Archive for March, 2011

 

“Where is Delehanty” the Washington Post cried on July 5, 1903. D.C. fans had at last heard about the disappearance of their slugger. 

MENTAL STATE 

A couple factors were weighing on the mind of the troubled outfielder in 1903. In the fall of 1902 D had signed two contracts – one with Washington and a three-year deal with the Giants for $18,000. The New York Giants advanced D $4,000. Problems arose when peace was declared between the two leagues and the National Commission assigned D to the Nationals. 

There was an extensive debate among ML magnates as to whether D should be blacklisted for his dual contract situation. In the end Ban Johnson and Charles Comiskey won out, saving D from a de facto suspension. 

Friends and family also reported that D was having problems with his wife, stemming from the ballplayer’s jealousy. It was also reported that D had tried to gas himself but was saved when someone interrupted him. It was also noted that he had occasionally spoken in a round about manner of committing suicide. 

EARLY IN 1903 

D was not happy about being in Washington. The root of the problem probably lied in the fact that he didn’t have the $4,000 to return to the Giants and he was being pressured by John McGraw and John Brush to join the club. As usual, the Giants were still fighting a war that had already ended. In essence, the Giants were tampering with D and using the money to turn the screws. 

D stated out the season by briefly holding out from his AL club. He also publicly belittled his teammates and griped about his situation after being assigned to Washington. He was having serious financial troubles and at death would leave his wife and child destitute. 

Teammates, fans and the media suggested all season that D wasn’t putting forth his best efforts on the field. Harsher critics might say he was tanking it. Perhaps his personal problems were just catching up to him. Team management had enough of the slugger during the first trip to Boston and suspended D for being rebellious. It was quickly revoked but obviously troubles existed. 

IN CLEVELAND 

The Nationals traveled to Cleveland on June 25. Almost immediately D’s behavior became erratic. He was drinking heavy and teammates became alarmed. They vowed to keep an eye on him. D also vaguely spoke of ending his own life. At one point D chased a teammate out of his hotel room at knife point. 

After an exhaustive effort, teammate Jimmy Ryan finally persuaded D to accompany the club on the evening boat to Detroit. 

IN DETROIT 

D was still drinking heavy in Detroit and his mental state took a dip. Teammates believed he was having a breakdown. D’d mother and two brothers (who lived in Cleveland) were called in to baby-sit D at the Oriental Hotel in Detroit. 

By June 29 D wasn’t showing up for the games. On the 30th he also telegrammed his wife in Philadelphia to meet him in D.C. when the club returned on Friday the 3^rd. He also mailed a letter to his wife with an accidental insurance policy enclosed and he made reference to the fact that he hoped the train would somehow derail on the return trip and injury him in some fashion. 

On Thursday July 2 D disappeared. He ditched his family and the ball club without a word. The club caught a train on the 2^nd for a return trip to D.C. aboard a Michigan Central Railroad Pullman car. No sign of D. 

IN WASHINGTON 

Obviously, D did not arrive in D.C. Mrs. Delahanty was waiting at the team’s hotel, the Oxford, when the rest of the players arrived. She was informed of Ed’s strange behavior and disappearance. She was rightfully concerned; however, she had also seen this behavior before. Six years prior, D had taken off for a week to Cincinnati without informing anyone. 

RECEIVING NOTICE 

Elmer Bates, Cleveland baseball writer, received a report that D had bought a ticket aboard another Michigan Central Railroad Pullman car – this one headed to New York. He was on train car #6 that was referred to as the Havana car. It left Detroit on 7/02 at 4:25 pm and was due to arrive in Buffalo that evening at 9 pm. 

The following letter was sent to the Nationals on July 6: 

Dear Sir: A passenger in one of our cars July 2 had some altercation with the Michigan Central train conductor, and he was ejected from the train at Fort Erie, Ontario. Later (according to reports) a bridge-tender found a man on the International Bridge who succeeded in evading the guard, and, standing for some time he went to investigate this person to ascertain what he was doing there, as the International Bridge is not a bridge for foot passengers. 

In putting his lantern into the passenger’s face the passenger was angered. And I understand they had some words and this bridge-tender states when his attention was called in another direction he heard a splash and the man was gone. And it is supposed the man jumped into the river or fell in, as the case may be. It is not known positively, so far as I am aware, but it is supposed the man ejected from the train some time before was the man seen on the bridge. 

A dress-suit case and black leather bag were found on our train afterwards and are supposed to belong to this gentleman. And, I find in the suit case a complimentary pass, No. 26, of your club. And I write this letter thinking you may be able to identify the gentleman and communicate with his family or friends with relation to this matter. We still hold the baggage, as stated above, subject to the order of the proper person. 

