The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-01-19
IT'S A MAGIC NAME
BASEBALL. FANS PIN THEIR HOP G.;
ON A. G.. SPALD-
ING
WHY THE RIOTERS TRUST HIM
Has Always stood for Clean BaU
Uas Record for Sterling In
tegrity and knows the
Game.

"what is AL spalding going to do for
baseban?"
This question is being asked by hun
dreds of thousands of fans" through
out the country. The election of the
veteran player to the presidency of the
National league has inspired them with
new hopes. If he takes hold of the big
association with the vim he displayed
while at the head of the old Chicago
champions, they are confident he will
speedily pat the sport back to a reputa-
BILE and profitable basis.
The baseball fans are with Spa ding
to q man. In him they see the Moses
who is to lead the knights of the dia-
mond" out Of the wilderness. They are
confident that he alone is capable of ele-
waiting baseball to the position it occu-
pied many years ago. Those who
make this declaration say that never
before in the history of the game has
there been q better opportunity to make
It an almost exclusive craze They
point to the fact that during the last
few years the American public has paid
out large sums of money to witness pro-
feSSionaI games that were little better
than prairie league contests. It is
now up to Spalding to get the very best
players into the field of the National
league, and to infuse into the various
teams a distinct individuality or local
interest attached to the teams, that was
one OF the chief factors in making the
game so popular years ago.
In accordance with Mr.. Spalding's new
policy President James A. Hart, of
the Chicago team, has started out to get
The best players, regardless of salaries,
for this city. With the aid of Spalding,
Hart has signed contracts with thirty
one players. Frank Selee, who for
twelve years had charge of the Boston
club during which time that aggrega-
ton won seven pennants, will be man
ager of next years Chicago nine. Among
the promising players who have signed
with President Hart are: Harry Ola
gen. who played with Rochester last sea-
son; Jack Doyle, Bobby Lowne, who was
with Boston last year; Kennedy, a prom
Using player from the Nashville team
Mccormick Tinker and Mcintyre, of
California. These men will be tried out
for intield work. Those who will be
tested for the outfeld are Slagle, who
has played with Philadelphia and Bos-
ton; Williams, a college man from New
England: Charlie Dexter, and Jones, of
Rockford who is considered a coming
star. King, Kehoe and Chance will
try for duty behind the bat, while Eason,
"Rube'' Waddeu, and Gardner, the latter
an Eastern league man, have been sign
ed for the pitchers box. This, however,
is merely Il starter and is given as an
evidence of the way Spalding and Hart
intend infusing life into professional
baseball next year.
How SpaIdInE Got Rich.
Spalding has turned back to the game
purely because of his love for it. Baseball
has been like Aladdin's lamp to him.
Few of the fans who now worship him
as having been the chief spirit in bring
ing the same forward realize that his
present fortune estimated at $4,000, COO,
had it's origin on the baseball diamond.
His first start in life was as the captain
of the old Forest City team, of Rockford,
al a salary of $500 a year. 1t was while
serving in this capacity that he became
famous as a pitcher and secured the pres
tige in the sporting world which made
him so popular later in life. Through his
ability to hurl swift ball over the home
plate he earned money enough to enable
him to engage in the spOrting-goods bust
ness and it was in this field that he made
most Of his millions. A large part of his
wealth was earned, however, in realty
investments in Chicago, and besides a
number of lots in the downtown district
he now owns most of the village Of Har-
Yey, this part of his estate being managed
by his son.
Yet through all his business ven
lures his intense devotion to baseball has
never waned. He was an ideal athlete
in appearance, being six fet two inches in
height and weighing 220 pounds, with not
an ounce of superfluous flesh, and bearing
his fifty-one years as though he were still
the boy in fact that he is in heart. He
is endowed with an immense amount OF
personal magnetism, and this, coupled
with his thoroughly democratic spirit and
his deep, resonant voice, makes him a
character delightful to meet and converse
with.
The millionaire baseball man never tires
of discussing his favorite game. If a
fan" approaches him on the street and
asks him about a recent game lie will stop
and discuss the merits and dement's OF
the contest for hours. He will analyze
each play, tell just what a certain player
should have done at a critical moment
and pass criticism upon the errors made
But if the fan" should venture to &C
into the politics of baseball Spalding will
suddenly remember that he has a pressing
engagement and depart. He adores base
ball. He despises the politics that has
taken hold of the professional game The
modern golf fiend could not take more in
terest in that slow but highly interesting
pastime than Spalding does in Baseball
Saving of C. A. A.
In every phase of his life this Croesus
of the green diamond is a most interest
ing character study. When his wealth
reached the point where society forbade
his DOMINIC white knickerbockers and
doubling himself up in the pitchers box.
he began devoting his attention to sport
in general, keeping his eye, however, on
baseball in particular. He Joined the New
York Athletic club and became one of its
leading spirits. He also became one of