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[reporting the AA meeting 11/22] [the directors' meeting] The case of the Athletic Club was next taken up. It was shown that no salaries had been payed the players for some time previous to their protest. The club had also neglected to pay its dues to the Association, and it was also indebted to Toledo, Syracuse and Rochester to the extent of about $600 for guarantees. Mr. Taylor, representing the Athletic Club, was allowed to state his side o the case fully. He said that the old club was prepared to settle up with its creditors and would raise the money to put and maintain a good team in the field next season if it was permitted to retain the franchise. He was then asked to withdraw pending consideration of the question. After thoroughly discussing the matter it was finally decided to report unanimously in favor of the expulsion of the club.

[Yale vs. Brooklyn (NL) 4/3/1890] A preliminary ceremony was the raising of the American Association championship flag. The Yales joined hands with the Brooklyns at the rope, and as the great white banner was unfurled the spectators gave a hearty round of applause. The flag around the borders has forty-two small stars for the States of the union, and in one corner eight large stars for the clubs of the Association. In large capitals, extending the length of the flag, is the legend, “Champions, American Association, 1890.

Negotiations were resumed between the two Brooklyn clubs during the week, a meeting of the conference committees being held on Tuesday last, after which it was announced that the club had practically agreed upon terms. The difficulty hitherto had been over the grounds, the Brooklyn Players' club people insisting upon the consolidated team playing at Eastern Park, in order to further their real estate interest, which to them were far more important than their base ball interests.

The Brooklyn League people solved the trouble by proposing that they be given a controlling interest, say $30,000 in stock out of a capital of $40,000, in the consolidated club, in return for which they would give up Washington Park and play at Eastern Park. In plain terms, they proposed to absorb the Players' League club in return for vacating Washington Park, otherwise they would consolidate on equal terms and play at Washington Park. By this method of settlement the Brooklyn League people were virtually to secure the controlling interest in the Brooklyn Players' Club without putting out a cent in actual cash, while the Brooklyn Players' people would have no club, but would have somebody else's team play at their park and benefit from the increased railroad business which they control. The Sporting Life December 6, 1890

The two Brooklyn clubs are as yet no nearer a satisfactory settlement than they were a month ago, and the outlook for consolidation is not particularly bright. From an inside source we learn that Director Linton has the whip hand now in the matter, and that unless things go his way they consolidation deal will fail and the Brooklyn Players' Club remain as a separate organization either in the American Association or the rejuvenated Players' League. The Sporting Life December 13, 1890

[reporting the Brotherhood meeting 10/20 – 10/21] The general opinion also was that the new League should not have entered into conference with the National League on any other basis but that of compromise, which was a most elastic term, covering a wide range. Consolidation it was agreed should not have been considered at all, as that simply meant the wiping out of the Players' League and the substitution therefor of a new league, which would be the National League still, under another name, but the old conditions.

[reporting the Brotherhood meeting 10/20 – 10/21] The discussion also brought out the fact that should, by any chance, next season be again unprofitable to the capitalists, it would by no means be impossible to make some arrangement whereby the players would share the burden with the capitalists; at least, that was the sentiment of every delegate present, all of whom, however, felt sanguine that, war or no war, next season would find the Players' League on top and safely established.

A. J. Reach, the base ball supplies manufacturer, has purchased from Decker the entire right, title and interest in this glove, which is now worn universally by catchers, and has, in fact, become indispensable because with this glove such a thing as a broker finger is impossible and catching is made wonderfully easy. The new owner, Al Reach, of this city, has taken steps to fully protect by patent this invention, which is valuable because it is sure to be profitable, since the glove is bound to come into universal use and further improvement seems impossible.

Catcher Decker, of the Philadelphia League Club, whose catchers' glove has been a standard article of base ball equipment, has made a new glove, which is declared by experts to be the best thing in that line ever put on the market. Cuts of the glove will be found in our advertising columns, from which the reader will gain a pretty fair idea of what this indispensable article is like. With this glove injury to the hands is impossible and there can be no such thing as broken or mashed fingers or bruised palms with it, and, in the opinion of many experts, by its use one catcher can now do the work that formerly had to be shared by two or three. Clements, Schriver, Robinson, Collins and other League and Association catchers, are using this glove and its use is bound to become universal. It is manufactured by the A.J. Reach Co., 1113 Market street, Philadelphia, under the general supervision of catcher Decker, the inventor.

[an advertisement] The Irwin Glove Mitt, manufactured solely by Draper & Maynard, Ashland, N.H., was used last season by the following League catchers: Bennett, Ganzell, T. Daley, Mack, Murphy, Farrell, Con daily. Price, No. 1, Felt-lines, $6,00. No. 2, Leather-lined, $5.00. No. 3, Amateur, $4.00. For sale by all dealers. Send for catalogue. Arthur A. Irwin, 860 Dorchester Ave., Boston, Mass.

The final meeting of the League schedule committee was held to-day [3/6]. The sole business transacted was the adoption of a ten-club schedule, which was forced upon the organization by the refusal of the Indianapolis club to retire. The League early decided not to use coercive measures, and when it became evident that Indianapolis was in to stay, the last report was the adoption of the schedule. Each club plays a fewer number of games than in former years, and the basis of individual championship contests is figured on seven games in each city with the nine different organizations. The magnates of the League declare that the schedule suits them as well as a ten-club schedule could. Indianapolis Journal March 7, 1890

Several of the magnates were bound to go ahead with eight clubs, but, for once, the great men were confounded by the small ones. President Brush, physically speaking, is a midget alongside of Presidents Spalding and Soden, but from a mental stand-point he is more than the equal of these men. He held the key to the situation, but refused to unlock the combination that would retire him from base-ball and scatter his strong team to the four winds. He believes in getting something in return for the enterprise displayed in getting his strong force together. He, therefore, refused to listen to any dictation or overtures whereby Indianapolis was to be crushed. Indianapolis Journal March 10, 1890, quoting the New York Herald

If Washington is sincere in the oft-protested intention to continue there seems little danger of a freeze-out, for two reasons: one that the League, as stated above, will hesitate to take the radical action now that it would not take at the recent meeting, and another that it is extremely doubtful if it could summon the necessary two-thirds vote. Indianapolis has friends enough, if Washington has not, to make such a summary disposition of her team well nigh impossible. Indianapolis Journal March 16, 1890

With the 1 st of April all contract went into effect, and with that date, under the National Agreement, arrived the time when the men who had cast off allegiance to the League and defied the reserve rule would have to be proscribed, so far as National Agreement clubs are concerned. This was done in the form of the following notice in which the new players and men in rebellion are lumped with the old clubs, so that if the Players' League fails no other club but the old reserving club can employ the revoked players, and they will be thrown on the mercy of these clubs for reinstatement or relegation to obscurity:

“Washington, March 28.--The following named players under contract with, or reserved by club members of the National League, are ineligible to contract or play with any other organization during the season of 1890 unless released: [A complete list of reserved PL players follows]

[reporting the NL meeting of 11/12 – 11.15] The regular business of the meeting could have been settled within two days, but the meeting was prolonged two weary days through vainly waiting for the two Cleveland and two Brooklyn clubs to settle their affairs and effect consolidation or for either one to do so in order to give the League control of the stock of the Cincinnati Club, which was all the League needed to kill the Players' League. Neither club was able to do this and so the League had to adjourn without having either crushed out the Players' League or arranged for another peace conference with it. In Brooklyn such a difference arose between the two clubs over the details of the consolidation that all negotiations were suspended and the Players' club cast its lot with the Players' League. In the Cleveland matter the League club would not agree to Johnson's terms, while the latter would do nothing unless his fellow-capitalists in Philadelphia, Boston and Brooklyn were taken care of, and so nothing was accomplished.

