deasley purchased his own release after negotiating a contract with New York that made it worth his while. In order to forestall Deasley's jumping to the outlaw Union Association in the fall of 1884 St. Louis owner Chris Von der Ahe had signed him to a contract that included a provision he would not be reserved for 1885. Probably in anger over Deasley's chronic drinking and other disciplinary infractions, Von der Ahe refused to honor the commitment and the American Association would not intervene in Deasley's favor on the grounds that it regarded the provision as an attempt to "evade the reserve rule." Deasley's release was then purchased for $400 and he immediately signed with New York for a salary reported as high as $3000 or even $3500. Most sources say Deasley paid the entire $400, though according to the Brooklyn Eagle the New York club agreed to pay $300 but would go no higher, so that Deasley contributed the last hundred dollars.

-David Ball, Nineteenth Century Transaction Register

Too Wild And Jovial

In the race for catching honors in the National League in 1882 Tom Deasley, then catching for Boston, tied Bennett of Detroit.

A great catcher and thrower was Deasley, so great indeed that Ted Sullivan brought him to St. Louis and here he really wound up his career.

Deasley was a fine receiver and thrower, but too wild and jovial a fellow to last long in league company. His life on the center of the baseball stage was brief.

-The National Game

The description of Pat Deasley as "too wild and jovial a fellow" wins the award for best euphemism of the week. Deasley was an alcoholic whose escapades were part of the Browns' "team discipline" problem in 1884.

On a trip to Indianapolis that year, several members of the team were, as the Post-Dispatch said at the time, "(pouring) liquor down their throats." A drunken Deasley, according to Jon David Cash, "approached two women on the street. He apparently propositioned them, and, when his overtures were rejected, Deasley grabbed one of them by her arm. Both women escaped to the safety of a store that sold women's hats. Deasley steadfastly pursued them, and the Indianapolis police quickly arrived to arrest him 'for drunkenness and insulting ladies.' After being convicted on charges of drunkenness and assault, Deasley paid a ten-dollar fine and court costs for each offense."

Later, when the team was in Toledo, Deasley was beaten up by teammates Joe Quinn and Tom Dolan. Deasley was injured in the fight and was unable to play in "an embarrassing 16-2 shellacking at the hands of the first-year Brooklyn Trolley-Dodgers..."

On July 2, Deasley showed up drunk for a game against Baltimore. Held out of the game by Jimmy Williams, Deasley, according to Cash, "bitterly condemned the team's manager to the crowd" while his teammates were in the process of losing the game. As a result of his "jovial" antics, he was fined by the team and forced to sign an affidavit stating that he would refrain from alcohol for the rest of the season.

Late in the season, Deasley got into another fight with a teammate. This time it was Daisy Davis who Deasley battled in the dinning room of the Louisville Hotel. Deasley may also have been responsible for the Tom Dolan jumping to the Maroons. It seems that Dolan, who didn't much care for the "wild and jovial" Deasley, was unhappy that Deasley was starting at catcher ahead of him.

At the end of the 1884 season, the Browns sold Deasley to New York for $400 (although Baseball Reference states that Deasley was released by the Browns and signed with New York as a free agent). The Browns were on the verge of putting together their championship run and didn't need the kind of problems that Deasley brought. In a concise summation, Comiskey stated that Deasley was "a continual source of trouble to the team."

Vacation's All I Ever Wanted

Starting today, I'm on vacation. While I'll have some posts programed to go, I'm going to be unplugged for the next week. No internet, no computer, no phone-nothing. The plan is to completely disengage from civilization for a week and just relax. So any blog comments or emails are going to have to wait until I get back.

Sullivan Joins The Maroons

The St. Louis Union Base-ball Club to-day closed a contract by which T.P. Sullivan is to manage the Union Base-ball Club during the season of 1884. His contract gives him full control of the Union Club and guarantees him a full season's work. To-day President Lucas, of the Union Association, received a letter from Boston stating that the club of that city which is to join the Union Association had secured its full complement of men and that the club would send a representative to the Cincinnati meeting.

-The New York Times, March 15, 1884


Ted Sullivan's relationship with the Maroons didn't last that long but Sullivan never really did stay in one place too long.

O'Neill's Contract

James E. O'Neil, the pitcher of the New York Club, who signed a contract to play with the Metropolitans, will probably give his services to the St. Louis Club. Through some technicality, the contract made with the "Mets" is void. According to one of the rules of the American Association, a player must remain disengaged for at least 10 days before he can be engaged. After being released by the New-Yorks, the Metropolitans hired O'Neil before the necessary 10 days had expired. Mr. Von der Ahe, the President of the St. Louis Club, took advantage of the error committed by the manager of the Metropolitan nine, and made a contract with O'Neil to play in that city. Last year the same thing occurred in the case of Rowen, who was engaged in the same manner by Von der Ahe, but Rowen was compelled to fulfill his second contract, which was made with the Athletic Club.

-The New York Times, December 3, 1883


Of course Jimmy Williams' little conflict of intrest was helpful in securing Tip O'Neill's services for the Browns.

Jimmy Williams

The St. Louis Base-ball Club to-day engaged a new manager in the person of J.A. Williams, well known as the present Secretary of the American Association. President Von der Ahe to-day makes the announcement that while he lost the championship of the American Association in 1883 he will make a bold bid for it in 1884, and will appear in the field with the strongest nine that can be go together. He says the club of this year cost him $45,000 and that he will expend twice that amount to get a winning team here in 1884. Williams is to be given full management of the team and he is to be allowed the privilege of engaging players without regard to the expenses entailed.

-The New York Times, October 16, 1883

J.A. Williams is Jimmy Williams, the manager, and not Jimmy Williams, the player, who was born in St. Louis and played for the AL Browns. And for that matter, it's also not James Alfred Williams, who played for the Padres in 1969 and 1970, or Jimy Williams, the manager of Blow Jays fame.