Yours truly, John K. Bennett, District Superintendent, Buffalo, July 6, 1903 

In a later interview Bennett said, 

I found in the valise left by the passenger put of No. 6 a season pass to the Washington Baseball Park, made out in the name of Ed. Delehanty. I found in the suitcase a suit of clothes with Delehanty’s name on it, also the name of the tailor in Washington who made it. There was a pair of baseball shoes in the satchel. I wrote at once to the tailor in Washington and learned the address of Delehanty’s family. I wrote Delehanty’s wife in Washington on receipt of the information, telling her of the circumstances and saying I believed that her husband was drowned off the bridge on the night in question. 

The man was indeed D. He was ejected from the train at Bridgeburg, Fort Erie, Ontario, ten miles from Buffalo on the Canadian side of the Niagara River. 

THE CONDUCTOR 

Conductor Cole of the Michigan Central Railroad said that as soon as the train departed Detroit, D was acting like a crazy man. D had five whiskeys and was terrorizing other passengers. At one point he pulled a couple passengers from the berth and D also was threatening the conductor with a razor. 

Cole had enough a tossed D off the train. Cole admitted later that he should have delivered D to the constables but at the time he was just happy to be done with the troublemaker. 

THE NIGHT WATCHMAN 

The night watchman (Sam Kingston) at the bridge made the following statement: 

The man had something in his hand that looked like a lump of coal. He was standing on the iron side beams of the bridge, right at the edge. He was looking down at the water. When I came up with my light he said, “Get out of here or I’ll brain you.” I grabbed him and got him back to the middle of the bridge but he tried to get away. My foot went through between the ties and I let go of him and dropped my lantern. I picked it up and started after him when I heard a loud splash in the water below and saw a man’s body float down stream. 

Kingston told D to return to shore but D started to run toward the American end of the bridge. The draw was up to let a boat pass. 

After the incident Kingston may have picked up D’s hat by mistake and put it on. Either way, he found D’s hat – a black derby from the Hub Store on Pennsylvania Avenue in D.C. 

Foul play has been alleged by the family and some baseball historians but is the evidence there? For one, Kingston was 70 years old and it’s hard to imagine a 70-year-old getting the best of a drunken, unruly ballplayer who had been itching for a fight. 

THE SEARCH 

The bridge sat 20 feet above the water. The current ran at 8 miles per hour. The river itself was full of jagged rocks. Plus, the body would surely be taken over the falls. 

D’s uncle J.E. Croak, a Buffalo resident, confirmed that the luggage was D’s. 

M.A. Green, a Nationals stockholder and friend of D went to Buffalo to assist in the search. 

Edward J. McGuire, D’s brother-in-law, went to Fort Erie to help with the search. 

Nationals manager Tom Loftus and teammates said that D had the following:

• a diamond ring
• a pin
• gold watch
• other trinkets with diamonds
• $200 cash 

Needing cash, the plan was for D to sell these items. D was also taking out multiple accident insurance policies with the proceeds going to his 6-year-old daughter. These policies were only good for 24 hours. None were in effect at the time of his death. 

Hearing of the missing ballplayer, boatmen were on the lookout for his body. It was found at about 9 am on July 9 at the lower Niagara gorge (20 miles from the bridge) by William Leblond of Drummondsville, a small Canadian town. 

IDENTIFYING THE BODY 

Frank Delahanty, McGuire, Green and Croak all went to Drummondsville. 

After a sweaty ride in a farm wagon, green arrived well before the others. He identified the body. The identification was not easy. The body was mangled, badly swollen and one leg was severed below the knee. The only clothing left was a shoe, a neck tie and stockings. No belongings were found. 

Green recognized a gold crown tooth and two crooked fingers and thus identified the body. 

The body was then shipped to Cleveland. 

AFTERWARDS 

Mrs. Delahanty left D.C. to pick up her daughter in Philadelphia and then head to Cleveland for the funeral. 

The funeral was held on July 11 at the Church of the Immaculate Conception. D was interred at Calvary Cemetery. 

D left his family near destitute. There was no money from insurance. He was am member of Erie Lodge #2, Fraternal Order if Eagles of Philadelphia; however, he was in arrears so there were no benefits there. 

Baseball officials organized benefits for the family and donated cash themselves.

 

Chapter 4: The Cauldron of Baseball

John Thorn continues his myth busting in Chapter 4. The target this time is the genteel image of the Knickerbockers and the ideals of amateurism. To prove his case, Thorn presents the toughs of the previously unknown New York Magnolia Ball Club, a misdeed by Alexander Cartwright and some sorted history in the game of cricket.

Thorn argues that the time-honored belief that baseball reared solely from the respected class is thwarted by the Magnolias, a group of politically active, saloon-owning, Irish sports and criminals.

