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[See TSL 901129 p. 3 for a detailed account of Robison's versions of the negotiations with Al Johnson to shut down the Cleveland PL Club.]

[reviewing the PL rules] Section 9 of new Rule 4, which defines how batsmen are out, is an innovation and reads as follows:-- “If, where there is a base-runner on the first base and less than two players on the side at bat have been put out in the inning then being played, the batsman makes a fair hit so that the ball falls within the infield and the ball touches any fielder, whether held by him or not, before it touches the ground.” This new section is to prevent the “juggle” double play so prevalent of late, and which has not only exasperated audiences, but has made trouble for umpires. The Sporting Life April 2, 1890

[reporting the PL special meeting of 4/2/1890] [proceedings of the meeting with the PL umpires] Particular attention is to be paid to the prevention of double plays by th4e willful dropping of fly balls. Any such ball which simply touches the fielder's hands is sufficient to put the batsman out. The Sporting Life April.

[from Ella Black's column] What an amount the women have had to do with the stand taken by many of the players in this fight. It seems to have been a fact that when any of their wives took an interest in the sport, the men always went according to the wishes of their wives. It was through their wives that Clarkson and Bennett signed with the old body, and it was to please his wife that Billy Sunday resigned from the Brotherhood. Last summer Sunday was one of the most enthusiastic members of the Players' League and did a great deal towards interesting the present local backers in the scheme. His wife, though, had more faith in the old body, and it was her entreaties that caused him to return to it. It was the reverse in the case of “Buck” Ewing. His wife was all for the Players' League.

One effect of Judge O'Brien's decision is the change of heart in short stop e. J. McKean, who recently jumped his Brotherhood contract to join the National League. He decided on Thursday last to stick to his first contract and so notified Al Johnson. He also sent a long telegram to Treasurer Howe in New York informing him of his intention. The Sporting Life February 5, 1890

[quoting Frank Brunell] Under no circumstances will any man who has once signed a contract with the Players' League and then flopped over to the old League be taken back. Yes, there will be one man only—E. J. McKean, of Cleveland. He went to Al Johnson in a manly way, said he had committed an error, and was willing to refund to the old League all the advance money that was paid him. But no man like Delehanty, who, since the injunction against Ward was refused,has been running around the City of Cleveland and almost praying to be taken back, stating that he would play for a less sum than the Players' League asked him to, will ever be allowed to play in the organization with my consent. The Sporting Life February 12, 1889

[editorial matter] The effect of Judge O'Brien's decision upon the Players' League has been all that was expected and predicted. There has not been a single desertion since the decision was announced, and the confidence of the players, the backers and the public in the future of the Players' League has been heightened to a most remarkable degree. In every direction has the Players' League been strengthened. The Sporting Life February 12, 1890

The question is being considered now by the Players' League whether to receive back such of the deserters as have expressed regret for their acts and signified their willingness to return to their allegiance to the Brotherhood. There are just ten such repentant men now. The sentiment against taking ehse men back is strong and growing stronger daily. The Sporting Life February 19, 1890

In one respect the big glove is an enemy to catchers. It saves them from being battered to pieces, but on the other hand it reduces the number of backstops, as with this glove two catchers are all that any club need carry.

The new contract was drawn up by Col. John I. Rogers, at the request of the League. He made the draft early in the season, and copies were sent to Zach Phelps, of the American Association; to L. C. Krauthoff, of the Western Association; to ex-President A. G. Mills, and to several other distinguished lawyers, including Frederick Ullman, of Chicago. All except Mr. Phelps responded with very valuable suggestions, which were incorporated into the contract.

The most important changes may be summarized as follows:-- The reserve of the eighteenth paragraph is entirely stricken out, the paragraph giving the club, in clear, definite phraseology, the option to renew the contract for whatever number of years may be mutually agreed upon. The seventeenth paragraph containing the ten-days' clause is materially altered to the advantage of the player. After inserting a reason for the notice namely:-- “A lack of skill or playing ability below the standard requisite in a National League Club,” it limits the serving of the notice to the period of the playing season. A player under this form cannot be released between seasons without his consent. Another change in favor of the player is his right to appeal to the League directors against club fines and penalties. The clauses against dissipation and immorality are strengthened. [The text of the contract follows.]

While the reserve rule is no longer referred to in the contract, it does not follow that it will be stricken out of the National Agreement. In all probability it or its equivalent will always be, as heretofore, preserved as a necessity for the perpetuation of the game.

