Archive for May, 2010

 

Cal Drummond 

Calvin Troy Drummond was born on June 2, 1917 in Ninety-Six, South Carolina. Outside the baseball season, he lived his whole life in and around the area. His parents, James and Fannie, were both South Carolina natives, both born circa 1893. Calvin had at least six siblings, five brothers named Theodore, Alvin, John, Peter and Lewis and a sister named Velora. Calvin and Alvin were twins. James Drummond supported his family working at the local cotton mill.

Sports attracted Cal from his earliest ages. He played three sports, baseball, basketball and football, at the local Ninety-Six High School. Cal then played for a local Ninety-Six baseball club in a Textile League from 1937-38. After five years in the infantry during World War II, Drummond rejoined the Textile League with a nearby Greenwood club from 1946-47. 

In 1948, Cal attended Bill McGowan’s Umpire School and was then assigned to the Class-D Alabama State League for the remainder of the season. Drummond left baseball for three years, returning with the Class-D Georgia State League from 1952-53. He then ascended to the Class-A South Atlantic League from 1954-56 and the Triple-A International League from 1957-59. 

In 1960, Drummond landed in the majors, calling American League games until June 10, 1969. In Baltimore that day Drummond worked behind the plate for an Orioles and Angels game. Similar to an on-the-field injury sustained by Mike Powers in 1909, Drummand’s injury wasn’t noticed by the fans, players or even his fellow umpires. No one came to his aid nor was there a break in the action. 

As best as colleague Larry Barnett could recall, Drummond took a foul ball to the mask late in the game. He shook it off at the time and finished the game. In the dressing room Barnett noticed that Drummond was stressed but didn’t fully realize how much so. Barnett and a couple of the other umpires retired to their hotel only to be telephoned by crew chief Ed Runge who had taken Drummond to Mercy Hospital. Runge was particularly alarmed with Drummond’s slurred speech. 

At the hospital, Drummond lost consciousness and remain in that state for over a week. He awoke and felt well enough to fly home to Greenwood, South Carolina on June 22. Drummonds condition, however, worsened over the weekend of the 28th and he was admitted to a nearby Greenville hospital on the 30th. 

On July 1, 1969, Drummond had surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain. Once again, he failed to regain consciousness, for two weeks this time. Another surgery was performed to ease the pressure on his brain and Drummond did well recuperating through the fall and winter. 

When spring hit, so did baseball fever. Drummond claimed he felt well enough to make a comeback. He contacted American League president Joe Cronin and petitioned for his job. Cronin insisted on a doctor’s release. Drummond exercised and called some games for nearby Erskine College. He then made his way for spring training and worked a dozen major league preseason games. In late April he even threw out the ceremonial first pitch to kick off the hometown Greenville Braves’, of the Single-A Western Carolinas League, season. 

Attaining his doctor’s permission, Drummond talked Cronin into returning him to the bigs. Cronin relented but sent Drummond to umpire two games in the Triple-A American Association before rejoining his American League crew on Sunday May 3 in Boston. 

On Friday May 1, Drummond worked the first two innings of a game in Des Moines between the Iowa Oaks and Oklahoma City 89ers before dizziness forced him to retire from the game. Drummond phoned Cronin on Saturday and assured him that he felt well enough to continue. 

On May 2, Drummond was behind the plate during a night game when he began feeling dizzy again with a general numbness near his previous injury. Some reports suggest that he walked to the Oklahoma dugout feeling ill. Other reports say he was sitting there for three innings. Either way, the umpire passed out in the seventh inning. He did regain semi-consciousness in the dressing room but faded again in the ambulance on the way to Des Moines General Hospital. 

Drummond died there four hours after his arrival in the wee hours of May 3. He was 52 years old. An autopsy confirmed that he died from a cerebral hemorrhage in the area of his June 1969 injury. On May 4, Cal Drummond’s body was flown home to Greenwood to be laid to rest.

 

Ray Chapman’s Final Hours 

Leading off the 5th inning in New York on 8/16/1920, Ray Chapman, a righthanded batter, took a ball and a strike from pitcher Carl Mays. The third pitch, a rising fastball, from the righthanded submariner struck Chapman in the head with a thunderous crack. The ball rolled toward third base, where Mays, believing the ball hit Chapman’s bat handle, fielded it and threw to first. Yankees manager Miller Huggins and the Indians Ray Caldwell both said that Chapman ducked into the pitch. 

Chapman immediately dropped in the batter’s box, bleeding from his left ear. Umpire Tom Connolly called for medical assistance. Several doctors from the stands attended to the fallen player. Chapman responded after several minutes and was assisted by two teammates to the clubhouse in centerfield; however, Chapman collapsed again on the field and was quickly carried to the clubhouse and whisked away to St. Lawrence Hospital in Manhattan. 

Muttering and unable to speak, Chapman signaled to the Indians’ trainer Percy Smallwood for a ring that the trainer kept during ballgames. It was given to Chapman by his 17-year-old wife, Kathleen, of ten months. Smallwood retrieved the ring and gave it to the player. 