All three Magnolia officers had impeccable working-class, sporting, ruffian, and political associations of the sort that historians have until now presumed to emerge only with the unruly Brooklyn clubs of the mid-1850s, notably the Atlantics. Indeed, the Magnolia was precisely the sort of poison for which the fastidious Knickerbocker Base Ball Club was created as an antidote two years later.

The leap here is that enough of New York society and future baseball public wasn’t put-off enough by the hardened men – that played for the Magnolias – for them in their perhaps brief existence to have had an influence – at least as a beacon of things to avoid or a harbinger of things to come.

The Magnolias played at Elysian Fields as early as November 1843 (two years before the Knickerbockers). Thorn claims that the New York Club played there during this time as well but he doesn’t clearly explain how he knows this, to my reading. The implication then is that the lawyer William Wheaton and other respectable members of the New Yorks later formed the Knickerbockers and managed their membership base in an effort to shun potential troublemakers.

This is probably so since the Knickerbocker club was a social organization and men of similar ilk tend to hang together, and avoid those they cannot relate to. However, men of all ilks were/are drawn to the game. Clashes, and there would be many over the next century, were inevitable.

The intent of these reviews was to examine early baseball. After this chapter Thorn moves into the professional ball era and thus I’ll end my summaries.

 

Chapter 2: Four Fathers, Two Roads

Debunking, Re: Alexander Cartwright

At Best he may be credited with recruiting players for a club he, along with fellow baseball devotees, wished to form.

As to ninety feet, nine men, and nine innings, the accomplishments engraved on Alexander Cartwright’s plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame, it may be said with certainty that neither he nor the Knickerbockers originated any of these central features…

During Cartwright’s time with the Knickerbockers (he left within a few years to pursue gold on the west coast), the number of players per side, distance between the bases and innings played was never set; in fact, then, the winner was the first team to score 21 runs.

…Cartwright also did not create certain other features sometimes credited to him: the fixed pitching distance that endured as forty-five feet until 1880, or the requirement that a ball be caught on the fly to register an out, or a system for calling balls and strikes. In short, the creation of modern baseball awaited a distant day, long after “the man who invented baseball” had made Hawaii his permanent home.

…Cartwright was further credited with laying out the game on a diamond rather than a square. Yet even this was no innovation in 1845.

Cartwright’s son and particularly his grandson pushed the idea (around the time of the Mills’ Commission) of Alexander’s innovative contributions to the formation of the sport. Their boasts (some a manipulation of history and others an outright fabrication, including fraudulent journal entries) were accepted and ultimately landed Cartwright in the Hall of Fame.

Cartwright and Doubleday were accepted as the game’s originators for much the same reason – “proving” the game’s American origins.

Debunking, Re: Knickerbockers

Their claim to fame rests in:

• Being the first to organize as a baseball club
• Creating written by-laws and rules for play (formalized on 9/23/1845)
• Eliminating soaking
• Devising concept of ‘foul territory;’ however

It appears today, however, that they were neither the first club to organize nor the first to write down their rules, and that the concepts of tagging, forced outs, and boundaries were likewise not original with them.

At least five such clubs preceded the Knickerbockers, who for a century and a half have received too much credit.

They are (from New York):

• Gothams (1830s, aka Washington)
• New York Base Ball Club
• Eagles (1840)
• Brooklyn Base Ball Club (part of the Union Star Cricket Club)
• Magnolia Ball Club (1843)

The Olympic Ball Club of Philadelphia (1831-1833, town ball), who played a version of the English game rounders, is also worth considering. They eventually adopted the New York rules in 1860.

There may be a lineage between the New Yorks, Gothams and Knickerbockers.

Early Mentions of Baseball

These earlier references should also be noted:

• 1784 laws against ball playing at the University of PA
• 1805 reference to the game “bace” at Columbia College in NYC
• 1823 reference to a contest connected to a local NYC bar, Jones’ Retreat
• 1829 mention of ball playing in Philadelphia
• 1830 mention of 18 men playing ball outside an orphanage in the January issue of The American Sunday School Magazine

Early references involving children and women:

• 1744 mention in children’s book by John Newberry
• 1755 mention in John Kidgell’s The Card
• 1755 mention in diary of William Bray
• 1791 laws against ball playing in Pittsfield, MA
• 1798 mention in English novel Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
• 1824 mention in Mary Russell Mitford’s Our Village
• 1825 in Baltimore, recollection of John W. Oliver

Early American Versions of Bat, Base and Ball Games

Thorn examines the important ball games and their varying rules and style of play in New York, Philadelphia and New England. Some are:

• Cat, various versions
• Cricket
• Round ball
• Rounders
• Town ball (undetermined early name other than ‘playing ball’)
• Wicket, various versions including single-wicket cricket

Four Fathers

Thorn cites four men who did have a meaningful influence on the game’s early development:

