Clipping:NL allegedly padding its attendance numbers with free passes
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| Date | Saturday, July 19, 1890 |
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| Text | The marked increase in the attendance at the National League games, as compared with the Players' League attendance, which took place upon the return of the teams to the East, and which gave League adherent such comfort, is attributed by the Players' League people to the use of passes in certain of the Eastern cities, to such a degree as to make the League games almost free to the public. These tales were denied in League quarters, but at Thursday's Players' League meeting in Philadelphia a number of these passes, regularly printed and dated, were exhibited, and some were distributed among newspaper men as proof that the charges of “free ball” had not been groundless. The cities in which it is charged passes are issued in quantities are Chicago, Boston, New York and Brooklyn. On this point the reporter of the Pittsburg Press who made the Eastern trip with the Pittburg team writes his paper: “The National League, for some unaccountable reason, seems to be universally padding its attendance by means of the free list system. I investigated this question and with the assistance of two letter carriers of the Boston post office force, am able to prove the assertion that the old League is doing the pass act to an almost reckless extent. The first carrier I speak of, with whom I am personally acquainted, had a pad of twenty-five tickets for distribution, and another carrier, to whom he introduced me, confirmed the statement that almost the entire letter carrier force had tickets, not only for their own use but for distribution among cigar stores, saloons and business houses.” Ward is of the positive opinion that the League magnates are striving with might and main to kill the game in order to lay the Players' League in the mire, hoping afterwards to rebuild it and to raise the new crop of enthusiasts and supporters. Ward says the cry of base ball being dead and the free ball scheme are all means toward the end the magnates seek. Ward's views are shared by all his Players' League colleagues. The Sporting Life July 19, 1890 [from Murnane's column] The Triumvirs got themselves most thoroughly disliked for years by refusing to admit even the mothers of some of the well-known League players to the games. What a change. Now the complimentary tickets are as free as water. Think of one man in Lynn having 900 of these “comps” sent to him for distribution. You can find them by the bunch at the police station houses, at the drug stores and about everywhere that people can be worked to “chin” for the old masters. The above is no guesswork and I can prove the charge and add to it ten-fold. It looks like one more desperate attempt to kill the game, for a time at least, with a hope of getting the chance later on to monopolize the business. I know for a a fact that the people who go to the League grounds free one day go to the Brotherhood grounds and pay the next day. There was a time when the League magnates were looked on as men well up in business affairs, but was there ever a body of men more thoroughly outwitted than they have been during the last six months? Outgeneraled at every turn, they have gone mad and are now cutting their own throats, like swimming pigs, as they manage to keep their heads above water. What is bound to be the ultimate outcome of all this bad management? I think I can tell, and my honest opinion is that the backers of the Players' League can see it as plain as I, viz.: Get together, strengthen up the lines in a way to leave no doubt of their determination to not only live and let live, but fight and fight hard and fast. Stop at no quarter until the men who would ruin a fair business rival are given a lesson they will not soon forget. Because A. G. Spalding and the Boston men have made two or three hundred thousand dollars out of the base ball business is that any reason they should expect to have the public always with them, whether right or wrong? I contend that it was the honest ball players that built up the game in this country, and as most of them are no in the Players' League, it must be a queer world, indeed, if they can be defeated. The Sporting Life July 19, 1890 [from J. F. Donnolly's column] Secretary Ebbetts can't stand the talk about “snow” being plentiful at Washington Park, and when Wendell Goodwin, of the Players' Club, was credited with talking of the free passes that had been given out by the National League Club, Charley broke loose and invited all the newspaper men to an inspection of his books. He did this on the spur of the moment and proved to the satisfaction of all that the visiting clubs had been paid their percentage on the basis of the figures given to the newspapers, which Mr. Ebbetts is willing to swear were correct in all instances. He showed by money receipts that from July 5 to 19 just forty-nine free tickets had been issued to every 1000 persons. He also declared that the number of complimentary books issued this season (196) was smaller than last year. The Sporting Life August 2, 1890 |
| Source | Sporting Life |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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