X-rays were taken which disclosed a depressed 3.5 inch skull fracture on the left side of his skull and an additional facture on the right side. He was hastily prepped for surgery. The operation began at 12:29 am on the 17th and ended at 1:44. Dr. Merrigan removed a 1.5” square piece of the ballplayer’s skull and found that blood clots due to the severe jarring of his brain. The shock of the blow lacerated both sides of the brain where the collision occurred on the left side and where the brain was jarred into the skull on the right side. 

Chapman marginally recovered after the surgery as his breathing eased and his pulse improved. Relieved, his teammates returned to their hotel. The players awoke to hear of their second baseman’s death, at 4:40 am that morning. 

Mrs. Chapman had been phone shortly after the beaning at a time when the seriousness of the injury was unknown. He hopped a train, arriving in New York at 10 am on the 17th. She was met at the train station by Father Connors, a Philadelphia friend of Chapman’s, who had himself hurried to New York after hearing the news. Connors accompanied Mrs. Chapman to a hotel and gave her the fatal news there. 

That afternoon, Chapman’s body was taken to the New York funeral home of James F. McGowan at 153rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Fans and Yankees and Indian players flocked there instead of the scheduled ballgame which was cancelled. Cleveland manager Tris Speaker was too distraught to leave his hotel room. 

Carl Mays heard of Chapman’s demise from a phone message left by a reporter. He had stayed away from the hospital as not to cause an incident. Mays met with Assistant District Attorney Joyce of the Homicide Bureau at 1 pm. After hearing Mays’ version of events, Joyce exonerated Mays of all legal blame. It was ruled an accident and the case was closed. 

National League president John Heydler ordered flags at all the stadiums to be flown at half-mast for a week, as did Ban Johnson. 

Chapman’s body was transported to Cleveland where as service was held at St. John’s Roman Catholic Cathedral on August 20 at 10:15 am. Chapman was carried to the altar and the last rites of the church were performed. 

Chapman’s casket was carried by his closest teammates. Among the mourners were: Mrs. Chapman accompanied by her father, M.D. Daly; Chapman’s parents and his brother Roy and sister Margaret; Ban Johnson and Indians owner James Dunn; three Yankee players; and, the Cleveland squad and a few of their wives. Tris Speaker and Jack Graney collapsed and could not attend the services. 

Chapman’s body was first laid out at Daly’s residence. The Cleveland players first met there to view the body and accompanied the funeral party to the church in automobiles. The Indians marched in pairs into the cathedral. 

At the end of the service Chapman’s body was placed in a cemetery vault to be interred at a later time at Lake View Cemetery. Kathleen Chapman would give birth to Ray’s only child, daughter Rae Marie, in February. Neither Kathleen nor Rae Marie lived out the decade (see below). 

There had been some talk in the Chapman household about Ray retiring from the field. Ray had just married a young woman from a wealthy family and was deciding whether to join his father-in-law’s company. 

Kathleen Daly

 

Raymond J. Cannon 

Raymond Cannon was born on August 26, 1892 (per his WWI Registration card though most references cite 1894 – which really doesn’t jive with the fact that Raymond was listed as a teacher in 1910) in Ironwood, Michigan. His parents died when he was six months old. Cannon and his brother Earl, two years older, were placed in an orphanage where they remained for much of their formative years. 

By 1905 (per the Wisconsin Census), the brothers were taken in by their Aunt Margaret Kenneley, born in February 1871, who lived with her sister Sarah, Sarah’s husband William Small and family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Kenneleys were born in Wisconsin, though their parents hailed from Ireland. 

By 1910, Kenneley and her nephews had moved to their own residence. She was a teacher at a local grade school. Raymond and Earl were also listed as teachers in the 1910. Raymond taught in Minocqua, Wisconsin from 1910-11 before entering Marquette Law School. He graduated from Marquette and was admitted to the Wisconsin bar in 1914. 

Cannon was described as an aggressive lawyer who helped form and was a partner in Cannon & Waldron from 1914 until 1929. He was also a semi-pro pitcher who played off and on from 1908-22. 

Cannon landed Jack Dempsey as a client after initially being hired by boxing promoter Tom Andrews to assist with the upcoming Dempsey-Fred Fulton precursor match (with the winner to face Jess Willard) set for Milwaukee in 1918. Cannon drew up the contracts for the Willard and Carpentier matches and also successfully represented Dempsey in a lawsuit to nullify his contract with boxing manager John Reisler. Cannon would later sue Dempsey for his lawyer fees in the latter matter, settling for $20,000. 

In the aftermath of the thrown 1919 World Series Cannon was hired by Milwaukee native Happy Felsch to regain back pay, un-remitted World Series earnings and damages for termination of his major league career from Charles Comiskey and the White Sox. He was subsequently hired by Buck Weaver, Joe Jackson and Swede Risberg for the same purpose. Jackson was also potentially due his 1921 salary as part of a three-year deal signed in 1919. 

Cannon thus became involved in baseball politics in 1922. He vehemently detested the U.S. Supreme Court decision that year which essentially gave baseball executives an anti-trust exemption, claiming that the sport was not involved in interstate commerce. He was also honestly put off by ownerships virtual control over each player’s destiny via the reserve clause, the one-sided 10-day release clause and the low salary of the average baseball player. The latter issue became a hot topic after the Black Sox incident came to light in late 1920. 