• Doc Adams
• William Wheaton
• William Tucker
• Louis Wadsworth

Doc Adams

• Earned a medical degree from Harvard in 1838
• Began playing baseball in New York in 1839 with other doctors
• Joined Knickerbockers one month after their formation
• Left Knickerbockers in early 1862
• Baseball’s first shortstop
• According to Adams: “Some of the younger members [of the New York Club]…got together and formed the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club”

William Wheaton

• Lawyer
• Cricket player
• Member of Gotham club
• Member of New York Base Ball Club
• One of five original 1845 Knickerbockers to head west during the Gold Rush of 1849
• Member of Knickerbockers from 1845 to the Spring of 1846
• Settled in San Francisco
• Umpired at least two contests before the Knickerbockers began inter-team play – in October 1845, New York versus Brooklyn
• Umpired first Knickerbocker contest (intra-squad) at Hoboken’s Elysian Fields on October 6, 1845
• Thorn believes he is the one – being the lawyer of the bunch – that penned the Knickerbockers’ formal rules

The Gothams had previously established written rules in the 1830s. Wheaton asserted that the Knickerbockers’ later version was nearly identical to Gothams.’

William Tucker

• Tobacco merchant
• Member of New York Base Ball Club
• One of five original 1845 Knickerbockers
• On by-law committee with Wheaton

Louis Wadsworth

• Attorney for Custom House
• Moved to NYC in 1848
• Joined the Gothams
• Noted first baseman
• Joined the Knickerbockers in 1854
• Returned to Gothams in mid 1857
• Thorn claims, “He is the man responsible for baseball being played to nine innings and with nine men.” Interesting must-read story of this on pp. 51-53
• Became a judge in Union County
• Blew a fortune and died in a porrhouse

Chapter 3: The Cradle of Baseball

Chapter 3 begins with a discussion of the ancient bat and ball games in order to identify the origins of baseball – which in all likelihood can’t be pinpointed, as Thorn notes.

Looking to establish the physical origin of the game – like Cooperstown, Pittsfield (MA) or perhaps Philadelphia, Thorn notes “Pittsfield is a fine place to honor the spirit of baseball.” Of course, noting his personal discovery of the 1791 legal citation in that city influences this perception.

Thorn continues his slap at the Knickerbockers mythology claiming, “As in so many many … thing, they were not the first.” Thorns cites their claim to fame as stemming from the fact that they survived the longest – hence the victors tend to rewrite history or its often unduly bestowed on them.

Thorn raises a good point in this chapter as to why in the 1830s or 1840s that Americans finally felt the need to put to print the rules and regulation of baseball. I discussed this more in length in a previous post.

 

Summary

Baseball in the Garden of Eden by John Thorn

A modest and infrequent post summarizing the work.

The book is presented, in part, as a debunking piece about the true origins of baseball, not only shooing away the already discredited Doubleday myth but other equally untenable histories such as the excessive credit bestowed on Alexander Cartwright and the Knickerbocker Club.

John Thorn presents new material and reexamines old in an effort to get to the heart of what actually occurred during the 19^th century. The title of the book, referencing Adam and Eve, is an ever-present reminder that bat and ball related games have been played since long before recorded history began; hence, we must acknowledge that whatever material is found and presented is only part of the story.

What we can grasp, hopefully, is the genesis and growth of the organized game. That is the main focus of Mr. Thorn’s work – an effort to part the muddy waters, so to speak, and lead us to the promise land of clarity through new research and a reevaluation of preconceived notions.

Chapter 1, Anointing Abner

Constrained by the lack of evidence in another direction, [A.G.] Mills …knew he would have no choice…but to anoint as baseball’s inventory young Abner Doubleday.

This is how Thorn sums up Mills’ commitment to the findings of his committee, the Mill’s Commission – a group amassed in the early 20^th century to examine the issue of baseball’s paternity. In other words Mills was “duped” into anointing Doubleday the founder of baseball and the town of Cooperstown, New York as its birthplace.

For one, Mills knew very well that Doubleday did no such thing. The two were friends for twenty years and not once did Doubleday mention his baseball youth to Mills, a well-known former president of the National League. Later asked, “What conclusive evidence he had for Cooperstown as the birthplace of the national pastime,” Mills flatly replied, “None at all.”

The Mills Commission stemmed from a difference of opinion between Al Spalding and Henry Chadwick, who repeatedly claimed that baseball emanated from the English game of rounders. Spalding, on the other hand, preferred a more American flavor to the game’s origin.

In forming the commission Spalding tipped his hand and displayed a want for a specific outcome from the investigation:

I have become weary of listening to my friend Chadwick’s talk about base ball having been handed down from the old English game of “Rounders,” and am trying to convince myself and others that the American game of Base Ball is purely of American origin, and I want to get all the facts I can to support that theory. My patriotism naturally makes me desirous of establishing it as of American origin…”

It was an old Cooperstown resident Abner Graves that came to Spalding’s rescue. Graves remitted the letter that sparked the Doubleday Myth which took on a life of its own after being published in several newspapers in 1905 – even before Spalding latched onto it.