Williams' tenure as manager of the Browns in 1884 is seen as a bit of a disaster and a set-back in the team's growth towards championship status. While the team played well, they finished fourth in the AA as compared to a second place finish the previous year. Also, in 1884, there were a string of embarrassing incidents involving Browns' players that many believed reflected a lack of managerial discipline. On September 4th, Williams resigned amid accusations that he had lost control of the team. He was replaced by Charlie Comiskey.

One positive that came out of Williams' tenure was the acquisition of Tip O'Neill. Jon David Cash writes that Williams "had been hired by Von der Ahe in late October 1883 to manage the Browns. Nevertheless, he still remained the American Association secretary until December 12, pending the appointment of his replacement at the winter meeting. In his capacity of league secretary, Williams voided O'Neill's contract with the Metropolitans; then in his role as Browns' manager, Williams signed O'Neill to a St. Louis contract...National League president Abraham G. Mills, functioning as chairman of the Arbitration Committee, upheld the Browns' claim to O'Neill's services..."

An Index To Posts About The St. Louis Whites

Here's a quick and easy index to this weeks posts on the Whites (just click on the link to go to that post):

A Sort Of Farm Team-The 1888 St. Louis Whites, Part 1
A Sort Of Farm Team-The 1888 St. Louis Whites, Part 2
A Sort Of Farm Team-The 1888 St. Louis Whites, Part 3
A Sort Of Farm Team-The 1888 St. Louis Whites, Part 4
A Sort Of Farm Team-The 1888 St. Louis Whites, Part 5
A Sort Of Farm Team-The 1888 St. Louis Whites, Part 6

The Apollo Of The Box Stiffs The Maroons

The news that Tony Mullane had broken his contract with the St. Louis Union Base-ball Team, and signed an affidavit to the effect that he would pitch for the Toledo Club, caused considerable commotion in (St. Louis) base-ball circles to-day. Mullane some time ago had a talk with the managers of the Toledo club who offered him $2,500, $500 in advance, for the season's play. This was what the St. Louis Unions paid him. He told the Toledo manager that he would accept this offer, provided the St. Louis American Club would release him from the reserve rule. The latter were willing to do this, and then Mullane sent back the advance money Lucas had given him and also asked to be released from his contract. Subsequently, it is said, although no good authority is given, Mullane signed the affidavit in which he took oath that he would play in Toledo next year. This is the whole and true story. When spoken to to-day concerning Mullane's action Lucas said that he had received no authoritative notification that Mullane had signed the affidavit named "but if he has done such a thing," said Mr. Lucas, "then has the time come for the Union Association to fight the enemy with their own weapons. If I lose Mullane I will have as good a man if I have to enter some of the associations fighting us."

-The New York Times, February 2, 1884

I've covered the Mullane situation before but I wanted to share this article because I really liked Lucas' quote at the end. It made me think of Bugs Bunny.

Just Another Day At The Office

At the close of yesterday's game between the Baltimore and St. Louis clubs, President Von der Ahe of the St. Louis club wired President Young of the League, preferring charges of drinking against Umpire Gaffney and protesting the game. Von der Ahe also read the riot act to the members of the Browns, and, as a consequence, George Miller resigned as Captain. The players are dissatisfied at a system of petty fines which are inflicted for excusable errors, and but few of them play an earnest game.

-The New York Times, July 17, 1894

If Doggie Miller resigned in a huff, it appears that the situation quickly blew over and he finished the season as Browns' manager. This looks like one of those classic Von der Ahe moments from which his modern reputation is derived. He's protesting a game, calling the umpire a drunk, going off on his team, and driving his manager to distraction.

One of Von der Ahe's flaws was his inability to master his emotions. He was prone to outbursts, raging against the world around him for slights both real and imagined, returning to his senses only after the release gained by the outburst. To work for Von der Ahe and to be able to deal with him, one had to accept this and be able to handle it. Not many could.

A Kind Of Farm Team-The 1888 St. Louis Whites, Part 6

Part Six? Are you kidding me? I certainly can prattle on, can't I? That's a lot of words on a subject that I don't really feel I have a complete handle on. Anyway, on to the summation.

The original question at hand was "Were the St. Louis Whites a farm club for the St. Louis Browns?" David Nemec called them "a kind of farm club" and Peter Morris wrote that Von derAhe "operated the St. Louis Whites of the Western Association as a farm club..." So the general consensus among baseball historians appears to be that the Whites were indeed a farm club. I would have to agree that the evidence supports this consensus.

However (and for Pete's sake, why can't I just reach a conclusion and stick to it without having to qualify it?), I would have to say that Von der Ahe had other motives in operating the Whites beyond the desire to put together a farm club and develop young talent. He certainly was interested in having another gate attraction for Sportsman's Park. While the Whites failed to draw a crowd in their short history, the appeal of having a team playing at home while the Browns were on the road is obvious.

While I certainly see the flaws in the argument, I still believe that the idea that the Whites were a Western Association stalking horse for Von der Ahe's baseball interests has merit. Von der Ahe saw the threat of the Eastern clubs breaking off from the NL and AA and forming their own league as a real possibility and it makes sense that he would make plans to deal with the fallout from such a threat. The Whites and the WA can be seen as central to Von der Ahe's plans to establish a Western major league if and when the Eastern teams made good on their threat.

So, yes, the Whites were a farm club for the Browns and, if the intent was to identify and develop future major league players, they were a successful one despite only existing for part of one season. The Browns were able to identify and sign Beckley, Staley, Devlin, Herr, and Crooks, all good young players. If the Browns had kept those players and continued to develop young talent, they most likely would have had more success in the 1890's then they did.

But the team also existed to further Von der Ahe's business interests. They were designed to draw a crowd to Sportsman's Park when the Browns were out of town and they were a fall-back position in the event that the contemporary major league structure fell apart. So while the Whites can be identified as a farm club, they certainly were more than that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sproat: pitcher.


