Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-02-17
When the Brotherhood Threatened Base Ball

HTEw YORK. FEB. 1s-The rising
generation Of base bail fans re-
- gard the present day heroes Of
EkEt4 the diamond with both awe ana
resepct. They consider Mathew
con. Hal Chase. Mordecai Brown.
Chance. Fielder. Jones. Welsh. Nc
craw. Grihth. Keeler. Lajoie. WAGNER.
Wadden and other stars the greatest bal
players that ever lived. and Il is but natural
Tor them 70 hold this opinion for the reason
that many Of them never saw the faD,ous
bail tossers q the days long ago vet ne, er
20 be forgotten by the old time enthusiasts
The recent war between the old National
league and the New American league
was generally regarded as a hardship for
the fans IN cities where there were rival
clubs Tor the season that for the time being
the interest was divided and the roo;ers
could not pull shoulder 20 shoulder for
one representative team as IN former years
This war win probably remain Fixed in
the minds Of the younger base bali enthusi-
ssts as long as they live chiefly because
OF the sensational incidents which marked
The struggle the passing Of various vel
known magnates and players the intro
oucuon q new stars and the resulting
harmony which has made the game more
prosperous than ever before because Of the
the two big major leagues
This latter day revolt against the National
league succeeded because IT was well
managed by two men-Ban johnson and
Charles Comiskey. They got the capitalists
IN the different cities together first and
then went after the players. They did not
ny 20 establish the present American
league circuit all at cnce. but they felt
their way gradually until they had estab-
hshed successful clubs in I'VE National
league stronRholds. But this fight for pub
He patronage was nothing compared 10 the
DISASTROUS war q seventeen years ago BE-
tween the National league and the Brother
hood Of BAH Players IN which more than
n.ooo.0oo was lost by the men who under
took 20 make the Players league a sue
cess
For several years prior 10 1saa when the
crash came. the baIl players had been re-
ceiving big salaries. Buck Ewing. Mike
Kelly. John NJ Ward and other stars got
pretty close 20 $500 for their services for
one season. while the others pocketad all
the way from 1850 M TO 5000 for six
months OF work on the diamond The
profits Of the nagnates IN those days were
enormous. The Boston club owned bv
Soden. Billings a Conant cleared 10000
in 1854 while the New York club owned
chiefly by John B. Day made az much. II
not more. the same year. The Chicago
club. controlled by A. q. spalding. was an
other big winner financially from year 70
year. and so was the Philadelphia club
the property Of A. J. Reach and John T.
Rogers. In fact every club in the National
league was making money hand over fist
with such persisteney that the players. be-
coming Jealous. soon decided TO get as
much Of the public's gold as possible.
Because of legislation calculated to crit
down salaries, the Brotherhood was organ
lien at the instigation OF John NJ Ward
Timothy Keefe. Edward Hanion and a few
other brainy ball players. who succeeded in
getting nearly ell the men in the National
league TO sign a pledge that they would
stick 20 the organization. no matter what
might occur. The word was secretly
passed to the players 20 secure capital IN
the different cities where they were play
ing during the season OF 1883 and they went
70 work IN earnest. Ittwas not a difficult
matter 10 secure money for such an enter
prise as the Brotherhood had planned. for
business men knew that there were enor-
nous profits IN base bah games. and that II
they were able to control the players the
National league magnates would be up
against the hardest kind of a game II
was on November s of that year. there
fore. that the Brotherhood. having COM
pleted its plans. announced that the Play
ers' league would be organized and that
the National league would be opposed by
rival clubs in Boston. Brooklyn, New York
Philadelphia. Chicago, Cleveland and Pitts
burg. Cincinnati was the eighth club IN
the National league while Buffalo rounded
out the Brotherhood circuit
when the National league convened a
week later Il was found that only one
player remained loyal and that was Adrian
c. Arson, the manager and captain OF the
ChicAgos, who had refused 20 become a
member Of the Brotherhood. The league
decided 20 resort 70 the courts and injunc-
ton suits were instituted against Ward
and Ewing by the New York club. asking
that they be restrained from breaking the
reserve clause in their contracts. But Jus
tiee Morgan J. o'Brien denied the applica-
ton for q permanent injunction and the
20 do but fight.
Immediately strenuous efforts were made
90 win some of the PLAYERS back by offer
ing them big salaries. As n result John T
Brush succeeded in inducing all of the
members Of his Indianapolis team 70 desert
the Brotherhood. except Con Daley, An
drew Seery and McGeAchy, all Of whom
went over TO John NJ Wards Brooklyn
club. Then the league bought out the In
dianapoiis and Washington clubs. making
room for the Brooklyn and Cincinnati clubs
OF the American association. which was
soon pillsged by the Brotherhood TO IN the