In March 1908, the Spalding Guide published the findings of the Mills’ Commission anointing Abner; thus, in Thorn’s opinion Spalding with his preconceived outcome and publishing empire was Mills’ duper.

In the war of the media, Spalding won out over Chadwick – as the latter passed away a mere month after the findings were published. Though Chadwick was able to fire off a letter asking Mills to reconcile the fact that, “The old Philadelphia Town Ball Club played [a form of baseball] under the “Rounders” rule…in 1831, eight years earlier [than the 1839 date ascribed to Doubleday]”

Mills to his credit remained on the hunt for the true origins of the game. In 1908, in particular, he made efforts to place and chronicle the early efforts of Louis Fenn Wadsworth.

 

1889 

Sullivan maintained his duties as Washington’s manager until March 31, 1889. He had recently applied for a passport and was looking to promote an overseas tour at the end of 1889, specifically London and Paris. Al Spalding had just completed his world tour; Sullivan was hoping to parlay this enthusiasm into permanent European baseball league. Sullivan was back by “a well known Washingtonian.” 

After finalizing his plans, Sullivan embarked for Europe on May 1. By the time of his departure though, he was downplaying the possibilities, stating that his trip was purely recreational but that he would follow business interests if they seemed fruitful. 

Hindsight shows that the venture had little chance of success as baseball has barely made a dent in Europe 120 years later. The effort shows considerable drive and is commendable for its enthusiasm alone. 

Sullivan arrived back in New York on July 3. He did succeed in obtaining a commitment of placing two baseball squads that would put on exhibitions and travel with Buffalo Bill’s show. 

As soon as Sullivan got of the ship, Washington papers were chanting for him to take over the Senators to replace John Morrill; however, on July 5 Hewett hired player-manager Arthur Irwin to replace Morrill. Sullivan picked up where he left off, scouting and signing ballplayers for the Senators. Within days of his arrival he had signed Ed Beecher and John Irwin from Wilkes Barre. 

Typical of the aforementioned wanderings of Sullivan, the Washington Post noted on August 7 that Sullivan “was in the city yesterday, but left during the afternoon on a mission for president von der Ahe.” Two weeks later, they mentioned that “Ted Sullivan is with the Browns. He will be in Washington for the latter part of next week.” Ob September 4 Sullivan is tracked “watching for young blood among the Northwestern League clubs (for the Washington club).” At the end of October Sullivan signed three men out of the Interstate League for the Pittsburgh Pirates. On the same trip he signed Lew Whistler for Washinton. 

1890 

Word came at the end of 1889 that the National League was taking steps to remove Washington from its ranks. In the end Brooklyn left the American Association and joined the National League. The NL also added Cincinnati and forced out the Washington and Indianapolis franchises in late March 1890 during the Brotherhood war. 

Previously, Sullivan had been named manager of the Senators for 1890. When it became clear that the National League might oust the club, Hewett and Sullivan applied for membership in the Atlantic Association. It was a fortuitous move as the National League waited until just a few weeks before opening day to make their decision. 

Sullivan oversaw the club to a 38-47 record until it disbanded on August 2. Hewett owed back dues of $500 and decided not to remit. Per contract, the club then reverted back to the league. Initial plans were to merely give a new Washington franchise to Sullivan, but financing didn’t com though and the idea was shelved. 

On August 10 Sullivan was named manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League; however, Guy heckler maintained his job for the rest of the season. On September 3 Sullivan attracted and promoted two Players League clubs, Chicago and Brooklyn, to play a game in D.C. He then set to organize some exhibitions in D.C. for after the major league seasons were over. 

In September Sullivan began plans to take an American football (rugby) squad to England. 

1891 

Sullivan was out of the country for much the first half of 1891. He was visiting family, vacationing and doing a little business in Europe. 

Sullivan wasn’t able to lure any American rugby teams to Europe but he did just as well. Exhibitions were set for an English club to tour North America. Games were set to begin in October pitting Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Johns Hopkins and the University of Pennsylvania against the Englishmen. The team will them precede to St. Louis, Chicago, Michigan and into Canada. 

Sullivan took numerous scouting tours after returning from Europe. As he had been doing for years, he signed new players at the end of the season for Chris von der Ahe and the new Washington National League franchise. 

1892 

Sullivan poured much of his efforts in 1892 to founding and administering the new Southern League. In March he decided to manage the Chattanooga squad. His club won the first half of the season but finished fifth overall with a 63-57 record in a tight league. Sullivan would remain in the Southern League for three seasons. 

