Clipping:An openly professional picked nine match; hundreds of baseball professionals
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| Date | Sunday, November 10, 1867 |
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| Text | [picked nines from New York vs. New Jersey 11/6/1867] Playing ball for greenbacks has been a feature of the season’s contests; but this custom has thus far been confined to games played at fairs, for money-prizes. The evil result of this style of the game lies in the precedents it presents for playing games for so much a side, as in the prize-ring, horse-races, etc. The design of the National Association is to limit all contests to games in which the simple trophy of the ball is the incentive. If prizes are to be offered at fairs and public tournaments, let them be of as much intrinsic value as the parties offering them can afford; but let them be in the form of something connected with the game, such as a silver or gold ball, or a valuable set of colors, or costly medals, etc., but we should like to see this playing for greenbacks repudiated by clubs belonging to the Association. It may do for professionals who make the game a business, as hundreds do, but it is not the thing for amateur players, who play for amusement and health’s sake alone. The latest of these money-prize contests was that which came off on the Agricultural Fair Grounds, at Waverly, New Jersey, in which a number of players from New York and Newark were induced to take part. The match was played for $500, or $250 a side, the money, we presume, being contributed by the managers of the fair, who no doubt looked to the presence of a large crowd of spectators as a means of reimbursement for the outlay, and a profit on the investment. The chilly state of the weather, and the lack of due advertisement of the contest, led to a much less numerous attendance than anticipated. New York Sunday Mercury November 10, 1867 [picked nines from New York vs. New Jersey 11/6/1867] The managers of the late [New Jersey] State Fair were the getters up of the match, and $250 in greenbacks was offered as an inducement to players, to be equally divided between the two nines. New York Clipper November 16, 1867 |
| Source | New York Sunday Mercury |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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