In 1922, Cannon formally formed the National Baseball Players Association and gained, at least initially, considerable support of ballplayers from both the National and American Leagues. 

Cannon proceeded to trial in the Jackson matter, filing suit for $119,000 (later reduced to $18,200) in early 1923. It was eventually heard before a Milwaukee (the White Sox were incorporated in Wisconsin) jury beginning on January 28, 1924. Cannon basically argued that Chicago officials, particularly Harry Grabiner, treated the illiterate Jackson unfairly during contract and other legal discussions (for further reading consult Black Sox researcher Gene Carney’s writings). The jury granted Jackson a $16,711.04 verdict, but it was set aside by the judge. The two sides eventually settled (in Comiskey’s favor). 

Cannon had gathered some negative press due to the fact that he was representing the discredited Black Sox ballplayers. He was also indicted in February 1923 for “bribing” the local district attorney with a case of champagne. The preceding two issues basically ruined his credibility with baseball fans and the active players. As a result, the Players Association quickly folded after the negative press of the 1924 trial. Cannon though continued to represent Jackson for years to come. 

In 1932, Cannon was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives from the 4th Wisconsin district. He served as a congressman from 1933-39. (He was also defeated in an attempt to join the Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1930, and two runs each for governor, 1938 and ’42, and again for congressman in 1940 and ’42.) After losing his office D.C. in 1939, Cannon returned to Milwaukee and practiced law until his passing on November 25, 1951. 

Congressman Cannon made repeated attempts in 1937 to challenge baseball’s anti-trust exemption, specifically latching onto the “obvious” fact that the sport engages in interstate commerce. He sent multiple letters to the U.S. Attorney General requesting that he reevaluate Major League Baseball’s status. If not, he threatened congressional action. All this bluster went to no avail. 

Raymond was the father of future union advisor Judge Robert Cannon.

 

John “Bud” Taylor 

In 1899, Bud Taylor played for the Nebraska Indians. In 1900, he wore the uniform of an “eastern team.” 

Taylor, 23, lived in Kansas City, Missouri in 1903 where he was engaged to a pretty young clerk in a dry goods store, 18-year-old Ruth Nollard. In the beginning of February, the couple had a fight at which point the wedding was called off and Nollard cut off all contact as well. 

Two weeks later, Taylor forced himself on the girl, almost choking her to unconscience. Being pulled away, he threatened to kill her the first opportunity he got. 

On February 27, Taylor rented a room at a lodge on West Ninth Street, in the busy business district. He made sure that his second story room oversaw the street. Taylor proceded to spend his days waiting for Nollard to amble by. 

In the afternoon on March 2, Nollard was walking on the sidewalk with her sister. Taylor, sitting in his window, aimed his rifle and fired three times. Nollard was struck twice, one bullet settled near her heart, the other went and in then out her chest. She died within an hour. 

New York Times 3/3/1901

 

Police arrested Taylor in his room. Some difficulty arose with the mob that formed outside seeking to lynch Taylor. 

On October 5, 1901 Taylor was convicted of first degree murder despite his strenuous plea of insanity. 

On April 17, 1903 in the courtyard of the county jail in Butler, Missouri, Taylor was hanged. Over 1,500 showed up to witness the event, as two others, one a former member of the Texas legislature, were executed as well. 

Taylor had been baptized into the Catholic faith the night before the execution. On his way to the scaffold, he handed his brother a packet of strychnine. Taylor had planned on killing himself prior to his conversion; instead, he decided to accept his fate. 

Washington Post 4/18/1903

 

Paul H. Kauffman 

Sixteen-year-old Avis M. Woolery lived in Webb City, Missouri with her mother Dora and stepfather Ralph Corkins and sisters Alice, 17, Elaine, 10, and Marie, 7, and brother Harold, 14. Her father Ed lived in Kinkaid, Kansas where all the children were born. Avis worked in an art shop doing “art work,” per the 1930 U.S. Census. 

Paul Kauffman, 31 years old, was from Columbia, Pennsylvania. He had played for Reading in the International League. Kauffman was a predator. In 1928, he was convicted and served two years at a Canon City, Colorado jail (the 1930 Census shows him there) for seducing a 15-year-old girl. He was released in mid-1930. 

Upon getting out of jail, Kauffman put an ad in a Missouri paper searching for a nurse maid that would supposedly take care of a small child who resided at his mother’s house. That’s the story anyway. His true intent was to lure a young lady into his acquaintance.

Woolery answered the ad, corresponded with Kauffman and met him at the train station in Kansas City on August 17, 1930. He explained that he had been intoxicated the night before and wrecked his vehicle; the pair would have to walk part of the way to his mother’s house. 

They took the street car to Swope Park and then began to walk. Soon, they sat in the grass to rest. Kauffman started to fondle the girl. When she resisted, he forced his elbow into her throat and choked her to death. He then removed her clothes, tied her stockings around her neck and tossed the body into a pit left empty by a fallen tree stump. Kauffman covered her with dirt and then disposed of her clothes and suitcase. All of this information was attained from Kauffman’s confession. 