1893 

In 1893 he took over the Nashville team. The club finished in last place with Sullivan managing for part of the year.

1894 

Sullivan managed Atlanta in 1894 to a 21-37 record. The club was one of four to disband on June 27. He found most of his men jobs with other minor league clubs. 

Arthur Irvin noted in 1894 that Sullivan and others were masters at “adjusting” the statistics of their players so that they could work out more equitable terms for their men when they decided to dispose of them. This was indeed possible in the days prior to instant communication. 

In September Sullivan was working with Sam Crane and Charlie Genslinger on the east coast organizing the Atlantic League. He continued well into 1895 recruiting players, finding financial backers and handling other administrative duties for the Atlantic League. 

In November Sullivan took another trip to Europe. This time he went at the behest of Baltimore Orioles’ manager and owner Ned Hanlon. The mission was to recruit some top association football (soccer) players so that Hanlon could build a squad to compete with other major league owners who had already formed teams and were playing within a league. 

1895 

In 1895 Sullivan had a hand in forming the new Connecticut State League with Orator Jim O’Rourke. Sullivan was granted a franchise in New Haven. 

By the end of 1894, Sullivan planted himself in Texas organizing another new league with John McCloskey. He would take over the Dallas team (though initially he was to oversee Houston) of the Texas-Southern League as manager and principal owner. 

The Dallas Steers won the first half of the season and finished with the league-best overall record of 82-33. At one point the team won 23 straight contests. 

AUTHOR AND STORY TELLER 

Sullivan declared that 1895 would be his last year in baseball. He had already written two comedies (and would add more) and was strongly considering moving to a career in theatrical management. 

He also wrote extensive about baseball for the newspapers and magazine and for his own pamphlets and books. His most famous work, Humorous Stories of the Ball Field, was a full-length book in 1903 which he promoted as a history of the game. He wrote another short piece on the world tour of 1913-14. 

Sullivan was a master story teller and often quoted by sportswriters on any and all topics related to the game. The catch is that his stories and literature are so diluted with hyperbole that it is an impossible task for historians today to pull the few kernels of truth from his pontifications. Sullivan is one of many sources that told countless oafish stories about Chris von der Ahe. 

SULLIVAN SLEEPERS 

Major leaguers traveled in special Pullman cars. The club would rent semi-private space for the entire team to travel in comfort. These cars included adequate sleeping room with upper and lower berths. 

To save money, Sullivan and other executives would have their men travel in the coach section. These were cars with small day couches in side the berths. They were typically hot, cramped and uncomfortable; however, they became the standard travel method in the minor leaguer. Through his extensive use of coach, the facilities became known throughout baseball as Sullivan Sleepers. To graduate to the majors was also a jump in class from coach to Pullman cars. 

1896 

Sullivan moved his New Haven club into the Atlantic League for 1896. The club finished in last place and was forced to move to Lancaster on July 3. Sullivan even pitched a little for New Haven. 

Never without an idea, Sullivan promoted games in D.C. in early 1896 as “Ted Sullivan’s Texas Steers” against the Washington National League club. The “Steers” were really Sullivan’s New Haven team with the western-sounding name.

 Sullivan was a big fan of boxing and could be found at many of the top fights during his time. In 1896 for example he saw Joe Choynski fight Jim Hall. In July 1895 Sullivan became business manager for welterweight Scott Bright Eyes Collins. Collins later though broke his contract with Sullivan. 

In 1896 the Baltimore Orioles were contemplating traveling to Europe for a postseason exhibition tour. Sullivan went to England for Ned Hanlon as an advance man to scout out opportunities. Arriving back in the U.S. on August 22, he found little interest across the Atlantic for baseball games and the tour was cancelled. 

Several Orioles were already psyched for the trip so John McGraw, Arlie Pond, Wilbert Robinson, Joe Kelley and Willie Keeler went anyway for a vacation to Liverpool, London, Brussels, Paris, Dublin and the Irish countryside. 

1897 

In 1897 Sullivan founded the independent New Jersey League. He started the season taking the Atlantic City (a favorite vacation destination of his) club; however, dissention arose among the owners which forced a delay in the start of the season. The league essentially collapsed at the end of May, basically before it even began. Sullivan sold out and moved on. 

Jack Doyle and Sullivan attended the James J. Corbett/Bob Fitzsimmons fight on March 17 in Nevada for the crowning of a new heavyweight champion. 

By July, Sullivan set his sights on organizing a barnstorming tour for the Orioles after the season. He set plans to play exhibitions in the south, out west and into Mexico. 

Sullivan settled in Dallas again at the end of the summer. He organized baseball exhibition contests for the Texas State Fair. 

1898 

There are references to Sullivan planting himself in Dubuque again in 1898 and trying to form a club, but can’t confirm. 