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

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

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

Person Jack Crooks

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A Kind Of Farm Team-The 1888 St. Louis Whites, Part 4

The available evidence make it easy to state that the Whites existed as a farm club for the Browns. Players are moving back and forth between the teams and the pattern fits a general baseball trend towards farming relationships that had been established in 1887. However, Von der Ahe's own words and actions in 1887 and 1888 cast some doubt on that relationship. He explicitly denied that the Whites were a farm club, quickly pulled the plug on the enterprise, and attempted to sell the franchise and players to another city rather than breakup the team and sell off the player individually. This attempt to keep the team intact in an effort to preserve the viability of the Western Association is fascinating and leads to another explanation for Von der Ahe's actions with regards to the Whites.

There are two articles that may possibly speak to Von der Ahe's intent. The first appeared in The New York Times on November 20, 1887:

A dispatch from St. Louis says the proposed new baseball League in the East is creating alarm among the stockholders of the St. Louis Browns. President Von der Ahe, since his return from the East, has had several conferences with other stockholders in the club, and he has imparted to them news of such a startling character that many of them are publicly asserting that baseball in the West next year will be practically dead. The President of the Browns says that Day, Byrne, and Barnie are heartily in favor of the scheme, and that if they pulled the other strong Eastern clubs into line the scheme would be adopted. "Without the big Eastern clubs," said he, "the business would go to smash, and if war was declared the East would have the advantage from the beginning." Foutz, Welch, and Bushong of the home team are to be traded off or sold, and if the proposed Eastern League is an assured fact the stars of the Browns will doubtless be sold and St. Louis will be contented with its little Western League Club.

The other appeared in The Sporting News on February 4, 1888:

St. Louis Will Be in The Big Western Association Next Year

And the Eastern Clubs Will Have an Association of Their Own

It seems to be the prevailing opinion among ball men that great changes will take place in the make-up of the base ball map after the present season. Said a gentleman, who is way up in ball circles, to me the other day:

“You will find that before the season of 1888 commences Brooklyn and Cincinnati will be full-flogged members of the National League. St. Louis will be in the New Western Association, leaving Cleveland, Louisville, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Kansas City to shift for themselves. Mark the prediction.”

While I don't find much evidence supporting the rumored geographical split in the baseball world, this doesn't mean that the rumors weren't floating about and being taken seriously by Von der Ahe. If you look at the language of the Times piece, I think it conveys how Von der Ahe may have seen the threat of the breakup of the National League and American Association along geographical lines. The Times uses the words "alarm," "startling," and "dead" and speaks of "war" and business going "to smash." The Times implies that Von der Ahe took these rumors very seriously and that he was concerned about the survival of his baseball interests.

The Sporting News article presented the rumor as a done deal. In the case of a geographical split, the Western Association would attempt to compete as a major league. In 1888, the WA had teams in St. Louis, Chicago, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Des Moines, Omaha, Davenport, and Sioux City. If you added Indianapolis to the Association, this would have made for a decent Western major league, although certainly it would have been at a financial disadvantage against the Eastern major league.

I believe that it's entirely possible that Von der Ahe was using the Whites and the Western Association as a stalking horse for the establishment of a potential Western major league in the face of the threat from the Eastern teams. If the threat materialized, Von der Ahe had a viable backup plan for his baseball interests. If the American Association fell apart, he could simply consolidate his baseball holdings and continue to operate in the Western Association.

Von der Ahe's attempts to sell the Whites in May of 1888 lends some credence to this interpretation. When the Eastern threat failed to materialize, Von der Ahe simply decided that he no longer needed the Whites or the players and entered into negotiations to sell them. His decision to sell the franchise and players rather than simply disband the team and sell off the players was defended by Von der Ahe as a move designed not to cause "irreparable damage to the Western Association." While Von der Ahe may have concluded that the threat had passed, he may have still had some concerns and wished to keep his Western Association option open.

Certainly this is highly speculative. But the rumors of the Eastern threat were floating about and Von der Ahe took them seriously. His ownership of the Whites and their participation in the WA would have allowed him to continue his baseball operations in St. Louis in the eventuality of the materialization of the Eastern threat. The Western Association also could have been quickly transformed into a major league with the participation of people like Von der Ahe and Spaulding, whose Chicago team also had a farm club in the WA. When the threat passed, Von der Ahe was able to dispose of the Whites while attempting to preserve the WA-just in case.

Tomorrow, I'll talk a bit about the players on the Whites.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Kind Of Farm Team-The 1888 St. Louis Whites, Part 2

So while researching the status of the 1888 St. Louis Whites, I found enough evidence to establish a relationship between the Whites and the Browns that involved players moving back and forth between the two teams. However, in the face of contradictory evidence, I was still struggling to get a handle on the nature of the relationship between the two teams. At that point I got smart and pulled Peter Morris' A Game of Inches: The Game Behind The Scenes off the shelf. Morris has a great deal to say regarding the development of the farm system and specifically mentions the Whites.

Most sources credit Branch Rickey with inventing the practice of farming, but this is at best an oversimplification. Rickey was unquestionably the first man to put together what we now call a farm system, in which a player could advance from the lowest rung of the minor leagues to the major leagues while remaining the property of the same organization. But the system of major league clubs using minor league clubs as farm clubs had a lengthy, well-organized, and controversial history before Rickey's entry into the field.

It could be argued that the use of farm clubs dates all the way back to the very earliest baseball clubs. These clubs were represented in matches by their "first nine," but they also had second and third nines and often junior nines. These extra nines provided reserves when a member of the first nine was injured or unavailable and also helped develop new players.

-A Game Of Inches: The Game Behind The Scenes

Morris goes on to write about how the National League and American Association clubs formed reserve teams in the face of the threat posed by the Union Association in 1884. While the aim of these teams was to keep players away from UA teams, they became "virtually a training school" for players. Sporting Life noted that these reserve teams "served to develop some strong young players, a number of whom are now playing on the regular nines." However, with the collapse of the UA following the 1884 season, the reason for the existence of the reserve teams had been removed and teams no longer felt the need to sign extra players.