Washington Post 10/16/1930

 

Her body wasn’t discovered until mid October, at which time Kauffman was indicted by the grand jury for first degree murder. He was convicted in early November and sentenced to death. 

Kauffman appealed and was granted a new trial by the Missouri Supreme Court on February 17, 1932. He was sentenced to death again on May 21 but continued to appeal. At the end of 1933, Kauffman had to be removed from his Kansas City cell and taken to a prison in Jefferson City. Many were threatening to forcibly lynch him. 

He appealed to the supreme court again but was overuled. The execution was set for June 29, 1934. All appeals ran their course and Missouri Governor Park refused to intervene.

Kauffman was executed by hanging in Kansas City on June 29. 

New York Times 6/30/1934

 

Former major leaguer Tim Flood was sentenced to 15 days hard-labor for drop-kicking an umpire in Toronto.

Tim Flood played second base for St. Louis in 1899 and Brooklyn from 1902-03 in the National League. On June 25, 1907, he was playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Eastern League. In a game in Toronto, Canada, Flood kicked umpire John Conway. One report says it was a drop kick. He was immediately arrested and removed from the field by a police inspector.

Winnepeg Free Press, Manitoba, Canada 6/26/1907

After spending the night in jail, the ballplayer came before Police Magistrate Denison the following day. He pled guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced to 15 days in jail – hard labor. Flood thought he was pleading to common assault with a small fine attached.

On June 27, Eastern League president Pat Powers expelled Flood from the league stating, “Flood is expelled. He is not fit to play in civilized ball.”

Altoona Mirror (PA) 7/2/1907

The Washington Post lamented, “Flood has been known as a rowdy for many years. He Has assaulted umpires in every league he has ever played in…”

Winnepeg Free Press, Manitoba, Canada 7/1/1907

Flood was finally released from jail on July 4, after serving seven days. Reports indicated that he lost ten pounds during his incarceration.

He found work later that month in the American Association with St. Paul.

 

Rochester Hop Bitters 

Today we see commercialized ball clubs wherever we go especially locally-sponsored amateur softball and baseball teams of all ages. It’s nothing new in baseball. During the early amateur era of the 1850s and 1860s – which rapidly developed into the hush-hush phase of unacknowledged semi-pro-ism, teams were sponsored by local clubs and communities. Their uniforms denoted such as did their very identity. 

There is nothing wrong with sponsorship; after all, a little seed money is often needed to fulfill such endeavors, especially in the amateur arena. The outright hawking of a product though offended the sensibilities of some during the nineteenth century in relation to the professional game, especially the protector of the game’s image and the dean of sportswriters Henry Chadwick. When the Rochester-based Hop Bitters Manufacturing Company sponsored the local professional nine in 1879 and plastered its product name across the chest of the men in uniform in bright red and similarly renamed the ballpark, quite a few took umbrage. Such blatant commercialism just hadn’t crept into professional sports on a large scale before. 

Over the years, it has been done many times. The Coors Brewing Company sponsored a traveling female club and the Busch family even bought the St. Louis Cardinals ostensibly to sell more beer. Flagrant commercialism and baseball go hand-in-hand in Japan. Another nineteenth century club, the Page Fence Giants, found success and respect in the 1890s. However, in 1879, not far removed from the prim amateur era, the idea was hard to swallow for many. Chadwick referred to the Hop Bitters as, “The nine organized and run by a firm in Rochester, N.Y., for advertising purposes.” Others refused to even mention the Hop Bitters name. 

Hop Bitters was an alcohol-based, cure-all elixir. The firm was owned by Asa Titus Soule who purchased the company from a Canandaigua, New York man named J.D. Doyle in 1872, strengthened the formula and moved the operation to Rochester the following year. Soule promoted the heck out of the brand, claiming that it could heal all ailments from stomach troubles to blood, liver and kidney diseases. It was hawked variously as a cough remedy and as a reliever of sleeplessness, nervousness and urinary troubles. The marketing campaigns even claimed to cure “female complaints” and drunkenness, which is especially galling considering that the recipe contained hops plus the hallucinogenic potential of certain roots like mandrake. 

The elixir was scorned by quite a few but nonetheless it made Soule a millionaire. The 1880 U.S. Census shows his household including three servants. He ultimately extended the product line to include a slew of other similar products. One story, whether true or not, is quite revealing. Supposedly, Soule was asked one day if his product actually worked – cured or eased the various ailments as claimed. He responded by gazing around his estate and exclaiming something to the effect, “Sure it works, look what it’s done for me.” 

The 1878 Rochester Flour Citys of the International Association disbanded after a rough season that included several charges of game-fixing. The association officials regrouped and renamed itself the National Association (not to be confused with an earlier organization by the same name). It didn’t appear that Rochester would be represented until the 54-year-old, New York-native Asa Soule stepped forward to sponsor a new professional nine. He had already been involved in local sports, backing several local amateur and junior clubs, as well as, various other ventures. 