When The Sporting Life went to press last Friday afternoon the Leauge meeting was still in progress at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, in New York City. The delegates re-assembled at ten o'clock and remained in continuous session until ten o'clock Saturday morning. The most of the time was taken up with the case of the Cincinnati Club, against which charges had been preferred the day previous by John T. Brush, who wanted the franchise for himself, provided the old club could be gotten rid of by the League.

After an exhaustive study of the previsions of the constitution, the mode of procedure was mapped out and followed in a businesslike way. The new board of directors—N. E. Young, J. Palmer O'Neill, A. J. Reach and John B. Day—acted on the charges as presented by Mr. Brush and found that they had not been disproved. They thereupon reported back to the regular meeting, which had taken a brief recess while the board was deliberating. In consequence the Cincinnati Club, which one brief year ago had been admitted to membership 'mid the clinking of glasses and plaudits of the old stand-bys, was ignominiously expelled. Not a dissenting vote was cast. A brief breathing-spell was taken, and then the application of John T. Brush for the vacant franchise was taken up....

Then, still adhering to form, J. Palmer O'Neill and Frank Robinson were appointed a committee to dispose of the franchise. This was done over a bottle of ginger ale, and John T. Brush, the wheel horse of the League in the early part of the fight, secured the right to put a club in Porkopolis the coming season.

Mr. Brush would not say who the Cincinnati capitalists are, but stated that their names would appear in due time. Each of the other clubs has agreed to give over from one to three players to the new organization if terms cannot be agreed upon with the Players' League syndicate, which now holds the reins of the old club. The League also confiscated the $1000 which Aaron Stern put into its guarantee fund and will also probably sue Mr. Stern on a $5000 bond which he entered to remain in the League. John T. Brush also holds one or two notes given by Aaron Stern in connection with the Indianapolis deal last spring, and he will sue these out.

[dateline Indianapolis] The directors of the Indianapolis Baseball Club state to-night [2/20] that negotiations for the sale of the club to New York are pending. The sale, they say, was to have been completed to-day, but up to a late hour to-night no message has been received from President Brush

Mr. Brush’s price for all his League rights and his eighteen players under contract is $67,000. The directors think he will be able to get every dollar he asks.

Since the Cleveland meeting Brush has been quietly carrying on negotiations for the sale of the club. He made one trip east, and last Monday he and Director Schmidt went to Chicago to see President Spaulding. Last night they left that city for the East, presumably for New York.

The stay-at-home owners of the club, Messrs. Meyer, Jameson, McCutcheon and Mayer, say the sale is not made because they feared the club would be forced out, but because they foresaw that they would lose money under the schedule. They figured that the club could not be kept up with less than fourteen hundred people to witness each game played. Last year the average attendance was not over one thousand.

I saw Glasscock to-night. He said he had heard nothing from Brush, but was hourly expected a telegram. “I do not believe the club has been sold yet,” said he. “Because Brush promised to wire me as soon as the deal was complete.”

...

The Indianapolis citizens are indignant over the sale. They charge that Brush has been raising the public sentiment to force a big price from the purchasers. New York Herald March 21, 1890

...A ten-club league, it was claimed, would never do, and it was stated to him very forcibly that unless he accepted the terms offered, there was but one alternative, and that was to vote him out. After twenty-four hours of consideration Mr. Brush reluctantly consented to the League's proposal. It was to purchase the players, but allow him to retain the franchise. Just what amount was paid is not known, but it is generally thought that it was in the neighborhood of $40,000. The disposition of the Washington club was of but little consequence to that of the Hoosiers. It was well understood that Mr. Hewitt could place himself where he was liable to make a little money this season, and that he had already made an application for membership in the Athletic [sic] Association. The result was the franchise of the Washington Club was bought by the League, but the players were retained.

In an interview with a Journal reporter, shortly after the negotiations were closed, Mr. Brush said: “This is an unpleasant position that I have been placed in, I must confess. I have almost assured the people of Indianapolis that I would keep the club in the League, but what was I to do? I was told that I had no other alternative but to retire. I told the League exactly how matters stood in Indianapolis, but that did not help matters any. When I found that the Club would have to go my object was to make the best arrangements possible, and I think I have succeeded. The franchise I retain, and therefore, at the first opportunity, Indianapolis will be found again in the League.” Indianapolis Journal March 23, 1890

The [Indianapolis Club] has resigned from the old organization with the understanding that if ever there is an opening in the League the Hoosier capital is to have the first opportunity to re-enter. In fact Indianapolis has not forfeited its franchise to the magnates, but has, for a financial consideration, agreed to transfer its players, who are virtually the League’s property, to that organization. The Sunday Item Philadelphia March 23, 1890

There will be no trouble among the players over salaries. That questions was all settled before Brush went away from Indianapolis a week ago. Said Glasscock this morning: “Before Brush went away he called us together and the matter of transfer to New York was discussed. He foresaw that he was going to be forced to sell and, of course, he wanted to know whether we would consent to the transfer, and what salaries we would demand from New York. Our propositions made though him have doubtless been accepted or the transfer would be announced. Indianapolis News March 24, 1890

Indianapolis and Washington have been dropped from the National Base-ball League. It was a terrible blow to those two clubs, but as President Hewitt, of the Washington Club, remarked, “It was the salvation of the League.” Mr. Brush fought earnestly and against great odds to be retained. He met the conference committee appointed at Cleveland—Robinson, Soden and Spalding—at the Fifth-avenue Hotel, on Thursday night, and told them distinctly that it was demanded by the patrons of the game in Indianapolis that the club should remain in the League. The committee, however, just as earnestly told him that that was impossible. A ten-club league, it was claimed, would never do, and it was stated to him very forcibly that unless he accepted the terms offered, there was but one alternative, and that was to vote him out. After twenty-four hours consideration Mr. Brush reluctantly consented to the League's proposal. It was to purchase the players, but allow him to retain the franchise. Indianapolis Journal March 24, 1890

The magnates refused to reveal the nature of their conference, but stated that it would be given out in a day or two. It can be stated for a fact, however, Indianapolis and Washington have sold their franchises to the League, and their players have been divided among the other clubs. New York secures Glasscock, Denny, Bassett, Hines, Buckley and Rusie, while Pittsburg will get as many of the others as are wanted. The cost of the six players to the New York Club is nearly $40,000. The Sporting Life March 26, 1890

The money required to induce Indianapolis and Washington to withdraw nor the terms of surrender were not divulged and will not be, the League delegates being pledged to secrecy. It is believed, however, that the amount is close to $80,000, and that this burden was assumed by the League as a whole. Of this amount Indianapolis gets the bulk, as Washington had only a franchise to sell. Both clubs will, it is believed, continue as members of the League; that is, their resignations will be allowed to lie without action and they will thus be members of the League without being scheduled for games, thus holding their territory under the National Agreement. This is simply a repetition of the smooth trick by which Detroit was enabled to pose as the ninth member of the League until all of its reserved players had been sold and coerced into accepting such disposition as had been made of them.

