St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-07-03
THE "POPE" ON BASE BALL.
Mr.. Cooling Goes Into History a
Trifie.

MI OOOuIHS OOtS IILlO IlISDOEy d
Trifie.
Sporting Editor Globe.
There is an old saying that lone story
is good until another is told" l have
no desire to be used as ''horrible eX-
ample" why base ball was not a success
in Minneapolis in 1888. In your issue
of the 2Sth you say that the team under
my management did not "draw fiies,"
etc. This is not true in one sense. My
park was located On the outskirts of the
city, so that the Sunday games would
not disturb the people residing near 1t.
This proved to be the case, but few
ministerial cranks, like Morrill,, Burrell
and others, whose sole idea was to
gain notoriety, organized and secured
an injunction against Sunday base ball,
which had the effect of building up
their regulations and breaking me
financially.
Week day patronage never amounted
to more than expenses, and was greater
the last game | played than ever be-
fore, but not sufficient to keep the club
afoat on account of the park being
located so far from the heart of the
city.
The receipts the first two months,
while Sunday games were in force, eX
ceeded the expenses by $1,000, despite
the fact that it rained five days out of
the week from April 2 g until July Is.
which hurt the attendance largely. L
made two serious mistakes when went
into the base ball business. l should
have OWNED what a few hypOcritical
fanatics would do six months ahead
and also that the coming season would
be wet one-tWO elements that
ctroDnnQd mo | admit NV tnan of thp
start was a weak one, but at the finish,
when | was compelled to stop playing,
it was as strong as any in the associa-
ton, and the best base ball was played
in 'SS in the history of the Western as
ISOLATION before or since. Games were
lost that season on a single error on
either side.
sunk what L made and my own capt.
tai trying to stay the season out, so as to
get grounds in the heart of the city, and
had an option on piece of ground just
block from the present park. but for
the lack of about 81, 500, lost the whole
amount and the franchise. 1t is reason
able to suppose that if L had got
through the season and built on the
grounds selected, with a strong team
opening the season, would have landed
on top, as it is a well known fact that
what has made the money here is the
location, and if the club was in sixth
place it would still make money, prOvid-
ing it played good ball and lost. People
go here to see a game of balls ard the
mere fact that the home teams gets beat
occasionally cuts no figure if the
'cranks" have witnessed good eXhi-
bition.
1t is a sure sign of jay town when
the home club has got to win all the
games, no matter how we'll played the
last ones were. or their patronage falls
off. In the season of 1888 every club in
the association lost from s., ZOO to S11 900,
and none were interfered with but Min
neapoliS, due to wet weather and high
salaries. st. Paul lost $1,000, and only
got even by selling Earle and Duryea to
Cincinnati. In 1899 all the teams in the
Western Association were weaker than
the year before, except st. Paul, and Il
was no unusual thing for each team to-
make seven and eight errors in game,
but, as they were fairly balanced, no
fatal results followed to any particular
team. You say that if ST. Paul had
team that would play winning ball."
money would flow into the treasury,
etc. L will prove that this is not alto
gether the case. In 1889 st. Paul out
classed every team in the association
so far that the other teams could
not get within hailing distance. and
after winning 10 games in succession,
found that they were losing money
every day.
This was the condition of affairs up
to July 4, 1885, when Manager Barnes
sold Pickett and Sowders to Kansas
City for $1,000, in order to cut down his
losses, but before doing so asked my
advice, saying ''that he knew there
would be a howl from the cranks on
acsount of letting these men go. but if
he was losing money when the club was
winning every game, he saw no other
way only to sell some of his men,"
which | advised him to do, and even up
his team so that the other clubs could
have a show and make the game more
interesting, which he did and finished
in third place at that. While am not
prophet" or the son of one, | can
give you the solution how TO make base
ball profitable in st. Paul. and
the heart of the city, and
if the club is able to win as many games
as they lose the owners of the franchise
will make money. l am aware that a
location of this kind is hard to find, but
unless the transportation facilities are
extraordinarily good no other kind of
location will pay, no matter how good
ball the club plays.
st. Paul is as good ball town as
Minneapolis, but people will not ride
in cattle cars, run at long intervals, any
great length of time, no matter what
the attraction; neither can business
men leave their Office for an entire
afternoon; and the only thing that has
killed base ball there is the location of
the grounds. This fact you can gamble
on. In conclusion | wish to say that
John S. Barnes has been blamed
severely for selling some of his
men. With the exception of Billy
| SOwders, whom he sold to Boston
| for 81, 200, he was obliged to sell the
| others to even up losses at the gate
previous to their sale. l will say this
much for Barnes: He developed and
sold more men than any other manager
| in the United States. and can give any
| other base ball manager cards and
spades in America in handling team,
everything else being equal. Let some
| capitalist there who owns convenient
block of tenement buildings tear them
down, erect a park thereon, put in
manager with some qualifications be-