The Red Cloud chief., 1884-12-12
fty0 CHIEF
FEiDAY. NC l2 iss4
THE MONEY IN BASEBALL.
How the Exhibition Business IL Managed
Neutrality-suspicious. OF the Early
Professional Players.

conducted on regular business primes
Piles. but not until recently have such
high salaries been paid. The present
style OF pitching il responsible for the
enormous salaries which the ''kin.s Of
the profession" demand. The best
pitchers get as much money for WORK
ing 4 few hours each day during seven
months as many college professors re-
ccivc for their entire years service.
This has not always been the case. The
first r al professional nine was the fam
ous Cincinnati Rcd-siockincs. which
were established in 1863. There had
been many clubs throughout the
try. which, previous To this time. had
paid two or three players for their ser
vices. jast as many of our alleged
''strictly amateur mines do at present.
The Red Stockings were the first club.
however. 10 take men on contracts and
to paw every one on the team. Harry
and George Wright received the high
est salaries paid in the club. and neither
was the regular pitcher. Said George
Wright: The money paid the entire
team would put a poor nine IL Tie field
to-day. My brother Harry was the
most expensive man in the team. and
he got $1,000 for being captain and
PLAYING center-fcld. was ia my reg
ular position at short, and drew $3.50.
The catcher came next in order, and
the other men ranged from that sum
down. Several came under $1,000.
cit would seem that iieldcrs were
considered to be worth as much as
pitchers and catcliers in those DAYS.
That II, exactly. a club without
a strong outficld was as weak then as
n would be now with = poor battery.
Every man had TO he a player. and the
pitcher was Of no more importance
than any other man in the team. Why.
almost anyone who pretended TO be a
a little practice and do well. And
then. of course, the catching vas quite
different from what ii il now. A man
who held a thrown ball would 20 be-.
hind the bat III an emergency audi ac-
quit himself very creditably. NV, il
your pitcher gives out you night as
well stop playing; and it is Just the
same with the catcher. II makes no
difference how good ycnr $ther seven
men are; you are nowhere \ the battery
Were the CINCINNATI Red Stockings
ever troubled this way?"
well, we went through our first
season with ten men, and ybu can Judge
for yourself how many extra bat,ser1es
we could have had. The PITCHER did
not try to see how many hecould strike
out. but used his head anf showed his
skill by changing his speed so that the
batsman would be deceived and not hit
tie ball hard. Even if he was batted
hard it was nothing against him and no
cpc said he had lost the game. Why,
e sne nine made six Of seven runs in
an raning the other nine was not by
any means defeated and thought moth
ing Of this lead.
With Ne changes in the style of
pitching lave cahe higher wages for
the PLAYERS, until now a baseball team
is an expensiset institution. New York
has the two nArn who are paid more for
PLAYING balf Than any Others in the
Ts1y are Ward and Ewing.
and each ~reccives q little over $1,000
for the present season. The New Yorks
are called the ''high-pficcd team" but
several # the men are LiredAtdAIf fig
ures. which brings down. Of
the salary list. and Chiccku1 Eill
Fave TO be sekF04ed ged Tho nd ex-
pensive csdb in the league. TIE is
not a cHfap PLAYER in the nine, 3 Ind
whle The highest salary is not sver
$3.S00, every man is well remune Jed i
~ his services. Corcoran is q val5 pie |
Slayer. He is well ware of it m
self, and his skill in curving the bill
brings him in s.. 800 this year. a.
bourne and Calvin are other 1t
edged" players, both in the work tkey
do and the reward they receive.
The salary list Of the Boston les& he
club amounts to $25, COO In round nah-
bers. TIE most valuable man, and p
servedly the best one is Capt. Morfp.
He also holds the position Of manaa4,
and he has earned every cent Of Is
$500. Whitney comes next, and IL
certainly royalty paid for the amou4t
which he receives $500. Burddk
and Hornung just turn $1,000, and
others come below this figure. IL
value of several is set at about Sl,sJ
but the season has made great chanss
in the playing of some, and the pris3
viii be different sIother year.
1t is impossible to estimate how mne3
has been paid in salaries to ball-pla
crs throughout the country. The eieS
league clubs will certainly average
much as Bostoh's total. as they hs1
tried more men II they have not ri
quite such expensive players. In
Union association are eight more ciuk
st. Louis and Cincinnati pay more tat
the Boston league, and every one
the other mines has Some hfgh-prict
players There is not much doubt ths
the eight clubs pay at least $l2s.000
salaries. The American Associate
has twelve clubs, and must certainl
pay for this nnmber as much as. If M
more. than the league does for eigh
In fact. few Of the dearest ball-to47
ers In the world are claimed BY The
american Association. Thus the salar(
lis Of these three largest baseball So
soeiAlions in the country aggregate hy
tween $500. 600 and <60o.OM. Thisdoe
not begin to cover the amount that hA
been canned this season by ball-tossers
Giobe.
A Di9erence In KisseeL 81
Ayoung Boston gentleman recently
passed 4 couple al days in the apcient3
town II the end Of the cape. Ii chanced5
that On the fint evening he met q Ger
tain young lady. whom he escorted
home. and At tho door il was his pleas
uw IN innnro>a uuon her linz the india