The League also disposed of the Indianapolis players. Nine of the men were assigned to New York and their contracts were at once delivered by President Brush, who had signed the men for New York more than a week previous at bonuses ranging from $800 to $5000. This shows that an understanding existed, even while Mr. Brush was assuring Indianapolis people that the club would remain in the League, and selling season tickets on the strength of this assertion and the Hoosier public's belief in his professions. The Sporting Life April 2, 1890

historical player salaries

The appended table is compiled from the League’s ledgers and shows the salaries paid to the players since the much discussed reserve rule went into effect in 1881. There is one feature of it that is certain to attract particular attention, and that is the increase of salary that invariably followed the transfer or “sale” of a player from one club to another. It is indicated in the table by a star, and shows that the players derived material benefit from such transactions. [See table] the Sunday Item Philadelphia March 23, 1890 [See also Spalding NL Guide 1890 pp. 17-23.]

The League is soon to take a flank movement on the Brotherhood. … If there is not a flag of truce raised in Brotherhood quarters the League will go on with the war of extermination. To more successfully conduct their campaign the League leaders will wipe out a rule that has hitherto proved a handicap. In short, it is the intention of the League clubs which lost some of their players by the revolt to waive their reserve claim to such players. In other words, any League player in Brotherhood company can be signed by any League club that wants him.

The National League is now upon a new tack to achieve its purpose of breaking down and swallowing up the Players' League. It appears that since Wednesday, when the joint committee was broken up by the refusal of the League and Association committees to confer with the ball players... the League magnates and their counselor, Allan W. Thurman, have been working upon individual capitalists of the Players' League, with a view to effecting a consolidation here and there and then breaking up the Players' League piecemeal. In this work the New York capitalists, who appear determined to quit, regardless of consequences to all others whom they induced to enter the business and stay therein, are apparently lending much valuable assistance, if the New York papers are to be believed. Evidently the Players' League is not yet out of danger from its own people. The Sporting Life October 25, 1890

...the danger to the Players' League is not yet over, because there is still an element of discord and dissatisfaction in the new League, while the old League presents an apparently united and still aggressive front. The National League realizes that it cannot now crush out the Players' League by force, and will henceforth exert all of its cunning and skill to effect by diplomacy what it failed to achieve by force. Balked in its first attempt to absorb the most desirable clubs of the Players' League and fashion the rest into a secondary and servile league, ti will, in all probability, now seek to accomplish in part what it failed to accomplish in entirety.

The news from New York to-day would indicate that the League people are already at work upon the new line of dismembering the Players' League piecemeal, and that they probably count upon the assistance of the New York Players' League contingent, which appear determined to carry its point of consolidation and force an issue regardless of consequences to the League as a whole. So the Players' League is not yet quite out of the hole into which it fell when it consented to enter into negotiations with the League upon a consolidation instead of a compromise basis, and it will have to keep a careful eye upon the situation and be prepared to meet new assaults, from time to time, in various and perhaps unexpected quarters. The Sporting Life October 25, 1890

[from R. M. Larner's column] I am informed that the League is prepared to advance money to the amount of $30,000 to such clubs as may need assistance before the present season terminates. When it was discovered that the Brotherhood had determined to make the fight the League magnates called a meeting, at which it was agreed that under the existing circumstances it would be almost impossible for the League to go through the season without losing money. It was proposed that each club should advance a certain amount to form a guarantee fund, which aggregated $20,000. if I was correctly advised a large hole has already been made in the guarantee fund, and another assessment of $1000 has been levied upon the various clubs. The last assessment was not made because the funds in the League treasury are low, but because the League has always made it a rule to have a large and substantial sum in the treasurer's sock in case of an emergency. I believe President Young could draw his check, as representative of the League, for many thousand dollars and have it honored, as I am aware that he has a snug surplus in a local bank.

`In answer to questions about , otherwise known as the “corruption fund,” Colonel Rogers said: “This fund is the accumulation of five years at the rate of $1,000 per year for each club. We now have $40,000 and at our last meeting it was voted to increase this to $200,000. President Young has the control of the entire fund, which is now invested in government bonds.

“The only use to which the fund can be put is to defray proper legal expenses. This includes attorney fees. I am chairman of the law committee and we are the only ones who can draw on the fund and then only for proper and legitimate expenses.

“What any club pays out in bonuses or advance money is a matter of their own and does not concern the League as a whole. Not a cent of the fund has ever been sued for any such purpose nor can it ever be drawn on with that intention.

[a letter to the editor from “B”] The National League's declaration that the present fight was one of extermination and that it was in it to stay is being borne out by its actions. When the Brotherhood took up the fight its best friends said that if the League won it would b by superior legislation. The magnates who have controlled the game for years are certainly shrewd men, and in the present fight it is known that they would stop at nothing to effect the removal of their troublesome rivals from the field. On the surface it looks as though a scheme was being hatched worthy of the genius and shrewdness of Richelieu. A few days ago Mr. Spalding came out boldly and expressed the opinion that the game was dead for the time being. Simultaneously Byrne, of Brooklyn, Stern, of Cincinnati; Day, of New York; Robison, of Cleveland, and Nimick, of Pittsburg, rushed into print with the same statement. While Mr. Spalding was sincere in his first statement, he seems to have given the cue to the League for its future action. There can be but one inference, and that is that the league has adopted a desperate measure, involving the death, for the time being at least, of the national pastime.

It strikes me that their idea is to kill all interest in the sport and then freeze the Brotherhood out by playing to empty benches. The Brotherhood is paying big salaries, and besides was under enormous expense in fitting up grounds in the cities of its circuit. The old League men argue that if, with less expense, they can kill the game and then worry along until the Brotherhood backers have tired of their bargain, then they will remain sole masters of the situation and will reorganize on a more economical basis. Left alone in possession of the field, they will proceed to build up the game with low salary limits and will in a few years make back their losses. Their plan is certainly a far-reaching one. The League magnates, of course, deny that they have any such purpose, but their whole course points to it.

If any business man went around the country telling people that his business was dead, that there was no demand for his goods, but that he proposed to run his store because he had a pride in it and was willing to lose a lot of money in it, he would be considered crazy, and justly so. When men are in a losing business they are the last ones to say so. Yet the League magnates are going out of their way to advertise the fact that their business is dead. It is a situation almost without a parallel in the history of sport. The League announces that in the whole course of its existence it clubs had declared dividends amounting to $155,000, while it declares that some of its clubs have lost over that amount. If certainly looks rather queer that if base ball is such an unprofitable venture the League should make such a desperate attempt to hold on to it. There can be but one surmise, and that is that the old League, in some quarters at least, has been making money and sees prospects of more in the future. The League magnates are all business men, and as such would not hold on to a losing venture unless they felt that in the future there would be some chance to make back their losses.

It is known that even before the Brotherhood outbreak the League had fully determined to take up the high salary evil and correct it. Here its magnates see an opportunity to bring salaries down at one clever stroke. If the Brotherhood can be wiped out and all interest killed for the time being in the game, it would be easy to cut salaries down to a low level and by stringent legislation keep them there. Then there would be big money in the game. It looks like a conspiracy of gigantic proportions. The magnates are playing a very desperate game.

John B. Day of the New York National League Club is doing what he can toward fracturing the national agreement in the case of Mike Lehane. Two weeks ago Lehane signed a contract that he would play with the Columbus Club at a stated salary if Manager Buckenberger could secure his release from Buffalo on or before Feb. 10. The deal was made yesterday [2/4] and Lehane notified that his terms were accepted and a contract would be forwarded immediately. Secretary White of the International League to-day notified Vice-President Lazarus of the Columbus Club that his offer for the release of Lehane had been accepted by the Buffalo management, and authorized him to treat with Lehane as to terms.