1879 SEASON 

The 1879 National Association season began without Rochester in the fold. However, the Albany Capital Citys, rocked by a game-fixing scandal and as Dick Higham biographer Harold Higham put it “politics and sharp business practices by the team’s owners,” folded in early May only two weeks into the season. A high number of errors and dropped contests brought suspicion on the club, but the allegations were never pursued by the league. According to the Chicago Tribune, “The Albany Express…says that certain members of the club were guilty of crooked business. [Arthur] Cummings, the manager, comes in for the chief part in the underhanded work…In all that has taken place no blame is attached to [Dick] Higham, [Alex] McKinnon, [Fred] Corey or [Bill] Smiley.” 

Soule stepped in and signed nearly all the Albany players to strengthen his recently-created Hop Bitters club: Doug Allison; Corey; Higham; Andy Leonard; Jack Manning; Hal McClure; McKinnon; Tim Murnane; Smiley. The deal, finalized on May 9, was in fact a formal transfer of Albany to Rochester. As the New York Times noted, “The Capital City baseball club today signed papers to remove to Rochester.” 

The Capital Citys had the highest payroll in the league. The figures cited in the Chicago Tribune may give an indication of the Hop Bitters’ expenditures: Leonard and Manning $1500 each; Murnane $1350; Higham, Corey, Smiley and McKinnon $1200 each; McClure $1050. 

There was a lot of talent and experience in the group. Many of their careers stemmed back to the old National Association and even earlier. Allison and Leonard were members of the famous 1869 Red Stockings of Cincinnati that are often hailed as the game’s first professional nine. The Hop Bitters played their first game on May 15, a victory over Troy. The next day they defeated Manchester at home 3-1 in their first league contest. Fred Lewis joined the club on May 24 and George Bradley a week later. Former Chicago White Stocking John Glenn, who played with Rochester in 1878, also joined the team. They defeated Buffalo of the National League on the 26^th, 4-3. 

Almost immediately, the Hop Bitters ran afoul of the National League. After the Capital Citys had disbanded, McKinnon innocently signed with Troy of the National League and took $75 in advance money. But with the soon-thereafter formal transfer of Albany to Rochester, McKinnon now found himself the property of two clubs. He decided to return Troy’s money and stay with Rochester. 

The National League wasn’t satisfied though. They formally expelled him on May 25 and threatened to cancel all exhibition contests with association clubs. This was a powerful threat considering that such contests were quite lucrative for the so-called minor leagues. In fact, the Hop Bitters were only able to cash in on the Buffalo contest and another with Worcester on June 7, also a win for Rochester, 5-3. The Worcester team got into hot water with the league for defying the ban; though, they claimed that they weren’t formally notified and thus innocent of any wrongdoing. 

The Hop Bitters stood at 8-8 in league competition on June 9, not including the Capital City games. However, Rochester soon tanked, losing nearly all of their remaining contests through their finale in National Association-competition on July 15, a 5-2 loss to another Albany club, the strongest in the league. On June 14, the Hops were smoked by Springfield 27-4. According to the Lowell Daily Citizen, it was “the first professional championship game on record in which 20 earned runs [were] made by one side.” 

Financial trouble plagued some of the clubs. Manchester disbanded on July 5 and Utica a week later. The McKinnon issue remained an impediment between the National League and National Association. Soule met with league president William Hulbert to settle the matter. Hulbert agreed to resume interleague completion if McKinnon was sidelined. It was all the same to Soule anyway; McKinnon was injured. Soule agreed and even decided to withdraw from the National Association. In his mind, devotion to the league was limiting his advertising potential. As early as mid June, he was contemplating a barnstorming run to the west coast. With Hulbert’s distain from the 1879 issue, McKinnon didn’t make it into the National League until five years later. 

Soule had been bickering with the press over the advertising nature of his club since its inception. The Brooklyn Eagle was particularly derogatory, referring to the club as the “advertising gang” and “an advertising quack medicine team.” Soule had claimed early on that his players would nip from a Hop Bitters bottle before each contest to help enhance their performance. When Jack Leary joined Rochester, the Eagle quipped, “Leary, the pitcher, who drinks, has gone into the Rochester team. Probably the Hop Bitters will have a less injurious effect on him than whisky straight, which is apt to make a player see crooked.” 

When Rochester announced its withdrawal from the National Association, the Eagle attacked, “The Hop Bitters team experiment has simply been a mere advertising dodge, and now that the manager [Soule] has accomplished all the advertising benefit from them he can expect, he comes out in his true colors, disbands the team, and announces the other as a mere gate money exhibition team.” 

The ‘other’ was the revamped club Soule commissioned for a barnstorming tour. Allison and Murnane departed; though, Murnane would return later. Higham was named captain and kept Manning, McClure, Leonard, Smiley and Corey of the original group. Fred Lewis remained as well. Higham added Leary, John Morrissey and Ed Rowan from the recently-disbanded Manchester club. Joe Simmons also joined the barnstorming tour. 

With peace being made with National League president Hulbert, the Hop Bitters played Boston on July 18, a 12-4 loss, to kicked off their barnstorming tour. They remained in the northeast until mid August then headed down into Pennsylvania (Easton, August 14), to Baltimore (August 20), to Cleveland (September 2) and onto Chicago (September 6). A series of interesting games took place between the Hops and the strong Dubuque (Iowa) Rabbits which included several young standout players, such as, Charles Comiskey and Hoss Radbourn. 

