New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-09-03
Minor Leagues
ate After War
Much in Doubt
Dick kinsella, Famous Scout,
Ex-Magnate, Says Majors
May Gain Strength



Sinister Dick" Kinsells. prosperous
in his time as a minor league club
owner and later famous as a scout for
the St. Louis Cardinals and subse-
quently for the New York Giants, is
dubious as to the ultimate fate of
minor league baseball. The bringer
out of Larry Doyle. Heinie Croh. Frank
Snyder and other famous ball tossers
has quit "ivory hunting" for ar essen
tial occupation-thc varnish business.
Kinsella wound up transcontinental
trip with a peek at the Giants the
other day. and while he retains q warm
spot under his vest for John J. Nc
Graw and the few remaining of the
Polo Grounders of a season ago his
opinion of the present day New York
Nationals would not be exactly to the
liking of New York fans.
At that. King Richard" as be was
known in his Three-I League days, was
in pleasant frame Of mind. His
mood was talkative when found him,
and he reminisced freely. disclosing
not few secrets of the national game
and its history.
Few followers Of major league base
ball realize how many are affected BY
the present condition of the sport
with the game literally shot to pieces
said the erstwhile demon scout. Ten
years ago there were forty-nine leagues
enrolled under the banner of organized
baseball. Those forty-nine leagues,
major and minor, employed apprcxi-
mately 5000 ball players. To-day there
are but three out and out professional
baseball leagues operating-National,
American and International.
Sport Is Overshadowed
"The great war, hitting the big
leagues amidships, not only took their
best players, but sent their best Gus
toners to France as we'll. and provided
an international show that completely
overshadows baseball.
Major league club owners rolled in
wealth until the war came in 1914.
was in on the ground floor. and don't
let 'em tell you different | was only
'one of the help but the Cardinals paid
me $4,000 and expenses to scout in 1912
and the Giants kicked in with $4,000
for similar services in 1915. 1t cost
the New York club 1000 to resign
RUDE Marquard that year. l was sent
all the way to Tacoma to round him up.
Il might name other of the huge
~ no
majors. but it may suffice to say that
even the Cardinals, in 1911, made
$4,000 net. Bresnahan told Bill
Armour and myself-we both were
scouting for the Brittons in l9l2-to
go out and buy some good players. |
bought one, Frank Snyder, for $1,000,
and the club turned down an offer of
$4,000 for Frank that winter. or. to be
exact, before the teams went into
training in the spring of 1918.
Armour recommended one, George
Whitfield. He didn't do well for a while
and slipped away from St. Louis to
Boston at a ridiculously low figure, in
trade of second string men.
armour and l earned our salaries
turning down morning glories.' Now
I'm peddling varnish and | can't com
plain, either. Armour's running
saloon in Kansas City and pretty soon
kell be doing something other than
marketing interior varnish.
Ten years ago there were dozen
minor league franchises. worth from
$4,000 to $4,000. Charlie Ebbets
made $4,000 net one season with the
Newark Internationl League team.
This is only sample of the big money
that was in baseball among the smaller
leagues.
Il used to own the Springfield Three
| League club and sold out ten years
ago when l saw the handwriting and
realized that golf, automobiles and
country clubs were killing minor league
ball, as a business. The Springfield
business men who bought the franchise
up the ghost.
Roger Bresnahan quit the Cardinals
s27,500 to the good. Mrs. Britton set
tied with him for $l2.500 and Charlie
Murphy gave him SIS, 900 to sign with
the Cubs. Roger showed me the checks
in the Planters Hotel, st. Louis. then
bought bottle of wine and handed
the waiter a SIS tip.
Bresnahan's Investment
Let me take care Of that money
for you I advised:
Never mind; l can handle it, re-
piled the duke
Roger invested the bankrol1 in the
Toledo American Association club. II
he had it to do over again III Ret he
would stick that money in Liberty
Bonds.
Major league ball will come back as
strong as ever-perhaps stronger
after the war, but l would not care to
hazard guess as to the future OF
minor league ball. The boys who re
turn from France will have an appetite
for all kinds of games and sports, and
there is an outside chance that mino,
league ball will go better than ever
But it will have to go some to over
come the influence that put a Grimm
in the game in the sticks long before
the war beclouded the horizon. Golf
automobiles and country clubs will Gu,
heavily into the element of the popu
lation that used to patronize baseball
in the smaller cities. These season
| long counter attractions were forcinf
one minor league after another to thu
wall long before the Huns went on
their costly rampage"
Kinsella said that he ran acros.
Grover Hartley. the old Giant and st
Louis Federal catcher. in the West re
Gently. Hartley now is doing quit.
| famouslY in vaudeville