This afternoon that player telegraphed here [Columbus]: “Do not negotiate my release from Buffalo as I will not play with Columbus.” The efforts of Day and Mutrie to secure Lehane were well known and Mr. Lazarus wired both gentlemen that Columbus had purchased Lehane in a regular way from Buffalo, and warned them against treating with him any further on pain of violating the national agreement. President Phelps was then informed of the status of the matter, and he he at once promulgated the contract of Lehane with the Columbus Club. It is known that Mutrie offered the player a fabulous salary to play with New York. The trouble is the New York magnates were outwitted and are now endeavoring to get Lehane to renounce his obligations. He will be held by Columbus at all hazards. New York Sun February 6, 1890

“It is the first time I ever knew that a player under contract and reserve could sign a personal contract to play elsewhere,” said President Day of the New York Club. “This appears to be the state of affairs as the Columbus officials present it, in the case of Mike Lehane. No: It can't be done, and further, I can say that as soon as Lehane is released by the buffalo Club he will be signed to play with the New Yorks. New York Sun February 7, 1890

[reporting the NL special meeting of 10/9] While the delegates were indulging in their discussion a request for a hearing was received from Mr. Allen W. Thurman, of Columbus, O., who represented the Columbus Club and had been for days busily engaged in acting as a mediator with a view to bringing about a conference between the National and Players' leagues. Mr. Thurman was admitted and made a long appeal for a conference and compromise. He had, he said, had a number of conferences with the Players' League officials and had gained their consent to a conference, if the League could be induced to appoint a committee to meet a similar committee of the Players' League. Mr. Thurman also outlined a plan for combining the three present major leagues into two leagues, upon which basis the Players' League people were at least willing to confer.

Mr. Thurman's proposition for a conference was then discussed for hours by the League delegates. A decidedly hostile spirit towards compromise was shown at first by a majority of the League men, some of shoe who had suffered the most being most bitterly opposed to any deal whatever with the Players. The matter was discussed until 4 o'clock, when a recess was taken. The delegates came together again at 5 o'clock and consumed several more hours in discussion. Finally wiser counsels prevailed, and a big step was taken towards a solution of the base ball problem by the passage of the following resolution:

Resolved, That Messrs. A. G. Spalding, John B. Day and C. H. Byrne constitute a conference committee of three to confer with a similar committee of the American Association to meet the committee which we have been advised has been appointed by the Players' League, consisting of Messrs. E. B. Talcott, Wendell Goodwin and A. L. Johnson, and said committee is hereby requested to report the result of such conference to this meeting at its earliest convenience.

The delegates then adjourned until 10 o'clock to-day, when the report of the conference committee will be received.

While the League was debating the appointment of a conference committee, a number of Players' League magnates were domiciled at the St. James' Hotel, one block up Broadway, awaiting the outcome. Those present were Johnson Talcott, Goodwin, Ward and the Wagner brothers. When notice was received that eh League had appointed a conference committee, a meeting was held, at which a conference committee consisting of Al Johnson, E. Talcott and Wendell Goodwin was appointed and the subject of compromise fully considered and a plan of action outlined. The committee then proceeded to the Fifth Avenue, and at 9 o'clock was closeted with the League committee in the famous Parlor F. whose walls, could they speak, would reveal many base ball secrets.

Messrs. Spalding, Day and Byrne represented the League; Johnson, Talcott and Goodwin the Players' League, and Thurman, Barnie and Von der Ahe the American Association. The meeting organized by electing Mr. Thurman chairman and Mr. Byrne secretary. Mr. Thurman started the ball rolling by an eloquent speech, in which he demonstrated the absolute necessity of peace and a readjustment of the base ball business. He then, as a basis for reconstruction, proposed a consolidation of the existing three leagues into two stronger organizations. His scheme was to bunch the three leagues, leaving two clubs in Boston, Philadelphia, and perhaps Chicago, consolidate the duel clubs in New York, Brooklyn, Pittsburg, Cleveland and Chicago, and then regroup them into two organizations under new names; one organized to comprise Boston, new York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Cleveland, Chicago and Cincinnati; the other to take in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, or some other Eastern city, and Louisville, Chicago, Columbus and St. Louis.

… [a long discussion follows over the names of the two leagues, and a tentative agreement about locating the clubs, with two-club cities to work it out between themselves]

This was as far as the committee could go, as they had no power to bind their respective organizations to anything, the object of the meeting being merely to agree upon a general plan and report the same to their organizations for adoption or rejection and settlement of details. As neither the Players' League nor the American Association was fully or authoritatively represented, it was decided to defer any further consideration of the subject until the committees of those two organizations could confer with their respective bodies. Therefore it was decided to adjourn the conference until Oct. 22, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. [A resolution follows where everyone agrees not to poach any players before Oct. 22.]

In the new schedule adopted by the National League this obstinate organization has unmistakably thrown down the gage of battle to the Players' League, as this schedule is a fighting schedule through and through. Dates are made to conflict with the Brotherhood on every possible occasion. In New York Ewing and his men will play only eight of their seventy home games without opposition on the League ground. In Brooklyn Ward and his team have only seven open dates. In Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Cleveland and Chicago it is just the same—strife, conflict, warfare from start to finish. The plan of the League magnates is apparent. They will meet the Brotherhood in a hand-to-hand fight and will leave it to the people to decide which shall survive. The Sporting Life April 2, 1890

[editorial matter] The purpose of the League is plain. It is not, as might be supposed, to refer the dispute to public arbitration and to compel the supporters of the game to choose between it and the Players' League by giving it no opportunity through a non-conflicting schedule to support both liberally, because the League knows that for an entire season, at least, its unequal and experimental teams will prove no match for the admittedly powerful and well-equalized teams of the Players' League—teams which are collectively the strongest in point of skill and prestige ever concentrated into an eight-club League. No, the calculation of the League is to cripple the new League financially no matter how much it may suffer itself, and thus end the war and choke off business rivalry in one season no matter what the cost. The League has the wealth accumulated during past seasons of successful monopoly, while the Players' League, new to the business, has had no opportunity of creating sinking funds, has been put to the extraordinary expenses always incidental to organization, necessarily depleting its capital. The League can, therefore, easier afford to lose heavily than the Players' League can afford in its first experimental season to lose at all, especially as in the League the losses would fall on a few individuals, while in the players' League, under its cooperative principles, losses would have to be shared by many and perhaps involve the players. It will thus be seen that the League's object is to conflict wherever possible, no matter what the loss to itself, simply to divert enough patronage from its rival to prevent a profit on the season and thus to sicken the stockholders in the new League, to discourage the investment of further capital, to compel recourse to other than the gate receipts, to chill the enthusiasm and arouse the fears of the players, and to pave the way for their defection and for those internal dissension, from which alone, aside from financial disaster, the National League can hope for the overthrow of the west-organized Players' League. There is no bluff about this, as some may unwisely consider it, but a cunningly-conceived and well-executed plan of campaign, which will be carried out to the bitter end with the League's characteristic energy and persistence.

This is the fell purpose of the League that confronts the Players' League men, and they must look it full in the face and bend all their energies to defeat it. Two alternatives present themselves—one to accept the issue and take all the chances of a battle on the lines laid down by the League; the other, to avoid the issue and adopt a new schedule. To go on with the fight as it stands means probable loss; the Players' League is almost certain to vastly outdraw the National League teams as the latter are now constituted, but the new League will need a large patronage, indeed, to realize the financial expectations of its backers and players, and if the League can divert enough patronage to defeat those expectations the consequence may prove as disastrous as the League evidently calculates.