"But major league owners had seen the advantages to having additional players available," Morris writes, "and soon found ways to resurrect the scheme." In January of 1887, Cincinnati attempted to make arrangements whereby they would loan out two of their players to a club in Kansas who at the end of the season would return them to the Red Stockings. While this scheme fell through, the Detroit Wolverines in the same year loaned out three of their players (Jimmy Manning, Bill Shindle, and George Knowlton) to Kansas City of the Western League. According to the Detroit Free Press, the players "will not sever their connection with the Detroits, neither will the club have to pay their salaries. If by sickness or accident any of the others of the club should be laid up, the team will not be weakened perceptibly, as a dispatch will bring either or all of the loaned players into the breach..." Later in 1887, Cincinnati would lend Henry Kappel to Nashville, imitating the Detroit/Kansas City arrangement. These moves were controversial at the time and many believed them to be illegal.

"With that tactic meeting such concerted resistance," Morris said, "the 1888 season instead saw many clubs take the route of purchasing minor league teams and operating them as farm clubs. In contrast to the season before, this practice was conducted openly and created relatively little controversy." This trend saw the Washingtons purchase Troy of the International Association in order to operate it as "a training-school or feeder..." John Day bought the Jersey City club of the Central League and planned to "run it as a reserve for the New-York Club." While it's unclear if Philadelphia owned Allentown of the Central league, the two teams had a relationship which "amounted to farming."

St. Louis Brown Stockings owner Chris Von der Ahe operated the St. Louis Whites of the Western Association as a farm club, signing no fewer than twenty-nine players to 1888 contracts by December of 1887. Chicago White Stockings president A.G. Spaulding appears to have pursued a similar course with another Western Association club, the Chicago Maroons. Although Sam Morton was the nominal president of the Maroons, the club had close connections with the local major league franchise...

Like so many nineteenth-century minor league clubs, the farm clubs were not financial successes. The St. Louis Whites folded in June 1888, and while the other clubs made it through the season, none seem to have been in the black. The Maroons disbanded at season's end, while the Washington club quietly disposed of its Troy farm club...Ownership of the Jersey City club in 1888 was reported to have resulted in a $17,500 loss, and although it returned as "an annex to the New York League Club" in 1889, Day apparently sold out in June...Not surprisingly, a consensus emerged that such ventures were too expensive to be maintained.

That perception was one of several factors that led to the multiple experiments with farm clubs in 1888 being followed by six lean years for farming. A second was the concern voiced by Sporting Life's Columbus correspondent that farming could destroy a minor league's competitive balance. Another important reason was that the attention of the established leagues was focused on the player revolt that led to the creation of the Player's League in 1890. In addition...any exchange of contracts during this period meant releasing the players with the risk of losing them altogether.

-A Game Of Inches: The Game Behind The Scenes

So Morris places the Browns relationship with the Whites squarely in the 19th century trend towards the development of the farm system and explicitly states that Von der Ahe operated the Whites as a farm club. However, there is evidence that contradicts this and lends itself to other interpretations. I'll discuss this tomorrow.

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

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

-David Nemec, The Beer & Whiskey League


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

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

So I started doing some research.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Browns Are Sold (And Then Sold Again)

St. Louis, March 14.-Under the foreclosure of a deed of trust, Sheriff Pohlmann sold at public auction to-day the Sportsman's Park and Club, including the franchise held by the St. Louis Browns, to G.A. Gruner, one of the Directors of the club, for $33,000. Mr. Gruner is Treasurer of the Phil Gruner & Brother Lumber Company. After the sale he said: "I bought the property for the creditors and bondholders." Ramell & Muerch, attorneys for the bondholders, said: "This is a bona fide purchase of the property by the creditors who will probably run the club themselves."

-The New York Times, March 15, 1899

St. Louis, March 17.-Edward C. Becker, a capitalist of this city, has purchased the St. Louis Browns from the creditors who bought the club's assets last Tuesday at Sheriff's sale.

-The New York Times, March 18, 1899

Icebox Chamberlain On Umpires

Pitcher Chamberlain says: "I don't see why anybody can't make a good umpire. The way I figure it out there are only two requisites. One is to keep your eye on the ball at all times. Then there is no chance of missing the play, for no play can be made without the ball. Another thing is to keep the players from talking back. Don't let them argue with you under any circumstances. That is how Lynch and Gaffney succeeded. They make mistakes just as other umpires do; but they won't allow any back talk and the consequences is their decisions are now roasted from the stands."

-The New York Times, September 6, 1892

Keep your eye on the ball and don't take any guff-that's good advice for anybody.

Elegant New Grounds

The St. Louis Browns will have elegant new grounds next year. They will be easily accessible by electric and cable cars. The field will be 450 feet wide and 580 feet long. The home plate will be 120 feet from the grand stand. There will be carriage accommodations outside of this space. The design of the grand stand will be of the Romanesque order. The stand will be 300 feet long and 60 feet deep and have a seating capacity of 3,000. Directly adjoining it are two handsomely-arranged pavilions with a seating capacity of 3,500. The open seats will have a capacity of 7,000. The grand stand will have three towers 8 feet high, one at each end and one in the centre. The towers will contain four tiers of private boxes, six seats to a tier, making twenty-four seats to a tower. In the centre tower will be finely-arranged quarters for the press and newspaper men will be well provided for. The reserved seats will be folding chairs, cushioned, and grand stand patrons will have plenty of space. A clubhouse will be erected and a quarter-mile cinder track will also be a feature. The total outlay will foot up to nearly $50,000.

-The New York Times, September 6, 1892

Several interesting things here. First, the plans for seats and a press box in the towers is pretty neat. I've never heard about seats in the towers at New Sportsman's Park before but if you look at the picture at the top of the post it does look like there's seating in the tower. Second, the article gives the cost of building the park at around $50,000 which is consistent with other sources. Lastly, when I wrote about the 1898 fire at New Sportsman's Park the question of how far home plate was from the grandstand came up. This article answers that question (or at least answers how far the plate was planned to be from the grandstand.).

