Archive for April, 2010

 

Brooklyn Eagle 7/19/1855

Note that base ball playing is entirely different that cricket ball playing.

Here’s a game played shortly thereafter:

Brooklyn Eagle 8/4/1855

 

On September 11, 1887, the St. Louis Browns refused to play the Cuban Giants, a black team. The event helped formally establish the color line in Organized Baseball. Earlier in the season, the Chicago White Stockings refused to play against George Stovey and Fleet Walker.

Here’s the wire report published in the New York Times on the 12th:

Here’s a follow-up piece from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat on the 13th.

 

New York Times 5/2/1899

 

Eri Yoshida 

Righthanded, sidearm pitcher 

5’, 114 pounds 

In November 2008, Eri Yoshida, 16, became the first woman drafted by a professional baseball team in Japan. She was selected in the 7^th round by the Kobe 9 Cruise of the four-team Kasai League, a newly-created independent circuit. At the time, she was a 16-year-old student at Kawasaki-kita High School in Kawasaki. 

Yoshida, born in 1992, first started playing baseball in second grade and continued with the encouragement of her father and older brother. She became a knuckleball pitcher, being inspired and developing her specialty after viewing a video of Boston Red Sox hurler Tim Wakefield, a major leaguer since 1992 – the year of Yoshida’s birth. She’s been clocked at 63 mph but typically throws her knuckler in the 50s. 

In December, she was signed by the club and officially became the first female professional in her native land. She made her pro debut on Opening Day, March 26, 2009, at the Osaka Dome. 

In 2009, Yoshida appeared in 11 games for Kobe with a 0-2 record and 4.03 ERA in 10.2 innings pitched. 

She withdrew from the Kasai League at the end of the season. In December, she was invited to participate in the Arizona Winter League with the Yuma Scorpions. Like the others in the league, she hoped to attract major league attention. 

The AWL plays a 20-game season beginning at the end of January. Another woman, Tiffany Brooks, an American from Spokane, also played in the league. In March 2010, Yoshida met and trained with Tim Wakefield. 

In April, she signed by former Dodgers pitcher Mike Marshall of the Chico (CA) Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League, a western independent circuit formed in 2005. The Outlaws are managed by Garry Templeton. 

The GBL, an eight-team league, plays a 90-game schedule and stretches from Canada to northern Mexico and westward to Hawaii. In the continental United States, games are played in California, Arizona and Utah. The league opens in mid May. 

Tiffany Brooks, a first baseman and reliever, signed with Alpine (TX) of the independent Continental Baseball League. 

SOURCE LIST 

• Goldenbaseball.com 
• Indiana Gazette, Pennsylvania, 2009 
• New York Daily News, 2008 
• Wikipedia.com 
• Winnipeg Free Press, Manitoba, Canada, 2008-2209

 

St. Louis Browns owner Chris von der Ahe had a penchant for getting himself into legal troubles. One source of his demise was he preferance for young women.

At the ballpark in St. Louis on September 7, 1885 was Chris von der Ahe, his wife and his mistress, Kitty Dewey – a pretty blonde. Trouble in the making.

Dewey was watching the game, apparently oblivious to the fact that Mrs. von der Ahe was also present.

Bystanders noticed Mrs. von der Ahe continually giving the stink eye in the direction of a pretty young blonde. When the game ended Mrs. von der Ahe walked up behind Miss Dewey and declared, “Miss Kitty, Miss Kitty, didn’t I tell you not to put your foot in these grounds again!”

Dewey turned, paled and was struck over the head with a soda bottle. Von der Ahe grabbed his wife and forced her into the box office as Dewey fled the scene.

On March 26, 1895 von der Ahe’s first wife obtained a divorce, receiving $3150 in alimony.

Soon after the divorce (or perhaps before) von der Ahe, 43, took up with a young brunette named Della E. Wells. Miss Wells held a lot of influence with the baseball magnate, suggesting that he hire her friends and relatives to work at his ballpark.

On August 9, 1895, VDAhad a blowout with his player-manager Joe Quinn. The next day, VDA announced that his new manager was Lou Phelan (a boxing manager), a man with no baseball experience.

Phelan just happened to be married to Wells’ sister. The club finished in eleventh place. To be fair to Phelan, it was in eleventh place when he took over. Phelan “pledged to learn the finer points of the game during the off season” but he was replaced by Henry Diddlebock.

VDA and Wells were married on September 8, 1896 in Erie, PA. She was described as so – “The second Mrs. V is twenty-two years old, trim of figure, a brunette, and a swell dresser.”

Two days later, a Miss Annie Kaiser filed a $10,000-lawsuit for breach of promise against VDA. She was under the impression that she was to wed VDA.

On December 29, 1897, VDA filed for divorce. His wife counterfiled claiming abuse and ill-treatment. “She said that he would not allow her any pocket money, discharged the servant, and made her do the work. He almost constantly scolded and struck her.”

Von der Ahe dropped his case but the judge ruled on Mrs. von der Ahe’s complaint. She was granted a divorce and $1000 in alimony. VDA made counter charges but they were dismissed as baseless. In the end, the judge compliment Mrs. von der Ahe on her demeanor and deportment in court – an apparent slap at VDA’s behavior.

By the 1890s, VDA had a slew of financial setbacks. In 1908, he declared bankruptcy and was for a time supported by Charles Comiskey and others in the game.

 This is the same Powers that would soon start-up the Federal League.

Washington Post 8/19/1907

 

Garry Herrmann and Cincinnati Politics

In the late 1870s, George B. Cox, a Cincinnati native, opened a saloon at the corner of Carlisle and Central Avenues in Cincinnati called “Dead Man’s Corner.” The name reflected the violence of the surrounding neighborhood.