To decline the League's open challenge to battle and adopt a new schedule would perhaps look like a confession of weakness repugnant to the combative instinct in the new League,and perhaps a disappointment to that small portion of the public which likes to witness a Kilkenny cat-fight. It might also afford League partisans a chance to do some crowing. But what of that? The Players' League was not organized to fight the National League, but to establish itself in the base ball business, to give the best possible exhibition of ball, and to profit thereby; to accomplish this purpose it need but consider its own necessities first, always with an eye to the future, without knocking chips off shoulders or indulging in fights with all who choose to challenge it to battle for the edification of the outsiders who have no more material interest in the war than a spectator at a dog fight. If the Players' League shall, upon deliberation find that, all things considered, its best course would be to avoid such a battle as the League insists upon forcing upon it, it should bravely adopt such a course and leave its vindication to an intelligent public, which has its eye upon the situation, does its own thinking, and which has hitherto plainly indicated that it is not in sympathy with the League's method of crushing out business competition. The Sporting Life April 2, 1890

[reporting the PL meeting 11/12] Talk of consolidation was then again taken up. The old conference committee was discharged and a new one appointed, consisting of Messrs. Prince, Johnson and Ward. In explaining the duties of the conference committee, Secretary Brunell said:-- “The committee is simply to arbitrate on matters of base ball law regarding our League and any outside club or organization. Of course, in that respect it can never be called upon to act. It is also empowered to confer with representatives of the National League as well as other leagues, and if the same gentlemen had been on our recent conference committee instead of others, the Players' League wouldn't have received such a crack on the jaw.” The Sporting Life November 15, 1890

...Then the suggestion was made that the conference committee appointed the day before be instructed to reopen negotiations with the League.

The New York delegates favored this and argued long and hard for it. Opposition still continued, Boston particularly objecting, but suddenly J. Earle Wagner took the bull by the horns and declared that the men who had the most money invested, and therefore the most at stake, were the men to settle the question, and that he had decided to vote for another conference with the National League. Mr. Wagner's declaration was like a bomb shell, especially to the Boston mean, and for a moment a pin could have been heard to drop. Mr. Johnson quickly fell into line with Wagner, and the question was settled.

It was decided that the committee should leave for New York that evening accompanied by Judge Bacon, Director Robinson and J. Earle Wagner, and the League was notified of the action taken and of the committee's advent in New York Thursday. It was also agreed that all should stand together. It is also stated that the New York Club agreed to stand by the Players' League in case the promises and agreements made for settlement were not lived up to by the League, or else make good itself. The Sporting Life November 15, 1890

[reporting the PL meeting 11/12] John M. Ward had little to say after the meeting. His disgust, however, was deep, and he declined to go East, although a member of the conference committee. He saw clearly that a settlement was desired by the majority of the remaining capitalists, and would no doubt be reached, and he did not feel warranted either in exerting himself in its behalf or doing anything to obstruct it by his presence. He was satisfied to take a rest and let matters take their course. He left of Uniontown, Pa., in the evening for a few days' shooting. The Sporting Life November 15, 1890

The latest and biggest sensation of the season was the report that the Players' League had been negotiating with the Cincinnati League Club with a view to purchasing it, bag and baggage. It was a great scheme, entirely worthy of the men who are so skillfully guiding the destinies of the new Players' League, and would have proved a master stroke of policy, as it would have rounded out the Players' league circuit nicely, made a serious breach in the National League circuit, weakened the latter organization in the West, and correspondingly strengthened the new League in that section, and would undoubtedly have placed the Players League in position to dictate terms to its rival.

But unfortunately for the Players' League the deal could not be completed, and at this writing does not seem likely to be, owing in the first place to premature publication, and in the second place to the characteristic acquisitiveness of the gentlemen who control the Cincinnati Club—Messrs. Aaron Stern and Harry Sterne—same name, but not related, thought hey stand each other off like real brothers when a deal for mutual advantage is concerned.

Negotiations were commenced a good while back between the party of the first part—Messrs. Stern and Sterne—and the party of the second part—the Players' League. The Players' League first offered the Cincinnatians inducements to enter the Players' League next season. This was declined, as both men are League men in sentiment—Harry Sterne particularly so. Then a bluff was made about putting a rival club into Cincinnati and the field was looked over by a committee. The Cincinnati men, however, didn't scare worth a cent, but got right down to business by offering to sell if the Players' League wanted the club so very badly. After a good deal of backing and filling Mr. Stern Mr. Stern named a big price, but when the Players' League indicated a willingness to buy at the figures named the other partner, Mr. Sterne, put in his oar, presumably without a previous arrangement with Stern (our readers should not fail to bear in mind that one of the partners has a final e to his name, which constitutes the only difference between them), and the deal came to a halt. More correspondence then followed, and as fast as one partner was satisfied the other bobbed up with a new objection, until between them the worthy Cincinnatians managed to exactly double the price on the Players' League.

The latter thought it needed the Cincinnati Club badly enough to meet even the last raise, and accordingly a meeting of the Players' League was held in New York a week and a half ago at which the mater was carefully considered and a definite price fixed beyond which the Players' League would absolutely decline to go. Messrs. Brunell and Johnson and Editor Dickinson, of the New York World, then wended their way to ST. Louis last Wednesday week to interview the elusive senior partner and clinch the bargain. They felt sure of success, but other people who realized better with whom the guileless Players' League men would have to deal, were not quite so sanguine.

And the latter were correct in their surmises. Stern and Sterne had slept a night—several nights, in fact—over their last offer to the Players' League, and according to their notion their plant had certainly increased in value while they slept. Accordingly, when the Players' League delegates met Mr. Stern—without the final e—in St. Louis last Friday they were fairly paralyzed when the affable little Cincinnati man, in his usual courtly manner, explained to them that owing to his partner's unwillingness to sell, etc., etc., he was unable to deliver the goods, etc. etc., and that the only way to appease that perverse partner was to once more double the price—take it or leave it. Here was a poser that incontinently brought the deal to a halt, as the Players' League had made up its mind how far it would go and the committee had its limit, beyond which it could not go. There was, therefore, no alternative except to leave St. Louis without accomplishing anything and declare the deal off. Accordingly after frankly telling the newspapers just how the case stood the committee disbanded, Johnson going home to Cleveland, Dickinson to New York and Brunell to Buffalo, where he will reorganize the local club. The Sporting Life September 27, 1890

The hitch in the Cincinnati deal has been overcome, as the Players' League, in its anxiety to obtain control of the one city which they imagined they needed to round out their circuit and seriously cripple the League, finally acceded to the exorbitant demands of Stern and Sterne, and bought the club, bag and baggage, at the figures of the Cincinnati magnates. It was not to be given out what the price paid for the franchise, ground and players' contracts was, but Mr. Stern in his latest interview stated that he had demanded $46,000, of which $30,000 was to be paid down and $16,000 at a stipulated future time. When the Players' League committee went to St. Louis they were prepared to purchase at $40,000, and that is about the sum the deal cost the Players' League men. The Sporting Life October 4, 1890

According to agreement the representatives of the Players' league met Messrs. Stern and Sterne, of the Cincinnati Club, in Cincinnati, Oct. 4, and completed the deal whereby the Cincinnati Club was transferred to the Players' League syndicate. … It required the entire day to settle the various details of the transfer, and it was not until 8 o'clock in the evening that the deal was completed, the consideration being $40,000, $20,000 of which was paid in cash and $20,000 in five sequential notes, payable on the first day of June, July, August, September and October next. These notes bear the personal endorsement of Messrs. Johnson, Talcott, Col. McAlpin and other responsible people. The Sporting Life October 11, 1890 [See also a long account from Dickinson of the NY World on the events leading up to the deal.]

