The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-31


 was to be the end of the old Orioles,
 It is not my intention to deal much with the government of the game, historically, in these memoirs But to make clear the exciting incl dents of that year and the next 1t is necessary that I give little back ground. My purpose in the rest of the story is to be personal and inci- dental.
 As I have said. several offers had been made for me during our lively season of 1899. At first Ned Hanlon and Harry Won der Horst refused to consider any such offers. Soon their attitude changed. There were ru- mors of the National league being cut down to eight clubs. This meant of course, that Baltimore would be one of the clubs to be dropped. Busf- ness had fallen off, due to the Span ish-Amercan war, and it was quite a struggle to make both ends meet. Through it was repeatedly denied, the players had good reason to be- lieve that the big cut was coming.
 Hesitated to Act
 The league heads hesltated to act openly for fear the new American league, then expanding, would grab the territory. We played the season out but the owners knew that Balti- more was doomed. Obviously, the only way to escape a heavy loss was to sell the players before the balloon burst.
 was not surprised, therefore, when notified during the winter that Robinson and myself had been sold to the St. Louis club. l never knew the purchase price exactly, but it was pretty good sum, In the meantime the National league had been cut to eight clubs, leaving Louisville, Washington, Baltimore and Cleveland out in the cold.
 Refused to Go
 At first Robbie and I refused to go. In fact, we declined to sign a contract for a long time. We did not report until May 5. Neither of us had any enthusiasm about play ing with St. Louis. Our heart was not with that team. On top of that l was laid up frequently from att tacks of malaria.
 Right here I want to correct an impression that gained ground then, and has stuck, that jumped the St. Louis club to go into the American league. l jumped no contract, then or at any other time. To clear this matter up I will tell what really happened at St. Louis and later l will show why I left the Baltimore Amer ican League cvlub and came to New York.
 The Reserve Clause
 The clause 1 objected to in my con- tract with the St. Louis club was the reserve clause. Both Robbie and myself refused to sign a contract which would hold us over another year, regardless of our wishes. On top of that I demanded salary Of s9,500 which MT. Robinson of St. Louis finally agreed to. That, per haps. was the largest salary paid for a player up to that time.
 The reserve clause was stricken from our contracts. This made us free agents at the end of the season, giving us the right to go to another club or anywhere we pleased. The reserve clause at that time --as 8 bone of contention among managers and players. We were determined not to be tied by it. That contra~t is still matter of record, and it would have been easy for anybody to have informed themselves as to it's clauses. Nobody did, however, They simply accused us of jumping. It probably made better story that way.
 Third With St. Louis
 IT played third base for the St. Louis club. but at no time did l act as manager, as has been written in several histories of the game. At one time Mr. Robinson, the owner, did offer me the management, but refused to even consider it as long as Pat Tebau had the job. Tebau was a great friend of mine, even trough we had fought each other like tom cats on the diamond for years. l think I had more scraps with Tebau than any other man. AS result we were close friends. After joining his club I declined absolutely to take his job. Even after Tebau had resigned as manager I refused Mir. Robinson offer.
 ~During that season I played il s5 games for St. Louis. I did the best I@could, but neither Robbie CT my self were able to give the same young fire and spirit to that team that we had to the old Orioles. The sentiment was missing.
 Race Track Handy
 Just outside the St. Louis park there was racetrack. Always have been Interested in playing the ponies. It Is the one sport l like outside of baseball. Most ball play CTS are fond of the races.
 With that temptation so close at hand it was a great trick for the players to get put out of games by the umpires so that they could slip across the street and take whirl at the ponies. You can well imagine what a tough spot that was for an umpire. On the slightest provoca- ton we would jump on him -nd ar gue and wrangle until somebody got