[from the Washington correspondent] [from an interview of Senator Gorman] “That reminds me of how the Nationals on one occasion obtained a player who afterward proved to be one of the star men. Our nine had gone to Georgetown college to play a game, and before the contest began our attention was attracted by a tall, slim young fellow who was batting the ball up for the boys and dring the ball over the fence at the southern end of the inclosure. Upon inquiry we ascertained that the heavy batter was George Fox, and that he had just graduated and was preparing to go to his home in New York. He was questioned and urged to remain in Washington, the ample inducement offered him being a position in a Government department, for in those days there was no such thing as civil service reform, and the majority of our members were men who held offici9al positions, and wielded a great deal of influence. Our arguments proved too potent for Fox, and he consented to remain with us, and we never regretted our bargain. Some of this long drives to the willows on the White House grounds will live in the memory of the old-timers who witnessed them.” The Philadelphia Sunday Item February 2, 1890

[from the Washington correspondent] [from an interview of Senator Gorman] “That reminds me of how the Nationals on one occasion obtained a player who afterward proved to be one of the star men. Our nine had gone to Georgetown college to play a game, and before the contest began our attention was attracted by a tall, slim young fellow who was batting the ball up for the boys and dring the ball over the fence at the southern end of the inclosure. Upon inquiry we ascertained that the heavy batter was George Fox, and that he had just graduated and was preparing to go to his home in New York. He was questioned and urged to remain in Washington, the ample inducement offered him being a position in a Government department, for in those days there was no such thing as civil service reform, and the majority of our members were men who held offici9al positions, and wielded a great deal of influence. Our arguments proved too potent for Fox, and he consented to remain with us, and we never regretted our bargain. Some of this long drives to the willows on the White House grounds will live in the memory of the old-timers who witnessed them.

[the statement from Rogers] It was in evidence that the Buffalo Club, through their agent, Mr. Robert Laidley, authorized Mr. Buckenberger of the Buffalo Club [sic: should be Columbus Club] on Jan. 23, 1889, to negotiate with Mr. Lehane, a player reserved by the said Buffalo Club. Mr. Buckenberger said he would pay in salary and release money a certain sum, and on Jan. 27 made a personal agreement with Lehane to play in Columbus under a regular Association contract, to be signed on or before Feb. 15, 1890, if legally authorized to contract with the Columbus Club at that date. No release was given to Lehane by the buffalo Club until Feb. 4, 1890, after which date Lehane refused to comply with his personal agreement, and subsequently signed a regular contract with the New York Club.

The Board held that under their former precedents the contract of Jan. 27 would be invalid because it preceded instead of following the release of Feb. 4, but outside of such precedents there was a moral obligation upon Lehane to have complied with his personal agreement and to have signed a regular contract, and if Mr. Day would waive claim to Lehane the Board would prefer to enforce such obligation as far as it was in their power to do by recognizing the subsequent release of Feb. 4, 1890, as a ratification of the authority of Jan. 23, to negotiate, and the personal contract of Jan. 27. Mr. Day, therefore, declare that in view of the Board's decision affirming his position under base ball rules, he would waive all further claims on the player.

[from Chadwick's column] Not since the great secession movement in the ranks of the professional fraternity in 1876, when the capitalist magnates of the old National Association seceded from that organization and set up for themselves under the batter of the National League of Professional Clubs, and left the National Association of Professional Players to die out, under its load of crookedness and revolving...

The injunction was denied and Ward scored a clean knock-down in the legal tilt with the League. In his opinion Judge O'Brien allowed that the word “reserve” held the player, as shown by his supplemental contract with the New York Base Ball Club, but maintained that the contract in its entirety was unequal in its conditions and could not be enforced in a court of equity. He recommended a speedy trial in order that the ends of justice might be served, but in a quiet and unmistakable way explained to the plaintiff that he had not a chance in a thousand to win his suit. The very inequity of the alleged contract was enough to prevent its enforcement, allowing that all claims made by the plaintiff were correct. [The entire opinion follows.]

[reporting the NL meeting of 11/12] The financial details of the Cincinnati and Indianapolis deals were then discussed. It will be recalled that last spring the National League were forced to buy the Indianapolis Club for $65,000. The players and the franchise and the players were what were purchased. John B. Day, of New York, hustled around and raised about one-half the money, and the eight National League clubs gave notes for the balance. These note were made proportionally on a suppositious attendance for 1890. Several exigencies arose which threw the attendance estimate out of gear, and it was this little matter which set the National League men in an uproar. The tangle was not straightened out when they adjourned, but an understanding was reached by which Mr. Brush will be given the National League franchise in Cincinnati (which Messrs. Stern & Sterne could not sell) in lieu of the notes which he holds. Mr. Brush will offer to consolidate with the Players' League syndicate on a 50 per cent. basis, and he will make the scheme work. Thus is furnished a picture of a National League man consolidating nothing with $40,000, and getting one-half of the money. … After the meeting it was stated that if a general consolidation can be agreed upon the dereliction of the Cincinnati Club will be dropped altogether. Should no deal be arranged the Cincinnati Club will be expelled and the franchise given to a new set of capitalists. There are two applications. One is from a syndicate of which John Kilgour, the millionaire railroad man, is a member, represented by John T. Brush, and the other a syndicate of which Harry Sterne is a member, represented by a written application sent to League magnate.