On September 17, 1898 Sullivan announced his intention of forming two teams and traveling to Cuba to put on an exhibition tour at the end of the season. He was eying potential profits due to the fact that 50,000 Americans soldiers were now stationed on the island. I found no indication that the tour actually took place. 

1899 

Sullivan tried to revive the Southern league in 1899, taking over the Montgomery franchise in the independent league. 

In September Sullivan was among a contingent that formed a second major league, a revival of the American Association. The league existed only on paper but rumors continued to surface of its formation up until the time the American league was established as a major. 

1900-09 

Sullivan began fading from field management after the turn of the century. He concentrated on organizing, promoting and his scouting functions. During this time he scouted for the National League (as a whole during the American League war), the Cincinnati Reds, the Chicago Cubs and White Sox, the Washington Senators and other organizations, both major and minor. 

He did however manage: 

• In 1902 for Fort Worth in the Class-D Texas League, third place finish to Corsicana which won the pennant by 28.5 games. 
• In 1903 for Paris in the Texas League, third place finish. Paris won the first half of the season and then moved to Waco. During one game, Waco hit an unheard of nine home runs against Corsicana. They lost in the end of the season playoff. 
• In 1910 for Clinton in the Class-D Northern Association to a 10-39 record. The team disbanded on June 28, but Sullivan was gone before then. 

In 1902 Sullivan helped reorganize the Texas League. At the end of 1903 into ‘04 Sullivan helped organize the new South Atlantic League (SALLY League). 

In 1904 Sullivan was scouting predominantly for the Reds, signing Orval Overall among others. He also performed administrative duties for the Texas League. 

Scouting primarily for (but never limited to):

• 1901, National League (hired in August 1901 to scout AL and minor league clubs)
• 1904-06, Reds (also scouting for the Phillies in 1904)
• 1907, Cubs and White Sox
• 1909, White Sox 

During this time Sullivan also assisted major and minor league clubs in organizing and promoting spring training. 

In 1905 Sullivan organized the Virginia-North Carolina League. It folded after the season and Sullivan assisted into revamping it into the Virginia League. He had a part-ownership in the Norfolk franchise. 

In August 1905 Sullivan went to California and other locales to review young players that were recommended to the Reds by another scout Cliff Blankenship. This may be the first instance of cross-checking in major league history. As historian Peter Morris has noted, Sullivan may not only be the first significant scout in baseball history, he may also be the first cross-checker. 

In October 1906 Sullivan talked his good friend Joe Cantillon into taking over the Washington Senators. 

In 1909 Sullivan helped organize and promote spring training for his old friend Charles Comiskey. The White Sox took a western tour as far as California. Sullivan relocated to Chicago and became Comiskey’s “right-hand man,” overseeing spring training and other business functions. Sullivan also owned a plantation in North Carolina. 

In December 1909 Sullivan came up with a novel idea. In Chicago at Suite 1001 of the Corn Exchange Bank building he set to open a “bureau for the supply and demand of players,” a job placement agency. His intended clients were young ballplayers, minor leaguers. They would come to him looking for a job and he would help place them with clubs. He would also field requests by clubs and major leaguers as well. This is basically the services he had always provided but in a more formalized nature. Does this make him the first baseball agent? 

1910-19 

Sullivan continued working for the White Sox during the 1910s and maintaining other relationships along his scouting a placement sideline. 

Sullivan was up for the presidency of the United States League in February 1912, but didn’t get the nod. The USL would later become the Federal League. 

In 1916 and 1917 Sullivan traveled to Central and South America in an effort to promote a tour for the White Sox and Giants. The effort didn’t prove as fruitful as 1913. 

WORLD TOUR 

In January 1913 John McGraw was on a vaudeville tour passing through Chicago. He ran into Sullivan and expressed an interest in hiring Sullivan as an advance man for a possible international tour after the season. Sullivan countered that Comiskey had a similar idea and, thus, the world baseball tour of 1913-14 was conceived. 

After numerous tries as sparking international interest in the sport, Sullivan was finally aboard a winner. He acted in numerous capacities for the White Sox and Giants in organizing and promoting the tour. 

After barnstorming domestically, the Giants and White Sox (with Sullivan) set sail from Seattle on November 19, 1913. This tour would be well-funded as the take from domestic contests was nearly $100,000. Games were played in Australia, Ceylon, China, Egypt, England, France, Japan and the Philippines (in a near mirror of Spalding’s World Tour of 1888-89). Sullivan and others arrived in New York on March 6, 1914. 

1920-29 

Sullivan continued to work for Comiskey in the 1920s. He also scouted for other teams as well, including the Senators. By 1922, Sullivan had moved back to Washington D.C. and gone into semi-retirement. 