In Chicago on September 6, the Hop Bitters defeated Dubuque 15-3. The nines then took the series to Dubuque. Rochester won big again on the 8^th, 16-6. The Rabbits won by the same 6-5 score on the 9^th and 10^th. A local wire report (as reprinted in the Chicago Daily Inter Ocean) declared the latter contest “the most hotly contested game ever played on the grounds. [Ted] Sullivan, of the Dubuques, made the second triple play ever recorded in the history of the game in the United States.” 

Rochester won again on the 12^th, 12-2, and the teams split a doubleheader the following day, 8-1 in the first contest favoring Rochester and a 6-3 victory for Dubuque in Game 2. The seven-game series ended in the Hop Bitter’s favor, 4-3. 

The barnstormers then headed to San Francisco, arriving on September 21. They played a series of games against local teams in the city and neighboring Oakland. The Hops roundly defeated all-comers. A California all-star team was amassed for a contest on October 11 but was soundly defeated 10-1. The “immense audience” though enjoyed seeing the easterners. The Rochester crew planned to leave shortly after the contest but a few major league teams, Chicago, Buffalo and Cincinnati, were headed to the coast with the closing of the National League season. The Hop Bitters decided to stay, looking for a big payday. 

En route, the Cincinnati club heard of the Hop Bitter’s success and the delight they brought the local crowds. However, the Reds were quite scornful, apprising the naive Californians that Rochester was indeed not one of the top eastern teams. The Reds and Hop Bitters faced off on October 19, an 8-4 victory for the major leaguers. It was Rochester’s first loss on the coast. They soon departed for home and the club disbanded. 

In total, the Hop Bitters were quite successful on their barnstorming trip, notching a 20-7 record according to researcher Tim Wolter. Moreover, the Hop Bitter name was heard from coast to coast, not just in the classifieds. For now, Soule was quite pleased with his foray into professional sports and its potential. He soon had a setback, but not in baseball; he promised a $6000 prize for a rowing competition which brought nothing but headaches and a well-publicized gambling scandal. 

WINTER 1879-1880 

Soule’s next baseball initiative was to fund a traveling winter team. The project was bold and would, albeit questionably successful, break new ground in the proliferation of American baseball – the first trip by a professional squad to Cuba. 

The new Hop Bitters team bore no relation to the previous one. This club was formed in the Boston area and led by Worcester manager Frank Bancroft. Much of the roster was derived from the Worcester club which was ascending from the minor National Association to the major National League for the 1880 season. The roster was filled out with several Boston-area players. 

Bancroft grew up in nearby New Bedford and owned an area hotel. He found that he had an affinity for sports promotion and altered his career path. He would have a long and profitable association in professional baseball and also in Cuba. In fact, the first two Cubans in the modern major leagues were signed by the Cincinnati Reds in 1911 after another Bancroft expedition to the island. 

Bancroft attended the National League meeting on December 3 as a representative from his Worcester team. The club hadn’t as yet applied for formal admission to the National League but things were headed in that direction. One of the sticking points was the admission price. Bancroft wanted it lowered from 50 cents to 25 cents. Soon after the meeting the trip to Cuba was announced. 

The following joined the new Hop Bitters: Charlie Bennett; Doc Bushong; George Creamer; Curry Foley; Arthur Irwin; Alonzo Knight; Tricky Nichols; Chub Sullivan; Art Whitney; Monte Ward; George Wood. The uniforms were bluish-gray with red caps and belts. “H.B.” was written across the chest. (Apparently, Soule was a little gun-shy after all the abuse he took from sportswriters; he only used the initials now instead of the full product name.) 

Per the Boston Globe, “Mr. Bancroft is sanguine of the success of his enterprise, and confident that this visit to the sunny south will be both pleasant and profitable.” He was assured by New Orleans promoters that baseball was drawing well in the area with crowds between 2000 and 3000 on average. 

The men left New York by steamship on December 13, first headed to New Orleans. Bancroft took a train, as to beat the men to Louisiana to organize some interest in their arrival – a reception and, of course, some contests. A series of games had already been organized with the local Robert E. Lee, Eckford and Crescent clubs for an adorned pennant provided by Soule. 

Bancroft’s initial plan involved a series of games in New Orleans, followed by a 16-day visit to Cuba and then onto Texas, Little Rock, Memphis, St. Louis, Rockford, Illinois and culminating in Chicago by April to kick off the regular season – Worcester’s inaugural campaign in the National League. Bancroft even grandiosely invited former President Ulysses S. Grant as an honored guest at a Cuban contest. The general happened to be headed there as well, traveling with his wife Julia. 

Bancroft’s plans changed almost immediately. The men arrived in New Orleans as expected and played a few games. However, Bennett, Bushong, Foley, Irwin, Knight, Nichols, Sullivan, Whitney and Wood soon took off for Havana. Creamer and Ward remained behind, presumably playing with area clubs. The venture proved a bust; there was no interest. As soon as they arrived in Havana, local promoters reneged on their promise of $2000 and half of the gate. Government officials had become involved and wanted 50% of the gate in taxes, effectively killing the deal. 