[from Brunell's column] No one knows, outside the chiefs of the old and new leagues, how nearly gone the old one was and how ready to do business in the line of saving themselves the old people were when Messrs. Johnson, Talcott and Goodwin walked into that parlor at the Fifth Avenue for the first conference. In an hour Messrs. Talcott and Goodwin had shown the National League people how poor we were, and then it was a case of a one broken man outbluffing the other. We were in it at that angle. The old folks had their own game going then. The proper conference committee could have paved the way for a fair and beautiful settlement that evening, for the National League people had no idea but that we were all right financially and they knew how disfigured their own features were. They were ready to do anything, wipe out name, consolidate, compromise, receive players and everything else. But when it dawned upon them that we were as financially defaced as they themselves their game was easy. Then came individual dickering, distrust and the condition of things as they exist to-day.

[reporting the NL meeting of 3/4-3/5/1890] [a letter from Brunell outlining the PL tour dates] There will be no material changes in this schedule as it stands. The outline is sent so that the National League can, should it so choose, avoid conflicting with our clubs in the cities of Boston, New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Cleveland and Chicago.

May I also suggest that the National League adopt a resolution permitting its clubs to play against those of the Players' National League before and after the championship season of both leagues? Such permission being granted, it would also be necessary for the National League to repeal its un-American resolution which “boycotts” all clubs playing against those of our organization, as well as any clubs which may play with a club which has played against a Players' National League club....

…

The communication was tabled without discussion, it not being deemed proper to recognize it, considering the spirit in which it was offered. When it was tabled one of the delegates remarked:--”We shall not take formal notice of the Brotherhood organization in just that way. When we do take notice of anything it will be of individual players; not of the organization.

[reporting the PL special meeting of 4/2/1890] Before the meeting there was a division of opinion concerning the advisability of making a rdical change in the schedule, but the majority seem to think that a change would look like weakness and that anyhow if a change was made the League would also change its schedule again. This impression was strengthened by an alleged interview with President Robison, of the Cleveland Club, telegraphed from that city, in which that official was made to say that the League had in effect anticipated a change by the Players' League and had determined to meet any change by a like change in order to keep up the conflict. This interview was immediately offset by Col. John I. Rogers, who said:-- “Mr. Robison is expressing the views of the Cleveland Club only. The League made its schedule without regard to that made by the Players, and I am certain that no important change will be made, no matter what the Players may do.”

However, the war spirit predominated, especially among the players, who, of course, are less conservative than the capitalists, and when the meeting assemble there was hardly any debate upon the question, and the only change made was upon John M. Ward's motion to advance the first series two days, so that instead of starting on April 21, the first games will be played on April 19, 21, 22 and 23. April 24 was left open so as to allow a club the privilege of playing an extra or postponed game, making five games in the first series.

[quoting Frank Brunell] If it is necessary , the League clubs will play among themselves; but we think we can secure games with some of the minor league organizations. You will find that before long they will be switching away from that protection which costs $250 a year, and play with clubs that will make them the most money. Then, again, we will guarantee them all the protectoral rights necessary without demanding a penny.

Because the Central Labor Union, of New York, endorsed the Players' League the League organ in New York called its members a “few socialistic workmen.” of course, the exponent of base ball monopoly can have no use for organized labor in any form.

[reporting on the upcoming PL Directors special meeting scheduled for 5/30] Several days ago two club members asked that a special meeting of the Board be called. They wanted the schedule changed. Their plan was to jump the East to the West immediately after the present series with the Western clubs, instead of playing the East against the East, according to the present schedule. Their argument was that by avoiding conflicting dates they would please the public, which is not in love with the present war of extermination. The proposition was telegraphed, and from the remaining six clubs came the strongest remonstrance. The majority claimed that the new League is no way responsible for the present state of affairs, and that in the event of a change peace would not be assured, for the National League might follow the change and continue the conflict.

They said sentiment or pride has nothing to do with their decision. They believe, for business reasons, that any change would be unwise. The two clubs who had desired a change were satisfied to drop their proposition, but before all the answers had been received a call for the meeting had been issued, President McAlpin thinking it would be well for the Board to come together for the purpose of discussing the situation. The new League has within six months established valuable franchises in eight cities, and the clubs are in excellent financial condition. In fact, notwithstanding the execrable weather, most of them have made money. The gentlemen backing the players have decided to resist all attempts of the National League to establish a monopoly of professional base ball clubs.

The special meeting of the Central Board of Directors of the Players League was held according to announcement in our last issue in New York City last night, and the result is that the schedule was not changed. The meeting was held at the request of John M. Ward, who wanted to be quite sure that everybody was satisfied with the progress of the campaign and to give those who wanted a change a chance to make their plea. Personally, Ward leaned towards a change if by such a change any breaks in the line could be averted or a weak club helped along. The result of the meeting showed that no break need be anticipated, and that every club was getting along well and perfectly satisfied to fight the battle out on the lines laid down.

…

Philadelphia and Cleveland were the only clubs which favored a change. The New York, Brooklyn, Chicago and Boston clubs were unalterably opposed to any change, and instructed their delegates to vote accordingly. They were determined not to show the white feather at any stage, even if it should become necessary to come to the assistance of such clubs as should need it, which, judging from the reports received, is not likely to happen. After a very full discussion of the situation, it was unanimously decided to make no change whatever during the season.

When asked why the Players' League had not bid against its competitor for men in the market Mr. Ward said that it would not be fair to the honest players who had accepted the new League's terms, which gave the players the same salary as in 1889. These players, he said, would not be discriminated against by paying more to those who were using the quarrel between the leagues to secure exorbitant salaries.

Workman began laying out the lines last Monday for the grounds of the new Players' League club in [New York]. They are at Eighth avenue and One Hundred and Fifty-seventh and One Hundred and Fifty-ninth streets, extending from the avenue line back to the bluff, a distance of 800 feet. The grand stand will be situated under the bluff and the men will bat toward Eighth avenue. There will be room for carriages and any amount of space for spectators. Tim Keefe says “it will be the finest ground in the world.” Architect David W. King will have the work in charge. The specifications provide for a double-decker grand stand seating from 6000 to 7000 people, with opera chairs, and free seats fro 14,000 people. The stand in form will resemble the present one at the Polo Grounds. There will be a carriage driveway on One Hundred and Fifty-ninth street, and on either side of it will be club houses for the players, fitted with all modern conveniences. A running track will encircle the field, and it is expected that some athletic club will use the grounds when not needed by the players. The contracts were awarded Friday.

Excuses and explanations by the dozen will not alter the glaring fact that these individual negotiations, immediately after the conference had been broken off...were directly responsible for the present deplorable situation of the Players' League. These individual negotiations defied and nullified the action of the Players' League; gave notice to the world and the enemy that the organization was divided against itself, and that it contained an element which would rule or ruin; exposed its weakness to the very party from which it should have been studiously concealed; put the Players' League clubs individually in the position of mendicants; made it difficult to meet bluff for bluff; depreciated the value of every franchise in the Players' League; and made it impossible for all of the Players' League clubs to treat with their League rivals upon even footing, or to exact an equitable settlement.

This is a heavy indictment, and yet a calm, unprejudiced survey of the situation will convince any fair-minded person that it has not been overdrawn in the least, and that these conditions confront the Players' League to-day as the direct, though perhaps unlooked-for, result of the reopening of unauthorized consolidation negotiations by the capitalist members of the Players' League Committee upon their own responsibility.

