Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-07-12
BASEBALL BOSSES,
w. I. Harris Tells of Some
Magnates Of the Diamond.
CHRIS Won DER AHE OF ST. LOUIS.

He Has Made barrels Of Money snd
Hasn't stopped Yet-Dc Haven Robi-
sos. Clevslasd's Darling -Comiskey-
VIM. stern. Of Cincinnati.
Chris Won der Abe, the president of the
et. Louis club of the American association,
has been one Of the luckiest men ever con-
nccted with professional baseball. Ever
since he entered the game in 1881 he has
cut an important figure and his team has
won four championships In St. Louis it
e a standing saying that anything Won der
Abe touches turns to gold. He has been
especially lucky in his baseball transac.
tons In the winter Of 1890 a lot of sports-
men interested In wing shooting called
upon him and asked him to help form an
association to he known as the Sportsman's
fark and Club association. It was under
stood that this association was for baseball
and shooting purposes, the gun men being
more interested than the baseball men
Inc understanding was that weekly shoots
were TO be held under the auspices of the
St. Louis Gun club, and an ATTEMPT was
made to carry out this programme But
the first shoot had hardly taken place when.
as result Of remonstrances by citizens.
the shoots were prohibited by the local
authorities Then 1t was that the gun
men sold their interest to Won der Abe.
fhe first year of this st. Louis nine in
the American association was wonder
fully lucky one The Sunday games drew
immense crowds, and for the first time be-
fore or Since then the summer went by
without single wet Sunday The Browns.
notwithstanding the fact that they PLAYED
miserable ball and finished in sixth place.
drew great crowds. and Won der Abe
cleared no less than s7s,O00 The three sue
ceeding years were nearly ms lucky. Be-
fore entering the baseball business Won
der Abe was comparatively well off,
but the bulk of his fortune has been
amassed through his immediate connec
tion with the national game His original
investment was $500 Out Of that sum he
has cleared upward of S250,Oo0 He now
practically owns the St Louis club.
In fact he is the club, and his fellow direct
ors are simply figure heads.
Won der Abe is a quaint character, He
is shrewd, cunning and pugnacious, and
now that he has lost the services of Com
iskey and Manson has shown that in spite
OF the general belief to the contrary be
had much to do with the success of his
club. With poor material to start with.
and no prospect of getting any stars, Won
der Abe has not only made his flcdgelipgs
play good ball, but has finally got together
almost as good u team as any in the asso-
cation Chris, as he is known familiarly
by newspaper men, is martinez on disc-
pline to an extent that makes him a yeri-
table tyrant His methods are drive
drive drive, and keep on driving. Still he
is always ready TO reward deserving
player, and this fact will probably he cor.
roborated by even Comiskey, who used TO
say time and again that he would close his
career on the baseball field as a member OF
the st. Louis club
Mr.. Won der Abe has figured moro con.
spicuously in the public prints than most
magnates-first, because he is always ready
to entertain and talk with newspaper
men; second, when he does he nearly
always gets into n muddle with some
Of his fellow magnates; and third, be-
cause his peculiarities of manner and
language make him most interest.
ing personality, and provide fund of ma.
terial for healthy imaginations unsur-
passed by any other man In the business
Chris Is very suspicious, and is always
looking for some one to try and get the
best of him, and never fails to impart his
suspicious in the quaintest of English to
the first scribe who comes along. After all,
Won der Abe is generous man with de-
serving players, and has many good traits
in his character.
The first Brown Stocking nine. under
the management of Won der Abe, was cap
tanned by Comiskey The latter came
from Dubuque, Ia, in 1881. He had COW
evered first base % the nine of that city,
which included such famous players as the
Gleasons, Radbourne, Billy Taylor, LOTUS,
Tom Sullivan, REFS and others Comis-
key commenced his baseball career in Chi
cago as member of the Liberty nine in
1871. He pitched for the Libertys, and
under the old rules was quite a twirler
When he went to St. Louis he found that
Oscar Walker, of the old Brooklyn Allan
tics, had been signed to cover first base for
the Browns, but at Walkers own suggcs-
ton Comiskey was placed at the initial
bag and he covered the point so well that
he was retained, while Walker was given
n permanent place in center field.
When Comiskey first went to st. Louis
his salary was SIS month, but his work
was so good that Won der Abe raised his
salary at the close of his first months en-
gagement, and before the season closed ho
was receiving "A salary of $50. This was
regularly increased until 1889, when Won
der Ahc says Comskey had s, 900 This
year he is captain of the Chicago Players
league Am. His salary is said to be Sc, 500
ComisNey had great success with the St
Louis Browns, and is generally considered
as one of the greatest of captains. As
ball player and handler of young men he
has been as successful as any other man in
the business. Anson and Harry Wright
are his only rivals in this respect What
he can do with seasoned veteran players
who will not be driven remains, to be seen.
One of the most agreeable of men, and
one little known to the public, is Frank De
Haven Robson, the youngest of all the
baseball magnates as well as one of the
richest. He is about 35 years of age and
the general verdict in Cleveland, where he
resides, is that he is an all round good fe!-
low and successful business man.
Mr.. Robson owns one-fifth of the stock
of the Cleveland National League club and
is president of the organization. In his
private business he is president of the Su-
perior street, st. Clair street and Payne
Avenue street railroad lines, president Of
the New Cleveland Gable Road company,
at present engaged in laying cable and
lines on each of the above three. In addi-
tion to that he is a member of the firm Of
Hathaway 81 Robson, street railroad con-
tractors.
Mr.. Robson is a popular man in Cleve-
land and has been n progressive manager.
He has always been liberal and fair with
his players, and when the Players league
started the men were mostly very sorry
to leave him, and three or four of them
absolutely refused to go when it came to
point. The personal popularity of Mr.
Robson has been sufficient to give his
club nearly half share in the Cleveland
baseball patronage.
One of the most able and shrewd men in
baseball today is Aaron $. Stern, the pres
ident of the Cincinnati club He has well