Bancroft decided to make other arrangements and found an American promoter who offered backing. Bancroft was later detained by Spanish officials after distributing American flags with “Hop Bitters” written across the front. He was simply trying to drum up interest in the games but the occupation government from Spain feared that he was trying to spark a rebellion. In total, only two games were played, the first on the 21^st, before meager crowds, both won by the Americans. The group returned to New Orleans on December 31. 

The contests in New Orleans resumed on January 4, a 21-1 defeat of the amateur Eckfords. The Hop Bitters’ finances – severely damaged by the unsuccessful trip to Cuba- and accrued gate receipts didn’t allow for an extended trip to Texas and northward. The men stayed in New Orleans through mid February playing local clubs. 

The competition was meager though. The major leaguers had to share their men to bolster the other squads. Roger Connor, Denny Mack, George Wright and Tim Keefe joined the men in New Orleans. Players flopped between teams to try to even the talent level and keep the interest of local fans. 

The Hop Bitters though are credited with helping to revive interest in the national game in the area. A group of businessmen gathered and funded a new ballpark and a local league was amassed in 1880 and ran for several successful years. 

Soule was seemingly pleased. In January, Bancroft announced another initiative with the Hop Bitters Company that would take place the following fall. The proposed trip was headed to California and Australia and would include Ross Barnes, Gil Hatfield, Andy Leonard, Jack Manning, Tim Murnane, Orator O’Rourke, Harry Schafer, Monte Ward and the Wright brothers – Harry, George and Sam. The ambitious plans never materialized. 

1880 SEASON 

Soule didn’t plan on operating another professional baseball team in 1880. He was busy with business and persistent questions about the rowing competition. Plus, he was tired of all the snide remarks from sportswriters and others about the team being an advertising gimmick. 

However, no one else in Rochester stepped forward to promote a local team. In mid May, he stepped in and offered backing. A nine was hastily assembled, pulling from a limited pool since the season had already begun. Joe Simmons from the previous season was brought in to manage the squad and play second base. Hometown pitcher Fred Corey, also a returnee, was also signed. Otherwise, the intended nine was decidedly lacking in experience. As the Rochester Union unenthusiastically announced, “Most of these men are professionals.” Many observers were pleased that the 1880 version of the Hop Bitters at least displayed “Rochester” across their chests instead of the name of the supposed wonder drug. 

The newest version of the Hop Bitters joined the revamped National Association on June 9. The league also included Baltimore, Albany, Washington. Before Rochester joined the association, ex-Troy manager Horace Phillips was brought in to oversee the club. He had recently departed from the Baltimore club. Phillips reworked the lineup, adding some familiar names in baseball circles. 

Steve Brady and Charlie Waitt, two old National Association (major league) players, were enlisted, as was outfielder Ed Kennedy, who would later play four seasons in the major American Association, Levi Meyerle and Bill McGunnigle. Nineteen-year-old, righthanded fastball pitcher Stump Wiedman was brought in from Rochester University. His battery mate Tom Kearns was also signed. Both Wiedman and Kearns would make their major league debuts in August. In August 1882, Wiedman would pitch opposite Monte Ward in perhaps the most-acclaimed contest of the nineteenth century. Both men notched shutout ball into the eighteenth inning when Hoss Radbourn smacked a homer over the left field wall against Wiedman. 

Bobby Mitchell, one of the major league’s first lefthanded pitchers, was brought in at the end of June, signed off a Cincinnati semi-pro roster. He came with his catcher, a 20-year old making his pro debut – future Hall of Famer Buck Ewing. Mitchell lasted less than a week but Ewing was the prize, brought east for the first time. 

On June 25, the Hop Bitters were in Baltimore. Phillips enticed four of his ex-charges to jump their team: Dan Brouthers; Aaron Clapp; John Richmond; Bill Hawes. Future Hall of Fame first baseman Brouthers, then known by his proper name Dennis, and Clapp had also played for Phillips in Troy in 1879. 

The Baltimore club immediately folded – before a hearing into the mass contract jumping could be held by the association. Phillips would later pick up Baltimore free agents One Arm Daily, Bill Smiley and Pat Deasley. The latter was Daily’s battery mate. Rochester became one of the first teams to utilize a two-man rotation, a rarity especially in the so-called minors, with Wiedman and Daily alternating in the box. 

Albany folded on July 3, leaving only Washington and Rochester. The two remaining franchises played each other fifteen times to waning interest, and filled in their schedules with exhibition contests. (The question arises, was it still officially a league or just two teams playing an extended exhibition schedule? Nevertheless, modern record keepers list the final National Association game as taking place on September 3.) 

Horace Phillips left the team at the end of July. Per the Brooklyn Eagle, he absconded with $1400 in payroll monies and wasn’t heard from again. Soule sent detectives on his trail to no avail. Hawes took over the management duties. The incident sparked Soule to withdraw his support for the club. In April 1881, Phillips was ordered by the court to repay Soule $1463.

The men continued on for a few more weeks, working for a percentage of the gate, before disbanding. 