If anything of real value to base ball or towards a mutually satisfactory clearing up of the situation had been accomplished the end would perhaps have justified the means. But so far from achieving their object the few Players' League capitalists bent upon consolidation have actually defeated it. Had they accepted the decision of their organization and held hands off it is pretty certain that the League would in time have ceased bluffing, as it always does when bluff fails to work, reopened negotiations through the proper channel and with the regularly organized committees, and then the Players' League would have had the advantage of an equal footing, and been able to make satisfactory terms for all of its members. But the consolidationists manifested as little diplomacy here as they did in their dealings with the League when they showed their entire hand to the old magnates and in return got so little of a peep at the latter's hand, that while the League knew the exact conditions of affairs in the Players' League the latter has nothing but mere surmises as to the real situation in the League. They rushed in where angels would have feared to tread, showed their condition so plainly, their desire for consolidation and disregard for other considerations so completely...

[from Chadwick's column] I notice by a paragraph in the New York World last week that the P.L. And N.L. regulation balls were tested at the Brotherhood Park in New York, and Mr. Dickenson states that “the difference was astonishing.”

“The heavier batters in the New York Club could not knock the old League ball as far as the lighter ones could bat the Player' League ball, and when one batter tried the two he could knock the Players' ball one hundred feet further than the one used by the Nationals. This in a measure plainly shows why it is that the scores in the Players' League are larger than those in the National League.”

He should have added that the foot and a half of increase in the distance between the box and the home plate also helps the Brotherhood batsmen. This does away with the absurd talk about “the superior batting of the P.L. teams.

The Cincinnati team will in all probability henceforth give opposing teams the first turn at the bat, as Captain Latham believes in taking the outs. He says:--”I know there is considerable talk about the advantage to be gained by getting the first rap at the ball, but that does not hold good now. It used to when only one ball was used. Now two balls, sometimes three and four, are brought into play during the game, and one team has no advantage over the other in this respect. When you have the last chance yo always known what is ahead of you, and the men play better ball.

[from Chadwick's column] What a great help to a catcher's record the padded gloves has been. Without it, with the great speed of the catchers of this season have had to face, there would have been a dearth of catchers able to continue behind the bat long ere this. As it is, here we have them catching over a hundred successive games, even beating the old-time records, such as that of Barnie, etc.

[New York vs. Philadelphia PL 5/8/1890] Many games are called sloppy on acdount of the poor fielding, but yesterday's was not sloppy in that sense. The grounders, however, were exceedingly sloppy, especially the outfield. The players would have looked much more seasonable in bathing suits than ball suits, for the outfield was a perfect sea of mud. It was so thick that O'Rourke carried several planks into his territory to keep his feet dry and when the ball happened to drop in that neighborhood in invariably buried itself. The left and centre fields were very little better, the outfielders playing at a great disadvantage. The infield was a little better, but every now and then a fielder would drop in up to his ankles, and balls that should have been fielded had to be chronicled as base hits.

…

[Boston vs. Philadelphia NL 5/8/1890] The ground was soft and heavy, and it was only by a liberal use of sawdust that it was got into any kind of playing condition. The infielders had plenty of fun skating around the base lines, but notwithstanding these disadvantages the fielding, as a whole, was good.

[Harrisburg jumps from the Interstate League to the Atlantic Association] The only objection to Harrisburg's admission was the fact that two colored players were members of the team. It was made a condition of admission that these colored men be released, but this Harrisburg declined to to. The Sporting Life July 26, 1890

[from the Harrisburg correspondent] The stand taken by the local management in the [Frank] Grant matter is commended on all sides. We would rather remain in the Interstate that to go into the Atlantic and dispense with the services of that hard-working player. The Sporting Life July 26, 1890

[reporting to aborted conference committee meeting of 10/21] At noon the National League and American Association members were in Parlor F in waiting for the Players' League delegates. Both committees were as before, Spalding, Day and Byrne for the League, and Thurman, Barnie and Von der Ahe for the American. Shortly after noon the original Players' League committee—Johnson, Talcott and Goodwin—made its appearance, reinforced by Ward, Hanlon and Irwin.

Then Chairman Thurman declined to call the meeting to order, stating that he was not chairman of a joint committee of twelve, but of nine representatives; that the National League, American Association and Players' League conference of Oct. 9 had been adjourned until Oct. 22, but that the presence of the players compelled him to refuse to act.

…

Finally Chairman Thurman suggested that the three players should retire temporarily so that the original committees could come together to consider the question of admitting the new members. The six Players' League men then retired from the room and went across the street to consider this proposition. After a fifteen-minutes' consultation they agreed upon a line of action and returned to the conference room. Mr. Johnson then stated that they had determined that perhaps it was best to convene as originally constituted, and then take up the question of new members. Messrs. Ward, Hanlon and Irwin then retired.

Immediately upon the retirement of these gentlemen Mr. Thurman called the conference to order. The minutes of the meeting of Oct. 9 were read, and the chairman thereupon read the communication above given and asked what action the meeting would take.

It was thereupon moved by Mr. Johnson and seconded by Mr. Talcott that inc ompliance with instruction from the Players' League their delegation to this conference be increased from three to six members by the addition to their delegation of John M. Ward, Ed. Hanlon and A. A. Irwin. A long discussion followed and during the heated part of the argument a motion was made to adjourn, but it was finally withdrawn. The vote was finally taken on Johnson's motion with the following result: [The three PL delegates for, the six NL and AA delegates against].

The chair then declared the motion lost, and the three delegates of the Players' League heretofore on the committee thereupon withdrew. On motion the committee adjourned subject to the call of the chair. The Sporting Life October 25, 1890

As was expected, the joint conference between the National League, American Association and Players' League committees did not take place on Wednesday, Oct. 22, because the two first-named committees refused to confer with the Players' League committee, to which three additional members had been added by the Players' League for its own protection. The objection of the National Agreement people was apparently based upon parliamentary grounds, but the real reason was that the additional Players' League members were ball players, with whom the League and Association people had previously announced their determination not to confer. The Sporting Life October 25, 1890

The Cincinnati Enquirer states that Loftus' club has to exercise more care in the use of base balls than they did last season, because a different system in regard to distribution of the regulation sphere obtains in the League from that in vogue in the American Association. In the latter organization clubs are privileged to use all the balls they want without charge, and the firm that furnishes them gives a handsome bonus for the word “official.” “In the League,” says the Enquirer, each club is charged at the rate of $1 a ball for every ball used. This money is taken by President young and is used to defray the running expenses of the League, such as umpires' fees and expenses. Of course the money is not given to any individual, but the club that uses the most balls is bound to pay the largest share into the League treasury. Hence considerable care is used in dealing them out.

[from the Players League rules] One of the umpire shall stand behind the bat, and is designated for the purpose of these rules as No. 1. The other umpire, standing in the field,shall be designated as No. 2. The two umpires may alternate at the end of each even inning. The duties of No. 1 will be to call all balls, strikes, blocks, dead balls, foul hits, foul strikes, intentional fouling of balls, all questions arising at the home plate or as to delays by the side at bat, or as to batsmen striking out of turn, and shall call play, time and game. No. 2 shall decide all other questions arising between the contestant in any game, including balks and illegal delivery.

“This season ha brought out many peculiar incidents in relation to base ball,” says the New York Tribune, which then enumerates them as follows:-- “The double-umpiring system has been tried and found wanting. It has been illustrated that two poor umpires are worse than one. There has been twice as much wrangling in the Players' League, where the double-umpire system has been in vogue, as there has been in the National League, where one umpire has been the plan. Of course two good umpires would be better than one, but this season has shown that there are not enough good umpires to go around.

