The times., 1898-01-12
BRUSH'S LIFE AS A NAGNATE
President Anderson, of the Youngs-
town, Ohio. Club Tells How John
l.. Got His Sta The st. Louis
Team, Present and Past Had
Four Managers in One Year.

! rorS than Reitz, he will cover more
! ground and is faster especially in max
| ing double plays. The remainder OF
the team is likely to be made up just
as it was last year.
! '.As for the pitching department,
believe it is decidedly the strongest we
ever had. Think of the strength in
such lot of young pitchers as Corbett,
Hoffer, Nops, McJames, Pond, Hughes,
and kittson. There is a great lot. BY
the way, Kelley tells me that Hughes
is an all-round player and good batter,
and covers third base when not in the
box, and ! notice in recent game
only three hits We're made on him; he
struck out eight men, and made two
two-baggers himself"
Now that John r. Brush, Of Indian
apolis and Cincinnati, is getting so
much notoriety as the supposed buyer
of the ST. Louis baseball team, the old
story of how he came TO be interested
in the National League is again
brought up. He has been baseball
magnate since 1890, when the New
York team was started from the In
dianapolis nine.
In 1889 Indianapolis, having bought
National League city. That year was
prosperous for them and they had Il
taste of winning ball. The Washington
team that year was in eighth place
from the start. They had American As
sociation competitors. The same year
Brooklyn and Cincinnati We're admitted
to the National League. This made ten
clubs, an undesirable number in the
league The next year was Brother
tl. ri. nn m
was badly crippled on this account. The
Indianapolis players stuck to their club
to a man, and that team had the
chance of winning the pennant. Wash
iheton was lost to the Brotherhood, and
the franchise was purchased by the
league.
New York had to be given team to
uphold the National League. If that
city was let go the rest of the league
was doomed, and it was decided TO
buy the Indianapolis team and trans
plant it to New York. The Hoosiers
fought the move hard and only sue
cumbed when they were paid S66, 600
for the team and the franchise. OF this
New York was to pay half and get
the team and the league half and get
the franchise. But the masnates We're
financially embarrassed and help was
needed. Rather than let the city go
there was a conference held in New
York. John b. Day. who represented
the GothamiteS, was there, as well as
magnates from all the big teams. in
Guiding Brush, who was connected with
the indianapolis team. All helped out
In the purchase, including Arson and
Spalding. Brush was paid most of his
share OF the Indianapolis stock in New
York paper. In this way Brush, as we'll
as many of the other owners, became
connected with the New York club. The
Chicago men sold their share the next
year for 40 cents on the dollar, but the
rest refused, and now much of the
Gotham stock is owned outside the
city, although Freedman owns the con-
trolling interest.
When the Cincinnati team was sold
to the brotherhood by Aaron Stern, in
1890, Brush bought the franchise, and
he is now the principal owner and
president.
A A. Anderson, president of the
Youngstown Interstate club, says: DO
l know John r Brush? Well. should
say So When l was in Indianapolis
Brush and myself and some others
Clipped in $500 apiece and started a
baseball club. We run ii two seasons.
and each year lost money. Then Brush
came to the front and said he would
take the club off our hands, and we let
go and pocketed our losses. Brush
turned round and sold the club at
profit of thousands of dollars Brush
is not in the business for health. and
is an al-around hustler
They tell story on Red Ehret, the
sorrel- TOP twirler who used to stand
in the box al The old park in that men,
orable year of 60. when Louisville won
a pennant-wa might say THE" pen
nant. for it is in class by itself. There
Louisville fans for Red, although he
was lured away by Pittsburg, for it
was he who pitched Two games against
the Bridegrooms in the City of
Churches that year when Louisville
was playing worlds championship Sc
ries and won them both, thus enabling
us to tie the series. But to our tale.
Red was an illiterate fellow: in fact,
he would not know his own name if it
were printed in type block high. He
began his career with the Austin (Tex)
team, and was the mainstay of this ag-
gregation. But Red was sulky and
would frequently refuse to pitch. So
they adopted plan to make him do
SO. One Of the players would walk up
to Red with paper and tell him it
was one printed in the rival city. Then
scanning the baseball news he would
say:
Just listen to this, Red: What the
Spodunk boys will do to that red-head-
ed tapioca at Austin win put him out
of the business. He can't pitch a little
bit. Three-Base Freddy is getting his
bats ready to knock four home runs,
nt1, tl,ax l,,'+
better from Santa Claus him
self - Then Red would boil over,
few Teutonic cuSs words, so
into the box and shut out the opposing
Post.
Although u tailender. the ST. Louis
team is as often in the public eye as
any other in the league. The recent |
reports of the sales of the Browns |
brings Won der Abe and his methods
again into prominence. In many ways, !
he st. Louis team has broken records, |
even if they were not always desirable |
records. More managers have been |
by Won der Abe than by any |
,ther magnate. |
Chris's first manager was Jimmie |
of Columbus, Ohio. Jimmie
vent with Chris in 80, the first year of |
he American Association, when that
embraced six clubs-St.
louis, Pittsburg, Cincinnati Louisville,
Baltimore and the Athletics. The |
Browns finished at the bottom that
'eason. But the next season Ted Sulli-
lan brought the ball team out of the
wake to second place, the Athletics
first, with game lead |
,ver the Browns. Chris had the crack
cam of the association that year. Tom
0easley and Tom Dolan We're the back
stops and Tony Mullane and George