The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-23
BASEBALL MAGNATES OF OLD.
NATIONAL LEAGUE OWNERS
NEARLY ALL REPLACED.

NEfhLf ALL hEf EDs
John ID. Day the First to Get Out, Followed
by spaldlng. Freedman. Reach. Rogers.
sOden. COnant. Billings. Won der Abe.
Byrne, Young ana Many Others.
3 Gradually men who figured in the gov
OF professional baseball as club
owners and stockholders in the National
League have been dropping out Of the
game, until very few OF the veterans are
left. The Brotherhood war of 1890, In which
81 900, 900 was lost eliminated some. but it
was not until the expansion OF the very
successful American League, under the
direction OF Bancroft Byron johnson that
other notable magnates decided TO retire
permanently.
1t was the Brotherhood war that drove
John B. Day, Walter Appleton and Joseph
Gordon out Of the control Of the New York
club. To Mr.. Day belonged the lions share
OF responsibility for giving the National
League a foothold in this city. He had
given a helping hand to James Mutrie
more than twenty years ago in the estab-
lishment Of a representative professional
club, the Metropolitans OF the American
ho~oShotioht ia wow tOIh, hLIu as Nv va"
tional League was soon knocking at the
gates Of the metropolis Mr.. Day, with a
lease on the old Polo Grounds, at Fifth ave-
nue. ana 10th street, decided to become a
magnate in the league organization. SO
the New Yorks were organized and under
the management of Mutrle and represented
by such famous players as Keefe, Ewing,
Common, Dorgan, Welsh, Gillespie and
others, the National League club began
its career on Manhattan Island under
the most favorable auspices. A fortune
sw aitei MI. Day during the next five years
and when the New Yorks won the pennant
in 1883 and 1889 and also captured the world's
championship the success of the club
financially reached high water mark.
But the organization of the Players
League, popularity known as the Brother
hood, was a hard blow for Mr.. Day. Al
though they had been generously treated
by him, the players with the exception of
Welsh, Murphy and Herman deserted MT.
Day, attracted by fabulous salaries, so that
when the season of 1890 began the National
League club here was a mere shell. Then
it was that MI. Day negotiated a deal with
John T. Brush, the owner of the Indian
apolis club. by which in return for SEQ COO
Brush turned over Glssscock, Denny,
Buckley, Rusie, Boyle, Bassett and other
players who we're soon wearing New York
uniforms. In paying for these men Mr..
Day handel over S25 900 in stock to the
indianapolis man, who got his first foot
hold in baseball af airs In New York. The
season was only half over when Mr.. Day
was flying signals of distress. The Brother
hood club had the bulk OF patronage, while
the Nationals were drawing on an average
200 persons a game. A hurry call was
sent out by A. G.. Spalding of the Chicago
club, A. H. Soden OF the Boston club, +. A.
Abel of the Brooklyn club, A. j. Reach Of
the Philadelphia club and Brush of Indian
apolis, with the result that $50, 900 was
quickly subscribed TO carry the New York
club through the season, Mr.. Day sur
rendering another big block of stock in the
club in return for. this assistance.
When the season came to N end both
sides we're weary OF senseless fighting and
there was a general combination. The
two New York clubs got together and Mr..
Day found himself a comparatively small
minority s~tockholder. +. B. Talcott, a
well known Wall Street man, the late Post
master Cornelius Van Colt, Gen. E. A.
McAlpin, the tobacco a and Frank
B. Robinson, a steel merchant, securing
control. In addition to these men, who
had backed the Brotherhood club at a loss,
Spalding, Soden, Reach, Abel and Brush
also held stock, while Mr.. Day was made
president at a salary of SIC, coo a year. Under
until 1894, when Mr.. Day, having been
.,,S - .b1 ,l,L .-l A.
OF the team having been turned. over to
John NJ. Ward, the New Works won the
cup after finishing second to the
champion Baltimores. Incidentally the
club was enabled to wipe out a lot OF in
and also banked about SAC, OcO
in profits.
With Mr.. Day out Of il except for a small
stock interest, the passing of one Of the
National Leagues most influential mag
mates was completed, for in his day the
former president Of the New York Club
was a power in the politics Of the game, Mt
the same time enjoying the confidence OF
the public at large. But. although the win
ming OF the Temple cup was a big thing for
the club, Messrs. Talcott, Van Colt, McAlpin
and Robinson were tired OF the worry and
to which they had been SUBJ
jected and were o negotiating a sale of
the control of the New York Clubs stock
to Andrew Freedman, who in 1895 secured
81 per cent for 9,ooO-a bargain in view
OF later results. Freedman. in making this
deal. got all OF the stock held by Reach,
Abel and Spalding, leaving Soden and Brush
each with about $50 900 worth and Day
perhaps t25 900 in certificates.
Freedman later sold out 10 Brush.
A. II. Soden, W. Fl. Conant and J.. B..
Billings, who recently sold the Boston
Nationals to George b. Dewey and others,
got into baseball in 1879. They were solid
business men when they took hold
OF the game in the Hub and did much to
the sport there. They made money
from the start and their investment
40 good that in 1884, just after
had won tho pennant with a team
made up of Jim Whitney, Charley Bufing.
ton, Mertie Hackett, Nike Hines, John
John Burdock, Sam Wise, Ezra
Sutton, Joe Hornung, Ed Smith and Paul
Radford, an attempt was made by the
Union Association 10 cut into the Hnh u;th