1888 Browns Ad

This ad for a series between the Browns and Brooklyn appeared in The Sporting News on July 7, 1888. The player pictured in the ad is Doc Bushong, who along with Dave Foutz and Bob Caruthers had been traded to Brooklyn prior to the 1888 season.

A Disgraceful Scene

Beer Glasses Thrown By An Angry Baseball Mob

At St. Louis yesterday the biggest crowd of the season saw the Browns beaten. The contest was full of disgraceful wrangling, in which players and spectators participated. Schafer of the (Athletics) knocked Wells of the Browns down at the home plate, and when Schafer took his place in the field, the police were summoned to protect him from beer glasses. There was a heap of dirty ball playing and several of the local players narrowly missed serious injury. Errors by Fuller and Cartwright lost the game for St. Louis. Hughes and Hart both pitched in fine form.

-The New York Times, August 18, 1890

The more things change the more they stay the same. I can think of at least two instances, in my own lifetime, when St. Louis fans have pelted the field with foreign objects. Both of these happened to be Seat Cushion Night at the ballpark. There was also a game the Cardinals played in L.A. in 1995 where the Dodgers were giving away baseballs and, after some questionable umpiring decisions, Dodger fans pelted the field with their souvenirs, causing the Cards to leave the field and the Dodgers to forfeit the game. I guess we should be thankful that they don't hand out beer mugs at the ballpark anymore.

Here's a video of the second Seat Cushion Night:

A New Baseball Manager

President Von Der Ahe Will Handle His Own Team

The Teutonic Magnate Thinks that He Has Mastered the Intricacies of the Game and Will Be Able to Hold His End Up with Other Managers-Von der Ahe Was After Hanlon's Interest in the Baltimore Team, but Did Not Get It.

President Von der Ahe of the St. Louis Browns, having failed to secure the services of Harry Wright or P.J. Powers as manager for his team, has announced that he will take charge of the nine himself and try his hand at piloting the St. Louis aggregation. This news will be regarded as a joke, but, nevertheless, Mr. Von der Ahe means what he says, and he has already made overtures for the transfer of desirable players to his club.

It is reported that President Von der Ahe offered President Hanlon $8,000 for his interest in the Baltimore Club. Hanlon asked twenty-four hours to consider the matter, and then declined the offer. Von der Ahe is also said to have offered Hanlon the management of the St. Louis Club, in case he sold out his interest in the Baltimores. Hanlon at first considered the matter a joke, but when he learned that it was a serious offer he promptly declined, as he considered that negotiations might cause a lack of confidence in the team's work in getting into shape for the season. Hanlon stated that Von der Ahe made the offer, but he considered it another one of the Western man's attempts to boom himself.

"Of course I felt disappointed at not getting Harry Wright," said Von der Ahe after he got home, "but the League clubs, through their representatives, came to me and asked me not to interfere with their plans to make him chief of the umpire staff. I saw the way matters stood and did not force my claims."

-The New York Times, March 6, 1894

A Portrait Of Arlie Latham

This picture of Arlie Latham appeared on the front page of The Sporting News on October 18, 1890.

Burying The Hatchet

Broad and big-hearted Jim Byrne captured Chris Von der Ahe (on) Thursday night, invited him into the Lindell Hotel and introduced him to Charles Comiskey, captain, and George Munson, secretary of the Chicago Brotherhood Club. Tom Loftus, manager of the Cincinnatis, and Latham the only, were also there and as the old trio shook hands...Lath gave a war whoop that could be heard on the roof of the Lindell. It was the first time Von der Ahe, Comiskey and Munson had spoken to each other since last fall, when they parted company. Von der Ahe seemed ready to bury the hatchet. The others were in the same humor and over brimming glasses of wine they drank to the days of auld lang syne when base ball was on top and the Brotherhood and other nightmare things were unknown.

Comiskey suggested to Von der Ahe that they bury the hatchet and play a series of games between the Chicago players and the St. Louis Brown Stocking team.

Von der Ahe thought it a good scheme and said he would enter into it if the League and other American Association clubs interposed no objection.

Other propositions were made and accepted and the probability is that the old ill feeling that has existed between Von der Ahe, Comiskey and Munson has been wiped out for good.

-The Sporting News, October 18, 1890


The Chicago Brotherhood club and the Cincinnati League team were in St. Louis to play a game on October 18th. This meeting laid the foundation for both Comiskey and Munson's return to the Browns in 1891.

The Color Line Has Been Drawn

A COLOR LINE IN BASEBALL

THE ST. LOUIS BROWNS REFUSE TO PLAY WITH THE CUBAN GIANTS

Philadelphia, Sept. 11.-The Philadelphia Times will say to-morrow that for the first time in the history of baseball the color line has been drawn, and that the "world's champions," the St. Louis Browns, are the men who have established the precedent that white players must not play with colored men. There have been little dissensions before, but only about a player here and there. The Browns were in open revolt last night. Some time ago President Von Der Ahe arranged for his club to play an exhibition game at West Farms, near New York, with the Cuban Giants, the noted colored club. He was promised a big guarantee, and it was expected that fully 15,000 persons would be present. The game was to have been played to-day, and President Von Der Ahe yesterday purchased railroad tickets for all his players and made all the arrangements for the trip. While he was at supper at the Continental Hotel last night thinking over the misfortune that had befallen Capt. Comiskey, he was approached by "Tip" O'Neill, the heavy slugging left fielder, who laid out a letter on the table and then hastily slipped out of the room. The letter read as follows:

Philadelphia, Penn., Sept. 10.
To Chris Von Der Ahe, Esq.:
Dear Sir: We, the undersigned members of the St. Louis Baseball Club, do not agree to play against negroes to-morrow. We will cheerfully play against white people at any time, and think, by refusing to play, we are only doing what is right, taking everything into consideration and the shape the team is in at the present.

W.A. Latham, John Boyle, J.E. O'Neill, R.L. Caruthers, W.E. Gleason, W.H. Robinson, Charles King, Curt Welch.