[from Chadwick's column] Did you notice the arrest of the old Providence catcher, Nava, last week for fighting in a low Baltimore dive? Here is another striking illustration of the downfall of a noted ball player by drink. The descent was from $2000 as catcher of a League club down by degrees from one fail to a still lower one, until we find him a bouncer in a wretched Baltimore dive. From ball playing to keeping a saloon, then as bartender, hackman, and now to the lowest round of drink degradation. What a lesson his career inculcates! And yet, even at this late dray, we find drinking players finding engagements. The managers who engage them are blind to their club's interests.

Since the advent of the big catchers' mitt a marked improvement has been shown in the work of the men behind the plate. The improved glove is what makes it possible for so many catchers to go in game after game for weeks.

The pitchers of the new League are nearly all well-seasoned and have always pitched a certain distance, at which, by years of practice, they have become so accustomed that now it will take them some time before they can twist the ball so that it goes eighteen inches further before it curves, drops or shoots. Buffinton, in his first game in New York, could not at first realize why his famous “drop” struck the plate instead of going over before striking ground, and, as the ball dropped too soon, the batters did not “bite,” with the result that after two or three balls had been called on him he had to put it over straight, and they hit it in every direction.

[from Ren Mulford's column] Unless I miss my guess there will be more games won and lost in th4e first inning this year than were ever so conspicuously noted before. Why? That new rule preventing the old custom of dirtying “the clean face” of the ball the moment it is tossed into play will work this revolution. The pitcher who takes his turn in the box at the opening of the game will suffer the most. It is an impossibility to get a good grip on the polished surface of a ball just out of its silver swaddling clothes. The home team will always have the advantage of sentencing the pitcher of the rival team to work the “slickness” off the sphere, and while he is doing that the other fellows are likely to be making hits and runs. In nearly every game played here this year the first inning was marked by just such performances.

Short Stop and Lawyer John M. Ward's victory over the League was made complete March 31. Judge Lawrence, in the special term of the Supreme Court, granted the motion made by ex-Judge Howland, the Brotherhood's counsel, to dismiss the complaint in the suit brought by the Metropolitan Exhibition Company to restrain Ward from playing the the Brotherhood Club of Brooklyn this season.

The Judge evidently thought that the opinions of Judge Thayer, of Philadelphia, and Judge O'Brien, his associate upon the bench of the Supreme Court, were conclusive, for he handed down only a short opinion as follows:-- “As I am informed by counsel for the plaintiff that they do not intend to submit a brief in the case, and as I am of the opinion that the contract referred to in the complaint is one which a court of equity will not enforce, judgment will be granted dismissing the complaint with costs.”

The counsel for the National League evidently concluded that the law was against him and practically abandoned the case.

[from an interview of Ward] It has been frequently claimed that the idea of a Players' League originated and was fomulated on our trip around the world. As a matter of fact the idea never occurred to us there. What originally set the ball rolling that was was the attempt of the magnates to classify the players. This classification list provided for five classes of salaries. Class A to receive $2500, class B $2250, class C $2000, class D $1750 and class E $1500. The first intimation was from some American newspapers we received at Cairo, Egypt. Even then we did not thoroughly understand the scope of the proposed classification until we reached Naples, where letters and additional papers explained the scheme more fully. Of course, we talked over what action had best to taken.

The trouble culminated last June, when we asked the League to meet us and discuss an obnoxious rule. Their reply was that it was not of sufficient importance to engage the attention of the League in mid-summer, although they had classified our men and reduced salaries. We knew if the hearing was postponed until the fall it would go over until the winter, when they would practically has us at their mercy, and we would not have time to organize in time for the season. We determined to act at one. As a matter of fact, he wad all we could do to prevent a general strike of the players and a meeting was actually held on July 2 and a ballot taken whether the season should be played out or not.

It required all the persuasion which the more conservative element could bring to bear to prevent a large body of the men from refusing to play the season out. Such a course would have been fatal, as it would have alienated the public sympathy. We, therefore, played the season out, but lost no time in perfecting the plans for our new organization.

Committees were appointed to secure capital in the different cities. Pfeffer had charge of this branch in Chicago, Sanders in Philadelphia and myself in New York. We have been successful beyond our most sanguine expectations. We organized with one hundred and twenty-five players. Of this number about twenty-five deserted us.

[from the Boston correspondent] Some idea of the growth of the base ball department in the Boston papers can be drawn from the difference in the size of the base ball force of the Globe to-day, and in '84, the last year in which we had two teams here throughout the season. Then it was the Boston League team and League Reserves, and the Boston Unions. That year one man handled the entire base ball department of the Glove. Since then it has grown so much, and has become so great a feature in the papers that at present, with both teams away, there are four men in the department besides Tim Murnane, who is its editor.

editorial matter] The interesting disclosures made during the attempted deal [to transfer Indianapolis players to New York], by President Brush, shed some light upon the inside history of the admission of Brooklyn and Cincinnati, and prove conclusively how correctly The Sporting Life sized up the situation from the day of the League meeting up to the present moment, and how impartial and just was the stand this paper took despite the freely expressed displeasure of the magnates and their shouters. Mr. Brush's admission corroborates the previous belief that the admission of Brooklyn and Cincinnati, so far from being a voluntary act of kindness to the two clubs which were alleged to be clamoring for admission in order to escape from the persecution of their fellow Association clubs, was really a preconcerted and well-defined movement to strengthen the League at the expense of the American Association, and if necessary of fellow League clubs. The strenuous objection of some of the League clubs to the proposed absorption of the two strongest clubs of a friendly organization and the measures taken to placate the internal opposition, even at the expense of guarantees to perpetuate a ten-club circuit, prove conclusively that the League scheme was to strengthen itself at any and all cost in utter disregard of everything but the most entirely selfish consideration.

The underlying object of the admission of the two Association cities was the formation of one great monopolistic League, and at that time the League magnates thought they saw the way clear for the accomplishment of a long-cherished purpose. The Players' League had failed to effect a permanent organization, the American Association was in the throes of a bitter factional fight, and so the League magnates thought they had both on the run, and calmly proceeded to appropriate the two strongest clubs of the Association. The calculation was that the Players' League movement would quickly fall to pieces right after the Indianapolis desertions, under the weight of discouragement and the outlined assaults of League money and bluff; that for Brooklyn and Cincinnati a ten-club circuit could be made, since if two of the clubs would not be frozen out, enough players would be available when the Brotherhood movement collapsed to equalize all the teams with material equal to that acquired by the accession of the two Association clubs; and that with the Brotherhood movement dead and the Association bereft of its two strongest and richest clubs, the latter would either go to pieces or fall to a minor league state—it did not matter which—and then the League would have been left supreme in base ball, without a rival and monarch of all it surveyed.

[from Brunell's column] Had it not been for a speech of vehemence and military flavor by Colonel McAlpin last spring the schedule would have been changed and a list of playing dates with less than a total of eight conflicts would have been adopted. Last April, while Al Johnson and I were at St. Louis witnessing the opening games between the Cleveland an Chicago teams fresh from their Southern practice tour, a special meeting was called for the avowed purpose of considering a change of schedule. John and I left St. Louis, and on the way down we discussed schedule changes. Finally, we got to manufacturing a new list of playing dates, and I finished and took into the New York meeting a schedule with but seven conflicts.

...Chicago instructed me to vote against change, cut Cleveland, Pittsburg, Buffalo and Philadelphia leaned towards a change, and Brooklyn could have been got into line. But Col. McAlpin's “death or glory” speech turned the tide and the schedule, with its average of 65 conflicts, stood. And the colonel's crowd with its death or glory principles didn't stand...