Mr. Whitaker says that he thinks Brooklyn is a 25-cent town. With two clubs—League and Brotherhood—charging 50 cents each, he feels confident that the new organization will get the patronage. All the other clubs will give the new nine one or more players so as to place it on a level with the other teams in the organization. There have already been several applications for stock in the new club.

[editorial matter] The reserve rule, instead of proving a benefit to minor leagues was quite the reverse, as the hope of retaining and selling players led all clubs into assuming greater financial responsibilities than they could bear. Salaries with them were no object with the prospect of profitable sales in view.

It is not generally thought among base ball experts that the National League club owners themselves ever regarded “reserve” as an option until soon after the players announced their intention of leaving the old League, Col. John I Rogers discovered that the word could possibly be construed to mean an agreement to renew the contract for another year. A clear idea of what reservation signified can be formed from an editorial written by Francis C. Richter in The Sporting Life of Jan. 30, 1889, months before the present controversy arose. Mr. Richter is an able exponent of base ball law, and in the conflict now being wages has taken a stand of neutrality. In the following editorial he had under consideration the case of Robert Wheelock, who was released by Lowell and signed by Detroit in 1888, a question having arisen over his release:

“As all base ball contracts expire at the close of a season no notice of release is required. Such notices would, in fact, be utterly superfluous. Managers and players have fulfilled their obligations to their clubs and prescribed, in their contracts, none of which can be for more than one season, and are free. Even reserved players are absolutely under no further obligations to their clubs, and the latter have, therefore, no further control of the men. Of course, such reserved player cannot sign elsewhere. But that is not because they have not the right, but because reserve is simply an agreement between the clubs not to employ each other's players, thus shutting the latter off from all clubs but the one reserving them.”

There is abundant evidence to show that the opinion held by Mr. Richter was the one generally shared by base ball managers as well as players, and this evidence will be presented to Judge O'Brien by the defendant's lawyers., quoting the New York World

It is a matter of unusual congratulation that during this fight there have been no attempts to coax players to jump their contracts. That was a prominent feature of the Union battles in '84, and Tom Loftus told a great war story the other afternoon. It was on Harry Decker. He was catching in Indianapolis then, and Ted Sullivan wanted him for the Kansas Citys. Ted and Peek-a-boo Veach were on the stand one day, just back of the catcher, and, in the second or third inning, Veach held up a big role of one dollar bills. “oh, Deck!” he called, “look here.” When Decker's eyes sighted the wad and the nod he was wild to get out, and fable says he stuck out his finger and got hut in the sixth inning, so he could hurry up and join Ted and Peek-a-boo. He jumped, too!

[from Tim Murnane's column] There is little doubt but that Hewitt and Brush would have been relegated to obscurity long ago in this fight but for their forethought. At the first League meting, when Brooklyn and Cincinnati were knocking for admittance, Hewitt and Brush held the winning cards. Cleveland and Pittsburg were in nearly the same boat. These four cities figured out that by letting these two outsiders in it would mean the bouncing of them later on. So before they would agree to admit them they had an agreement drawn up whereby the League cannot even vote them out.

Walter Hewitt can now pick up an amateur team and hold his franchise in the League, and the strong clubs must pay him his price or stand the racket. Brush, however, has a good team and feels sure of making some money. I am sure this winter's advertisement has stirred up the Hoosiers in such a way that the crowds at the games in that city would be much larger than ever. The Sporting Life March 5, 1890 [N.B. This agreement does not appear in the League minutes.]

[from W. I. Harris's column] Tim Murnane, my Boston colleague, has asserted that when Cincinnati and Brooklyn were admitted an agreement was made that Indianapolis and Washington should not be disturbed. I have it on the authority of John B. Day and Charles H. Byrne that no agreement of that kind, either written or verbal, was ever made. Tim says, in his last letter, that Mr. Hewitt gave him the information in New York and that Mr. Soden confirmed it. There's some romancing somewhere. I'll take an oath that Messrs. Day and Byrne told me there was no agreement made, and I presume Murnane will do the same as to his informants. The Sporting Life March 26, 1890

Two years ago Col. Taylor, of the Globe, gave the Boston Club a dinner. The triumvirate was invited and sent neither thanks nor regrets. That was not forgotten, gentlemen, and won't be. The next year the players were invited to another dinner, but not the mighty, thankless, incomparable three. See?

[from a dispatch by Murnane to the Boston Globe] The New York Club will be in big luck to come out even for the next five years. To start they have two expensive ball parks on their hands. John .B. Day used poor judgment when he leased their grounds. With a year to run he went to the owners of the property and asked for a renewal of the lease for five years at the rend he was paying-- $3000 per year. The Players' League had grounds at the next block three times as large from the same landlord for $5000, with a privilege of renewing it. When Mr. Day called on Mr. Coogan, the owner, he was informed that he had promised the Players' League people that he would not renew the League's lease, but then, Mr. Day, you might come to my figures and have a renewal. Mr. Day was ready to do most anything at the time, and signed a bond to put up $8000 a year rent for the next five years, and there you are!

The [Cincinnati] club receives from its score card and other privileges about $2000.