President Von Der Ahe did not wait to finish his meal. He left the table hastily and went downstairs into the corridor, where he found the players talking in a group. The sudden appearance of their manager among them surprised the players and they acted like a ship's crew about to mutiny. When Von Der Ahe asked the meaning of the letter he had just received, nobody answered him. "Yank" Robinson hung his head and sneaked to the rear of the crowd. "Silver" King opened his mouth, but his tongue refused to move, and even Arlie Latham, whose jaws are always going, couldn't get out a word. Receiving no reply, President Von Der Ahe said quietly: "As it seems to be a matter of principle with you, you need not play to-morrow."

President Von Der Ahe said to a Times reporter to-night: "I am sorry to have disappointed the people of West Farms to-day, as I always fulfill my engagements. I was surprised at the action of my men, especially as they knew a week ago that the game was arranged, and yet they waited until the very last minute before they informed me of their opposition."

The St. Louis players were not disposed to talk of their action. Latham, Boyle, and O'Neill were the leaders, it is said, and they had considerable trouble in securing the signatures of some of the men. Capt. Comiskey didn't know anything about the matter, and Knouff refused to sign the letter. They ad played with the Cuban Giants once before last season, and they seemed to enjoy it better than a contest with white players. Curtis Welch, the centre fielder, played with the Toledo Club when The Walker, the colored player, was a member of the team. "I think some of the boys wanted a day to themselves," said Capt. Comiskey. "They have played against colored clubs before without a murmur and I think they are sorry for their hasty action already."

The Cuban Giants were originally organized at Trenton about two years ago as an independent club. This season they have been in various places in close proximity to New York City. They are good players and the team has made money. They have played games with the Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit, Louisville, Athletic, and other prominent clubs, and this is the first time that any club has refused to play with them on account of their color. The International League recently adopted a resolution prohibiting the employment of colored players by its clubs. This was caused by opposition from the players, who objected to playing with Second Baseman Grant, of the Buffalo Club, and colored Pitcher Stovey, of the Newark Club.

-The New York Times, September 12, 1887


I think that the significance of the Browns' refusal to play the Cuban Giants in 1887 has been overstated and, while it does not reflect well on the club, the reasons for it are more complex than is usually stated.

Comiskey, who due to injury was not with the team at the time, said that the reason for the Browns' refusal to play the Cuban Giants was that the players did not want to give up their day off just to play an exhibition game. The Browns were in Philadelphia at the time, playing the Athletics. They had a game on September 9th and 10th, a day off, a game on the 12th, had to travel to Baltimore , and then play three games against the Orioles on the 14th and 15th. According to the Globe-Democrat, several of the players had tickets to a Philadelphia theatre on the 11th. The desire for a night on the town, coupled with the team's schedule, and the injuries that the team was suffering led to the refusal to play the exhibition game.

Under this interpretation, the reasons stated in the letter to Von der Ahe for the refusal to play the exhibition game was merely a pretext. The fact that the desire not to play baseball with African-Americans would be a socially acceptable pretext says more about that day and age than it does about baseball in general or the Browns specifically.

The conventional interpretation of this event has the Browns in "revolt" or "on strike" because of the racism that was systemic in baseball. The incident is then used to support a specific narrative about the creation and sustainment of the color barrier. However, there is a very real possibility that the conventional interpretation is wrong. It's possible that all that was going on was that a physically beat up team in the middle of grinding road trip who had already clinched a pennant and were looking at a postseason series in a few weeks just wanted to enjoy their day off.

Comiskey, Dave Foutz, and Doc Bushong were all in St. Louis getting treatment for injuries and the Browns were down to nine players. Curt Welch, Bob Caruthers, and Yank Robinson were banged up but had to play because the team had no other option. The Browns couldn't put nine healthy players on the field but Von der Ahe wanted them to play an exhibition game on a scheduled day off.

Von der Ahe stated that "(if) it was a question of principle with any of my players, I would not say a word, but it is not." Comiskey reminded that Globe that the Browns had played the Cuban Giants, as well as other African-American teams, in the past with no problems and said that "I think some of the boys wanted a day to themselves." So at the time all of this went down neither Von der Ahe nor Comiskey believed that the players were refusing to play the Cuban Giants because of the color of their skin.

Von der Ahe obviously lost money because of the cancellation of the game but he also had to reach a financial settlement with Giant's owner John Bright. Supposedly, there was some kind of contractual arrangement with regards to the game and tickets had already been sold. Bright demanded financial compensation for his losses and Von der Ahe was forced to pony up. He told the Globe that "(the) refusal of my men to play the Cuban Giants cost me at least $1000..."

The idea that this event created the color line in baseball is simply not accurate. While I'm not an expert on the color line or black baseball, the above Times article states that the International League had already passed laws "prohibiting the employment of colored players" and as early as 1867 the National Association moved to exclude African-Americans from their league. These events are certainly more significant than the Browns' actions in 1887. While the Browns refusal to play the Cuban Giants can be seen as a milestone on the road to the establishment of the color line, if looked at in context the idea that the Browns "established the precedent that white players must not play with colored men" is ridiculous.

Quite A Commotion

President Von der Ahe, of the St. Louis Brown Stocking Club, the champions of the American Association, had a queer experience during the progress of the Louisville-St. Louis game. It appears that besides his wife he loves another lady, Miss Kitty Dewey, a handsome blonde girl. During te progress of the game Miss Dewey was sitting in the grand stand unmindful of impending evil. Mrs. Von der Ahe, unnoticed by her, was sitting some distance to the right. It was noticed by those around her that her eyes were fixed in the direction of Miss Dewey during the game, with glances which betokened ill for their object. She sat quietly, however, until the Browns had won the game, when she arose from her seat and walked rapidly to where Miss Dewey sat. She stopped just behind her with her right hand concealing something in the folds of her dress. Miss Dewey did not notice her, apparently, until Mrs. Von der Ahe spoke. She said, excitedly: "Miss Kitty, Miss Kitty, didn't I tell you not to put your foot in these grounds again?" Miss Dewey turned around quickly and became pale as a sheet when she recognized the voice of the person addressing her; but before she could rise or get out of the way Mrs. Von der Ahe raised her right hand, which had a firm hold on the neck of a soda water bottle, and struck her over the head. Just then the genial President of the Browns appeared, and, seizing his wife, pushed her into the box office, while Miss Dewey forced her way through the crowd and mad a hasty exit from the grounds. The event has caused quite a commotion in West End circles, where Von der Ahe is well known.

