The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-06-29
EBBETS, BROOKLYN MACNATE, IS
BEING REWARDED FOR HIS PLUCK
After Many Lean, Dark Years, His Club Is Now
Making Big Money.
BY FRANK G. MENKE.

New York, June 29.-After more
,hs, thirty wears of patience, Charlie
I,bbets at last is beginning to collect
bulkv dividends on his baseball in
Nestment.
shortly after Noah's skiff anchored
p, the mount. the Squire of Brooklyn"
began to dabble in baseball since
somewhere along in the early 81 s. ne
has been a magnate.
roll by tying it up in ball club Times
innumerable he finished the season
far behind in financial way once
or twice over that long sweep OF
years Ebbets's ball club made money
for hin-but the sum was trl1hng-
The Brooklyns were proverblal tail
enders.
With his genius and his energy, Eb-
bets might have gone into another
business and made a huge fortune
But he stuck to baseball. He loved
. the game as a sport and to combine
q his pleasure and his business all in one
a%nterprise was an ideal arrangement
for him.
Waits Thirty Years.
49, Patiently hopefully, Ebbets waited
through the years for turn in the
tide Of fortune-for bit of luck that
went to other magnates but always
seemed to pass him by.
49, But the same refused to smile upon
the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers;
instead % lettering. conditions became
worse.
The darkest hour is just before
dawn" goes an old saying. and it new
CT was truer than in the case of Eb-
bets. Just a trifle more than a year
ago he was in financial straits: in such
plight that it was reported on sew
eral occasions that he would have to
sell out his club to satisfy creditors.
How true those reports were, we can
not say with authority. But it cannot
bc denied that when the 1915 season
began. E.bbets's wallet was so thin that
Il hardly could he noticed.
The outlook for 1915 was drearier
than any other in the long history of
the veteran magnate- His team didn't
size up at the outset a pennant pos
sibility- Patronage in the Dodger
park promised to he the smallest in
many years. first because the fans
seemed to have lost interest in the
game. second because the Dodgers
weren't figured as a drawing card and
third. the Feds were intrenched in
Brooklyn and were making a fight for
popular favor
Pay Roll Big.
And right at that time" Ebbets
told Us. Il was assuming the burden
Of the biggest pay roll I was ever call
I'D upon to meet. Practically every
man on my roster then was drawing
rom $1,000 to $4,000 more than in
other years. The Federal leaguers
wanted my stars-and so did l. That
meant l had to Outbid them. and. l
assure you, those fellows certainly did
boost their figures. But 1 met them.
didn't let one of my good players get
away
Soon after the 1915 season began.
the clouds rolled back-and the SIM
began TO shine through upon Ebbets.
HIS team to the surprise of the
+ea que showed uneXp ected strength.
II jumped away from the April bar
rier at a smashing clip and-on and
ON II went Brooklyn fans aecustOm-
60 10 seeing sixth, seventh or eighth
place club, woke up to the novelty of
me situation Dodger club in a
pcnnant fight
The fans came out-in droves. The
turnstiles clicked and clicked and con
nnued clicking. The Dodgers, con-
LFary TO predictions. didn't skid in
Junetime- They fingered among the
leaders right into the stretch. Not un-
II then were they really beaten in the
bunting race.
And the shekels poured in upon
Ebbetts as they will do upon any
tnaSnate whose club is in the race
Ebbets who had feared another huge
financial setback when the season be-
gan. found at the end that not only
had he cleared all expenses but thai
his books showed a neat profit The
DODGERS were one of the few clubs in
the big leagues last season that cleared
expenses
His Golfers Filling.
Dame Fortune continues to smile
upon Ebbets- Probably she figures
that the veteran deserves a little re.
ward at least for his thirty years OF
patience. The Dodgers, rs YOU prob
ably have noticed. are in the thickest
part of the 1916 pennant fracas. They
have outdrawn other clubs on the
road and they are averaging close tc
10000 a day at home. including the
usual $4,000 Saturday crowd.
Huge as was the Dodger home at
tendance last year. that of 1915 will
10 fer beyond. The Brooklynites dur
fnE the first three months have played
= almost as many folks they die
during the entire home attendance fol
1915. At home and on the road they
already have drawn almost three line:
as many fans as they did in the ertir,
six months during the lean years
II the Dodgers dropped out of III.
pcnuant fight right now, and didn'
draw more than a few hundred fan
per day for the rest of the seaso 4
ELECTS would finish ahead in a fiaan
-cistl way. anyhow.
But over in Brooklyn they inSiS
that you perish the thought of tn
F~deerS doing anything else than eel
thc rag. The natives figure it IS al
ah~olute circh- And already the bug
EicSt Of the hugs are sending in thei
qualifications for world series tickets
Whereupon Charles Hercules Ebbet
smiles. and murmurs:
Them's my sentiments. boys"