In mid August, Rochester and Washington played a round robin tournament in Brooklyn with a franchise dubbed the Unions that was amassed for the event. Rochester took the prize behind Daily’s pitching. Longtime pros Lip Pike and Candy Nelson joined the Hop Bitters for one game in Brooklyn on August 13. (For consideration with the previous question – this game within the tournament is seen as a formal league contest.) Soon thereafter, the Hop Bitters – though no longer supported by the company – transitioned again. Ewing, Wiedman and Brouthers departed. 

Friction developed between the hotheaded Daily and his catcher Deasley. The backstop had accidentally broken Daily’s bat one day while fending off a hostile crowd. Ewing stepped in to catch the pitcher; however, Ewing left for Troy and the feud between Daily and Deasley culminated on September 1 with both men firing the ball at each other in the middle of a game. 

Two days later, the shaky Hop Bitters petered out. Future major league manager Jim Mutrie met the Rochester players when their train stopped in New Jersey. He was organizing a team to play against the major leaguers when their season ended. The initiative was sponsored by John B. Day who called the club the Metropolitans. Several of the Hop Bitters immediately joined Mutrie’s effort, including Brady, Daily, Deasley, Hawes and Kennedy. He filled out the roster with some of the Brooklyn Unions, the team amassed for that August tournament. The Metropolitans made their debut on September 15 and eventually grew into a major league franchise. 

As the Brooklyn Eagle later noted, “The series of exhibition games at the Polo Grounds for a month in 1880 proved sufficiently profitable to lead to further investments, and in 1881 the Metropolitan club was fully organized.” In 1883, Day placed and operated two clubs in the major leagues, concurrently – the New York Metropolitans in the American Association and the New York Giants in the National League. Mutrie managed the Metropolitans through 1884 and then moved to the Giants for seven seasons. 

Soule continued to advertise through sports, albeit locally. In the late 1880s, he became involved in a real estate initiative in Kansas which lost a great deal of money and was known for its violence and shady dealings. The affair became known as Soule’s Folly. He died in January 1890 at age 65 with vast real estate and financial holdings, despite the Kansas losses. The Hop Bitters Manufacturing Company was dissolved in July 1892. 

His son Wilson was an officer of the Rochester franchise in the International Association from 1887-1889 and continued to support local teams in the American Association in 1890 and the Eastern Association/League afterwards. A couple of the teams may have been known as the “Hop Bitters” but they weren’t widely promoted as such. In fact, various sources conflict on the team moniker for those years and nary can a contemporary reference be found to the team nickname as such. Wilson died after being thrown from his carriage in July 1894. 

SOURCE LIST 

• Adams, Samuel Hopkins. Grandfather Stories. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1989. 
• Alton Telegraph, Illinois, 1894 
• Bangor Daily Whig and Courier, Maine, 1888 
• Baseball-reference.com 
• Boston Daily Advertiser, 1879 
• Boston Globe, 1879-1880 
• Brooklyn Eagle, 1879-1880 
• Burgos Jr., Adrian. Playing America’s Game: Baseball, Latinos, and the Color Line. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2007. 
• Chicago Tribune, 1879 
• Cleveland Herald, 1881 
• Daily Inter Ocean, Chicago, 1879, 1886, 1890 
• Daily Picayune, New Orleans, 1880 
• Dubuque Herald, Iowa, 1879 
• Fleitz, David L. More Ghosts in the Gallery at Cooperstown: Another Sixteen Little-Known Greats at Cooperstown. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2007. 
• Gary Ashwill’s Agate Type website 
• Ginsburg, Daniel E. The Fix Is In: A History of Baseball Gambling and Game-Fixing Scandals. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995. 
• Higham, Harold, “Dick Higham,” Society for American Baseball Research Biography Project 
• Ivor-Campbell, Frederick, Robert L. Tiemann and Mark Rucker. Baseball’s First Stars. Cleveland: The Society for American Baseball Research, 1996. 
• Kansas Historical Society website 
• Lowell Daily Citizen, Massachusetts, 1879 
• Morris, Peter. A Game of Inches: The Story Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball, One-Volume Edition. Chicago, Ivan R. Dee, 2010. 
• New York Clipper, 1879 
• New York Times, 1879-1880, 1890, 1892 
• Philadelphia North American, 1879 
• Rochester Union, 1880 
• Rochester Union and Advertiser, 1880 
• San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin, 1879 
• Somers, Dale A. The Rise of Sports in New Orleans: 1850-1900. New Orleans: Pelican Publishing Company, 1972. 
• Sporting Life, 1887-1889, 1892-1893, 1897, 1906 
• St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 1879 
• Tiemann, Robert L. and Mark Rucker. Nineteenth Century Stars. Cleveland: Society for American Baseball Research, 1989. 
• Troy Whig, 1879 
• Vaccaro, Frank, “Hugh Daily,” Society for American Baseball Research Biography Project 
• Vermont Watchman and State Journal, 1878 
• Washington Post, 1879-1880 
• Wolter, Tim, “The Rochester Hop Bitters,” The National Pastime #17, Cleveland: Society for American Baseball Research, 1997, pp. 38-40.