-The New York Times, September 8, 1885

The lesson here, of course, is that one woman is enough for any man and two is more trouble than they're worth.

David Reid's Obituary

David L. Reed, who has been Secretary of the St. Louis "Browns" Baseball Club for several years, died very suddenly at 10 o'clock Saturday night of heart disease. Mr. Reed was a well-known sporting and dramatic writer and had been connected at different times with several leading journals both East and West. His relatives live in this city and his body will probably be brought here for interment.

-The New York Times, May 4, 1885

I posted another obituary of Reid, from the Missouri Republican, last year that gives much more information about his life and death.

A Picture Of Edward Becker

This picture of Edward Becker appeared on the front page of Sporting Life on March 25, 1899.

The Early Closing Movement And 19th Century Baseball In St. Louis

In the later part of (the 1872 season) amateur base ball received quite an impetus through the inauguration of the early closing movement among mercantile and other business houses on Saturday afternoons, whereby the employees of these firms were brought into organized clubs named after the firms by whom they were employed, such as the "Dodd, Brown & Co.," "Crow, McCreery & Co.," "Sam. C. Davis & Co." Clubs and others of like nature. In those clubs some fine base ball talent was developed that took a more tangible existence and permanency in '73.

...The Mercantile community also took a deeper interest and more widespread participation in the game (in 1873) and so numerous were the matches played by the representatives of business concerns that it will be impossible in this history to do more than give such games the briefest passing notice.

-E.H. Tobias, writing in The Sporting News, January 4, 1896


The Early Closing Movement was in many ways a companion to the more familiar movement for an eight hour work day and a five day work week and can be seen as part of the general Short-time movement. The main differences in the movements is that while the latter was pushed by labor organizers, socialists, anarchists, etc. and in the end required government action to implement, the Early Closing Movement originated with more moderate progressive elements, relied on the co-operation of business owners, and was focused almost entirely on retail shops.

The goal of the Early Closing Movement, which most likely originated in England in the 1840's and spread to the United States, Canada, and Australia in the later part of the 19th century, was simply to have stores close early on Saturdays so that clerks and workers of the stores could have more time off for recreation. In 1890, George Howell wrote about the movement in The Conflicts of Capital and Labor and summarized the argument for closing early on Saturdays:

Excessive work, whether from long hours, or from overwork while engaged in it, is disastrous morally and socially, as well as mentally and physically, and at the same time, by its exhaustive process, it really diminishes the productive power of the worker.

An article in an 1883 edition of The Banker's Magazine speaks to the success of the movement and states that it was not uncommon to find towns where ninety percent of businesses closed early for the "Saturday half-holiday." The author of the article goes on to answer the question of why the movement has been so successful:

The answer naturally comes, that the tradesman wishes to have an opportunity for recreation and amusement which the hours of his business prohibit him enjoying on the ordinary days of the week...The masters...(and) man of figures...regards the early closing one day in the week as a good investment, and one which will bring him in large returns.

The effects that the Early Closing Movement specifically and the Short-time movement in general had on baseball, I think, are self-evident. Tobias touches on it in his writings. Closing the shops early on Saturday expanded not only the pool of available players but also the number of people who could come to a match. Tobias had written about a general decline in interest in the game in St. Louis in the early 1870's and implies that one of the positive effects of the success of the Early Closing Movement was to help revive interest in the game. I have no doubt that the Short-time movement had similar effects across the country and baseball as a business benefited from, and most likely supported, the movement.

Note: All the businesses mentioned by Tobias at the top of this post were retailers. Dodd, Brown & Co. sold "silk and fancy goods." Crow, McCreery & Co. was a dry goods store. Sam. C. Davis & Co. sold dry goods and groceries.

Joe Blong And The St. Louis Juniors

A new organization, named St. Louis Junior, was composed entirely of mechanics, formerly connected with the Atlantic, Jr., and they located on the old Veto grounds, near the Pacific machine shops, with Joe Blong president.

-E.H. Tobias, writing in The Sporting News, December 28, 1895

So according to Tobias, Blong is in St. Louis in 1871 playing baseball. We know that Blong was at Notre Dame in 1869 and I had guessed that he may have been there at the same time as Packy Dillon and Trick McSorley. However, it's known that Dillon and McSorley didn't enter Notre Dame until 1872.

Since the StL Juniors were "composed entirely of mechanics" and "formerly connected with the Atlantic, Jr.," it may be safe to assume that after leaving Notre Dame Blong was playing baseball with the Atlantic, Jr. and working as a mechanic in some capacity.

Happy Independence Day

And Since I Mentioned Duff Cooley Yesterday...

Dick Cooley, once famous as a first baseman in the major leagues, is now managing the Topeka Club of the Western League.

A fine first baseman and a heavy hitting left-handed batsman was Cooley in his day.

He is one of the players who made a batting record of .300 or better for four years from 1896 to 1908, inclusive, in all major leagues.

In 1895, 1896, 1897 and 1898 Cooley batted .340, .300, .327 and .317...

Dick Cooley, owner of the Salt Lake baseball club, has little sympathy with umpire baiters, although when Dick was in the big leagues he had quite a reputation as one of the worst foes the umpires met on the diamonds.

But Dick excuses his faults in this respect on the ground that the umpires of those days were much more tantalizing than the arbiters of the present.

No more bitter feud existed in the big leagues than that between Umpire Joe Cantillon and Dick Cooley. For years they never spoke civilly to each other. Dick tells the story of the final break between Cantillon and himself.

"Cantillon was a good umpire," said Dick, "but for some reason we were always at outs. Joe didn't like me and I had no use for him. However, we got along passably fair until one day in Chicago when Cantillon played the meanest trick on me that I have ever known an umpire to be guilty of. I suppose the laugh is on me but at any rate I never got over it and Cantillon and I have never spoken since.

