Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-27
BASE BALL WARS
COST LOTS OF MONEY
National League Has Man.
aged to Survive Five
Fierce Conflicts.

Talk of q possible base ball war as a
| result of friction among the magnates
has recalled the fact that since the ma
tional game became firmly organized n
| 1876 five Of these wars have marred
the sport and burned up thousands OF
dollars, says a writer in the New York
| Sun. Either jealousy or a desire by out
siders to cut into the good thing caused
the trouble in each instance. The first
strife was in 1882, when the National
| League .clashed with the newly organized
American Association. Then in 1884 the
Union Association was organized and
a fight to finish with the National
| League and the American Association
followed. In 1890 the Brotherhood OF
Base Ball Players, headed by John NJ
Ward, helped to form the Players
| League, which tried to put the National
| League out of business. but without sue
| cess. Ten years later the American
League was founded by Ban Johnson
and after a bitter struggle it succeeded
| IN compelling the old National to sue 70,
peace.
| 1t was after the National League. the
American Association and the North
| western League had signed what was
| known as the tripartite agreement in
| the fall of 1883 that outside promoters,
realizing that there was money in pro-
fessional base ball. decided to cut in
Headed by Henry v. Lucas. young St
Louis millionaire, these persons met al
Pittsburg in September of that year and
| organized the Union Association. plac-
| ing clubs in Boston, Philadelphia, Balti-
more. Altoona. Washington. st. Louis
| Chicago and Cincinnati. Lucas bank roll
provided the means for wholesale raids
on the National League and American
| Association clubs. and before spring ar
| rived fifty ball players had been induced
| to jump the reserve clause in their con-
| tracts. Among these "deserters" were
/ George Bradley, Dupee Shaw, Orator
Shafer. Henry Boyle. One-Armed Daily
| Sam Crane, Charley Sweeney and others
| After the season had been under way
| Six weeks Altoona blew up and Kansas
| City was substituted. In midseason Luz
cas-, who owned the st. Louis Unions, in
| duced Jack Glasscock. Jim Mccormick
and Briody to jump the Clevelands. This
caused a big row, but Lucas had the men
sewed up SO tight that they could not be
recovered. AS the base ball public did not
| take much interest in the new league i,
| soon began to totter. Philadelphia dis
| banded and Wilmington, admitted, also
went by the board after a few weeks
| Then Lucas and his friends took in Mil
| Waukee and transferred the Chicago club
| to the Smoky city, where there was an
other collapse, and St. Paul was pressed
/
| with only five clubs able to take the field,
| St. Louis winning the championship in a
walk with 81 victories and 16 defeats.
Lucas. nothing daunted, announced that
the Union Association would be reor-
ganized for the season of 1885, but durin s
| the winter the National League magnates
began to show how they could play base
! ball politics by admitting Lucas and his
| st. Louis club to their circuit. OF course,
Lucas jumped at this chance and the
Union Association received its death
blow. Lucas continued to lose money in
| the Mound city, where he tried to buck
against Chris Won Der Ahe's famous st.
Louis Browns, and in 1887. practically
ruined, he threw up the sponge. The ad-
mission of Lucas to the National League,
by the way, was vigorously opposed by
A. G. Mills, the president of that organ
ization, who finally resigned and N. E.
Young was elected his successor.
It was five years after the death of
the Union Association that the Players
League was formed for a desperate
struggle for public patronage. This
movement resulted from a disagreement
between the National League and the
brotherhood over the players contracts
and reserve rule and John T. Brush
classification scheme, which involved Il
general reduction in salaries. The Broth
erhood leaders were John NJ. Ward, then
captain and shortstop of the Giants;
Buck Ewing. Tim keefe, Roger Conner
and Jim O'Rourke. also of the New
Yorls: Edward Hanlon of the Pittsburgs,
nous stars. The Brotherhood pledge was
signed by practically every National
League player. Financial hackers were
dug up In eight cities-Albert l.. Johnson
the late Cleveland street railroad mag
nate, headed the list. e. B. Talcott,