Almost immediately, he became a leader in local politics. He grasped an opportunity to head the Commercial Club which was indispensable in breaking the Democratic Party’s hold on the city.

In 1884, Cox became chairman of the Republican Executive Committee and widened his circle of influence during the Grover Cleveland-James Blaine presidential campaign of 1884, often described as the nastiest campaign in history.

In 1886, general labor strikes seized Cincinnati. At the time, Democrats controlled City Hall, often through ballot fraud. Joseph Foraker, soon-to-be-governor of Ohio, sought to oust the Democrats from power and promote then-governor William McKinley to the Presidency. To do this, Foraker needed a Republican City Hall.

Therefore, he formed the Citizen’s Committee to end City Hall Corruption and through his position in the Board of Public Affairs appointed Cox to administer the 2000 jobs that the board controlled.

Despite not holding an official office, Cox ruled the city’s affairs from his saloon at John and Longworth Streets.

By 1890, Cox was invincible at Republican conventions. Virtually every man elected to an office (up to and including governors), named as a delegate or judge or served on a committee in Cincinnati or the surrounding Hamilton County had to first gain the endorsement of Cox and his two lieutenants Rudolph “Rud” Hynicka, an owner of a chain of burlesque houses, and August “Garry” Herrmann.

To quote the New York Times:

“He [Cox] immediately became a leader in local politics and soon spread his influence until he virtually controlled the Republican machine in Hamilton County, obtained a powerful hold on state politics and wielded an influence in national campaigns.

In a very real sense he is the Republican Party of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. He listens – and decides. He hears, reflects – and settles…Tammany has not such power as is exercised here.”

Cox diversified his interests, becoming a millionaire in the process:

Gambling house owner, exercising a virtual monopoly over the local industry as he continually ordered raids against his competitors

• Real estate mogul with interests in Cincinnati and New York
• President of the World Film Corporation, one of the largest picture producing and distributing companies in the nation
• Chairman of Shubert Theatrical Corporation, a company that dominated legitimate theater venues until the 1950s
• Vice president of Marcus Loew amusement enterprises (Loew is the founder of Loews Theaters and MGM Studios)
• Part owner of Keith vaudeville circuits
• President of the Cincinnati Trust Company, a bank

Much of Cox’s money was pilfered from the government and received via the graft system; however, his administration had some significant pluses. Cox’s reign brought a measure of stability to city administration. Additionally, he fostered:

• Improvements in the sewer system
• Improvements in the water works system
• The laying of miles of sewer lines and streets
• Improvements in police and fire services
• Regulation of public utilities

Cox became a leading proponent of annexing suburbs to cities. Obviously, this increased the tax base but it brought significant improvements to the suburbs with the extension of utilities such as water and sewage systems to the outlying communities.

AUGUST HERRMANN

When he was 11 years old in 1870, Herrmann’s father passed away necessitating August and his brothers to enter the workforce to support the family. Young August became a typesetter.

In 1882, Herrmann entered politics and was elected to the Cincinnati Board of Education. He found a job as a printer working for George Topp, a local newspaper publisher. Topp recommended Herrmann for a position as assistant clerk in the Police Court in 1887. 

In his spare time, Herrmann studied the municipal law. Cox soon promoted Herrmann to Water Works commissioner. He proved to be quite competent introducing modern management principles to municipal government. Under Herrmann, Cincinnati’s modern water works system was built. 

As noted, Herrmann and Rud Hynicka served as Cox’s lieutenants in administering the affairs of government and Cox’s commercial endeavors. Hynicka oversaw Hamilton County and Herrmann administered city affairs. 

It was said that Herrmann carried Cincinnati’s financial stats in his head. As the New York Times stated, “For years the word of these two men in their separate fields was final.” The graft system fed Cox, his two lieutenants, and whoever else Cox decided – hundreds of thousands of dollars for years. 

Harold Seymour in his work Baseball painted a more comical picture of Herrmann: 

“Herrmann was a political tool of George B. Cox, boss of Hamilton County, Ohio. Lincoln Steffens reported how Herrmann and Cox’s other lieutenant, Rudolph Hynicka (sic), once were talking to some outsiders when Cox broke in, “…when I whistle you dogs come out of your holes, don’t you? They were still. “Don’t you Garry,” he repeated. “That’s right,” said Garry.” 

BASEBALL 

In July 1902, Herrmann began discussions with Cincinnati Reds owner John Brush about purchasing the National League club. Brush was amid a shift to the New York Giants. 

Later in the month, Ban Johnson visited Cincinnati intent on adding an American League franchise in that city for the 1903 season. Herrmann was seen entering a private discussion with Johnson, fueling speculation. 

Further pressure was placed on Brush to sell as Cox threatened to run a streetcar line through the center of his ballpark, the newly restructured Palace of the Fans. 

On August 9, the announcement was made that Brush sold the club to Cox, Herrmann, Cincinnati mayor Julius Fleischmann and his brother Colonel Max Fleischmann of the famous Fleischmann Yeast Company family. The new coalition paid $150,000 for all but 1/20 of the club. 

Though Herrmann at all times owned an insignificant portion of the club, he was elected president and retained that position until his retirement due to poor health in 1927. 

The genial Herrmann was quickly elected to head the new National Commission after the signing of the National Agreement of 1903 that brought relative peace between the National and American Leagues. The position offered no salary but perhaps more importantly provided Herrmann with a significant expense account ($12,000) which financed his love of high living – travel, food and drink. 

Cox semi retired in 1909 and then completely in 1911. Hynicka, for the most part, and Herrmann oversaw political affairs until the organization was defeated in the mayoral race that elected a Democrat in 1912. Hynicka retained some influence until 1924.