"I was playing with Boston against Anson's Chicago team. Bill Lange, one of the greatest outfielders who ever lived, was playing center for Anson. I was at bat and caught one squarely on the end and drove the ball on a line to deep center. As I was rounding first, I saw the ball going over Lange's head. I figured it was good for the circuit, so I tore around as hard as I could.

"As I was nearing third I heard Cantillion yell, 'Touch third, you or I'll call you out.' I touched the sack and tore for home. When I was getting near the plate I saw Cantillion running, apparently to make a close decision at the plate. As he came up he yelled, 'Slide!' I slid. Then Cantillion bawled, 'You're out.'

I jumped up and shouted, 'What? Where's the ball?' 'Bill Lange caught it,' said the ump.

"I then found out that while I was running with my head down, confident that I could get around safely, Bill Lange had made a wonderful running and jumping one-hand catch of the ball away back against the fence in deep center and that Cantillion kept me going merely to make a monkey out of me.

"After that we never spoke."

-The National Game

D.C. Cooley, former big league baseball player, died today. He suffered a heat stroke on Saturday. His age was 64. He started his baseball career with the St. Louis Browns in 1893, later playing with Pittsburgh, Boston, Philadelphia and Detroit. He was a team-mate of Ty Cobb at Detroit in 1905.

-The New York Times, August 10th, 1937

Joe Sullivan

Joseph D. Sullivan, base ball player, died at his home in Charlestown late last night. He first came into prominence in 1891 in the Brotherhood League. The following year he was with the Rochester Club of the Eastern League. Washington then secured him and he played with that club up to the middle of 1894, when Philadelphia signed him. While playing with Philadelphia his health gave way. Later Sullivan went to St. Louis. He was twenty-seven years old.

-The New York Times, November 4, 1897


Joe Sullivan played in fifty-one games with the Browns in 1896 and his cause of death is listed at The Deadball Era as consumption. In what was a rather poor trade for the Browns, on June 28, 1896 they shipped Duff Cooley to Philadelphia for Sullivan, Tuck Turner, and cash. Let's hope it was a lot of cash.

Person Joe Sullivan

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The Sensation Of The Day

The sensation of the day in base-ball circles was the action of T.P. Sullivan, who last night severed his connection with the St. Louis Union Club. Sullivan has been the manager of that organization since the date of its birth and has been very successful in the position, his club, until the Bostons arrived here, having an unbroken chain of 20 victories. Mr. Sullivan when spoken to about his action in tendering his resignation said: "Three of the leading spirits tried to run the club and opposed all others in it. I would not tolerate this, and as I was not backed up in my actions by President Lucas, I tendered my resignation. The three I mean are Dunlap, Rowe, and Shafer. They formed a faction, and I and the others could not agree with them, and as a result there was nothing left for me to do but resign. In so doing I have placed myself in a delicate position, for as you know I was claimed by another club, a party to the tripartite agreement, and by sticking to the Unions my name was placed on the black list. I have no engagement just now, but have something in view which I don't care to speak of at present."

-The New York Times, June 16, 1884


The "something in view" which Sullivan was talking about was most likely a job as manager of the Kansas City Unions.

Devinney's Testimony

The St. Louis Times gives the following as the statement of Devinney, the umpire at Louisville, concerning an attempt made by McManus, the manger of the St. Louis Browns, to bribe him: "When I lived in St. Louis two years ago I was employed by the St. Louis management to take the Browns through a course of gymnasium practice. I am intimately acquainted with most all of the Brown Stocking players, and went to the Fourteenth Street Depot to meet them on the 10:50 train Tuesday morning. McManus came to me and said: 'I want to see you at the hotel' and wished me to ride up with him in his hack. I declined and walked up to the Louisville Hotel where I met him in the lobby. He asked me to his room, where he first treated me to a nice cigar. He then told me that if I would do the square thing for the Browns and wanted to make anything he would give me $250. If I would throw the two games to be played with the Louisville in their (the Browns) favor and if I would do the same thing in the two games to be played by the Browns in Louisville later in the season, he would give me $400, or $100 for each game. He said: 'I will give you $50 on the grounds after the first game and the rest at the hotel at night.' To accomplish all this he stated that all strikes must be called off Blong that were possible; that Devlin should be dealt with very strictly as regards called balls, so as to work him and the rest of the nine up so as to throw all the points in the Browns favor. McGeary, so McManus stated, was afraid of me, and so left him to do all the talking. McManus then took out a $100 bill and showed it to me, asking if it was not a big pile. I said, 'Yes, about as big as I've seen for some time.' He said: 'You might as well make it and come back to St. Louis well fixed; you can come there next year; I'll get you in as League Umpire and see that you are well taken care of.' I did not commit myself either one way or the other and after some further talk he said, 'Well, I expect you had better leave me now, Champman may catch you here, and it would not be safe for him to see you.' I did not come to any understanding with him. As I left he remarked, 'You do as I tell you and everything will be all right. All it requires is a little cheek.' After coming from McManus' room I meet Blong in the hotel rotunda, who said to me, 'Burtis is quite a sport and bets his money on the Browns. He told me to tell you that he had his money up on them in the Louisville games, and for you to do the fair thing by St. Louis' which simply amounted to my doing the unfair thing toward Louisville. I am willing to make a sworn affidavit to anything I have stated. The Louisville people have treated me so kindly that I did not have the heart to give them away, although to a poor man the temptation in the shape of so much money was very great."

-The New York Times, August 6, 1877


Devinney, one would assume, is P.H. Devinney, who David Nemec lists in The Great Encyclopedia of 19th Century Major League Baseball as a National League umpire in 1877. Of course, Joe Blong and Mike McGeary would get into a great deal of trouble over allegations of throwing games against the White Stockings later in the month. The irony of this situation is that the alleged victims of the fix was the Louisville club who were rather familiar with the culture of gambling and game-fixing.