St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-09-08
THE DIAMOND FIELD.
The Northwestern League Winds Up
Its Career at Milwaukee.
National League and American Association
Records to Date.
Close Game Between st. Paul and Mil
& waulzee Results in Favor. of the Latter.
Northeastern League.

Northeastern League.
The Northwestern league has at last
cached that stage of dissolution at which it
IS proper to pronounce its funeral Grafton
AS we write the telegraph brings the news
that the respondent organization which
opened its playing career in the base ball
world year ago last May has passed into
history. All things earthly must cross the
threshold of the grave and become part of
the mysterious world beyond deaths river,
but an existence closed in the midst OF youth
and promise leaves behind a sadness which
fingers in the memory for many days. The
fate which has bcfallen the Northwestern
league has been foreshadowed for a month
past but the shock occasiOned by the an
nouncement of the end will be felt none the
less by those interested in its success At
this juncture it will not be out of place to
review this most remarkable geographicalcom-
bination, and point out some of the reasons
for its early demise. On the 9th of October,
1892, representatives from eight cities
in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan met
at Chicago and organized the Northwestern
league, the teams being those of Quincy,
Peoria, Springfield, Fort Wayne, Toledo,
Saginaw, Bay City and Grand Rapids. Ev-
cry club fulfilled its engagements during the
season of 1888, and although none of the
associations had much money in the treas
ury at its close, none of them were heavy
financial sufferers. In all of the cities pro-
fessonal base ball was a new thing, the
:rowds were large and the flow of currency
LIBERAL Besides this, the relative situation
Of the cities was such as to make travelling
expenses light. The success Of the leagues
opening season caused other places to make
application for admission, and at the
meeting held last January the association
admitted six new clubs to member
ship, dropped that of Springfield,
that of Toledo withdrew, and retained
those of Quincy, PEORIA Fort Wayne, Sagi-
nav, Bay City and Grand Rapids, of the old
league. The new clubs were Muskegon,
Terre Haute, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Still
water and st. Paul. The reorganized
league was therefore composed of twelve
clubs, and the more sanguine
of its friends predicted that it
would live and prosper, but those
who made a close study of the situation con-
fessed that their hope was mingled with
considerable degree of apprehension. A
casual glance at the map told them story
of enormous expense in moving from place
TO place, and it dawned upon them that the
support must be extraordinarily good, else
the geography of the problem would force
the league into bankruptcy. 1t is easy for
everybody to see now that, though there
were other causes initiating against the
financial success of the league, the dimen-
sions OF the audiences at the games and the
travelling expenses of the teams were so in
compatible that the result which followed
was one of the most natural in political
economy. More enthusiastic support or less
distance from place to place was necessary.
AS in every other business to spend money
and receive none in return must produce
ultimate collapse. No other argu-
ments are needed to prove that the North
western league of 1884 could not live, but
there are some which assisted in hurrying it
to an untimely grave. The most
conspicuous Of these is the salaries paid play
ers. The boom in base ball all over the
country in the early months of 1884 was the
greatest ever known in the
history of the game, and the
management of every team in the country,
in attempts to secure the best players, paid,
or agreed to pay, twice and thrice what their
services were worth, and by the opening of
July all the teams of the Northwestern league
were loaded up with players receiving sums
entirely out of proportion to the labor per-
formed. Then there are some towns in the
circuit whose population was divided on the
method of management of the team, the To-
cation Of grounds, etc. The early disband-
ment Of the Peoria club was due to quarrel
between the Central railway people and other
citizens of the place. Another cause for the
demise OF certain teams was the extrava-
gance Of the management in ordinary ex-
penses. The most conspicuous example of
failure through this cause was that of the
splendid Minneapolis team. Besides getting
seriously involved by making an April trip
to st. Louis, Cincinnati, Toledo and other
points, the managerial the team carried most
of the season from fourteen to seventeen
men, and on the league tours stopped with
his whole outfit at the best hotels.
: The dissolution of the Northwestern league.
however, should not deter st. Paul and Min
neapolis from seeking to enter some associa-
ton neXtyear. The experience of this sea-
son viii be valuable to both, but the interest
manifested in the national sport in the two
SANANo 10 SuiiiNlCh1 " hdl1dub
for 1885, either with some existing organiza-
ton or by the formation of a new one. There
is plenty of encouragement for the future.
st. Paul will disband because she can find
nobody to play with and Minneapolis ceased
10 exist because OF inefficient management,
neither being forced to the wall by the pub
lie. The chief argument to be used against
the twin cities is their distance from other
principal cities, but they each have 100, 900
inhabitants and are but ten miles apart, and
the support given visiting mines will average
far more than travelling expenses and team
salaries. We wish it were possible for st.
Paul. Minneapolis and Milwaukee to become
members of the American association, but it
is probably not possible at present unless
several teams drop out. An ideal western
association would be st. Paul, Minneapolis.
Milwaukee, Chicago, Toledo, Detroit, Column
bus, Cincinnati, Louisville, Indianapolis,
st. Louis, Kansas City.
National League.
The Providence team has PLAYED ball full
month without losing single game, the