In May 1922 he set sail for Europe, planning to organize some baseball contests for after the season for a tour by the Giants and Senators. He was interested in playing in Dublin, London and Paris. 

He gave lectures at various colleges and universities throughout the country on baseball, its history and the World Tour of 1913. 

Sullivan was still sending players for tryouts as late as 1925. 

In October 1925 Sullivan went to Ireland on vacation. He returned stating that he had secured the famous Kerry and Tipperary football (rugby) clubs for an American exhibition tour in November 1926. 

Sullivan was in relatively good health until he suffered a stroke on June 22, 1929. He died at age 73 on July 5 at Gallinger Hospital in D.C. He was buried at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Milwaukee.

 

Rules and Regulations in the Garden of Eden 

In the third chapter of John Thorn’s new book, Baseball in the Garden of Eden, the author asks a poignant question, one of many in his work. 

Thorn asks why in the 1830s and 1840s were the rules of the game and the expected conduct of the participants put to paper and codified. What was the driving force? After all, bat and ball games had been around for centuries and ones variously known by the terms “bat,” “ball” and “base” were played throughout America. 

Thorn points to our strained relationship with the motherland – in that we are at times compelled and repulsed (perhaps at the same time) by the British and their institutions. In an effort to separate ourselves from them were repelled cricket but then again we took from it what we found relevant, namely its organizational approach to matters and its formal, codified rules and standards. 

This may be but as Thorn points out cricket was played in the colonies as early as the 1750s, and probably earlier like all things were can’t definitely know in the 21^st century. 

For me perhaps the more relevant issues are self-preservation and self-justification. Some men, and it wasn’t a lot in the beginning, wanted to keep playing ball as they entered adulthood. They latched onto a rudimentary version of the game we know today as baseball, not cricket or wicket or rounders or a million other versions – for whatever reason. 

Enough of these likeminded individuals banged into each other – or perhaps were persuaded by a relative few – and set about to form a club. Several were formed during the 1830s and early 1840s in New York City – the New York Club, Gotham Club, Eagle Club, Magnolia Club and eventually the Knickerbocker Club most of us are familiar with. 

Thorn points out that there was perhaps an evolutionary process between these clubs, as members of earlier groups moved on or were left standing to form subsequent groups. This is how the Knickerbockers were formed. Today, we’re more familiar with the latter because, well, they survived the longest and latest and to the victor goes the spoils so to speak. But this is a digression. 

Clubs need a strong foundation to survive and bring in the only thing that a club really needs – a continued, and hopefully steady, stream of new members. One way for a club to legitimize itself is to publish or at least maintain a set of standards for members and their conduct and in this case rules and regulations for their main activity, their sport. (Though in truth, their main activity, as humans are prone to do, may have been socializing.) This is my self-preservation point – the rules were written to keep the club alive. 

My self-justification point stems from these adults justifying their actions, not only in playing a child’s game but in amassing in numbers to do so. Early newspapers articles are littered with this. The main justification for men playing a boys’ game was often given as the need for healthful exercise. I’m not saying that a justification was needed but apparently they felt so in the early to mid 19^th century. 

One way for men to justify their love of playing ball is to codify it. Codification and strict adherence to standards and regulations are adult concerns. Children aren’t as regimented unless forced to be so. Thus, this version of baseball is more serious and, well, manly. It’s an adult activity to be respected as such. 

Any thoughts?

 

Ted Sullivan, Baseball’s Fullest Resume 

Timothy Paul Sullivan 

It is an extensive project to even begin to chronicle Ted Sullivan’s movements. In any given period he was all over the map. In one single calendar or fiscal year Sullivan can be located (well he really can’t be located for long at least) in Texas founding the Texas State League. He might also have a hand a founding a similar league on the other side of the country, say in Virginia. And, he might still be doing the same elsewhere. He also might be promoting exhibition games for the upcoming Texas State Fair. 

He rarely stayed in any one place for long. He would continue on by railcar or wagon to still other locales. He was constantly on the lookout for ballplayers, like everyone else. But Sullivan was doing a two-fold job. For one, he was always organizing a team or entire league, so he needed men for himself and his business associates. On the other hand, he was the game’s foremost and widest-traveled talent scout. Major and minor league executives would telegraph with a need and then Sullivan would be off to some remote region of the country to help them fill it. 

It is no stretch to say that Sullivan had more contacts within the industry than any man would prior to the days of mass communication. It’s not even close. Every corner of the country was touched on a regular basis. And, that’s just his promotional, administrative and talent-seeking work in the minor leagues. He was also a valued confidant of John Brush, Garry Herrmann, John McGraw, Ned Hanlon and his life-long friend Charles Comiskey, to name just a few. 

For each, he performed numerous tasks – and that’s beside the slew of players he signed for each. For Herrmann, he became the National League’s scout, not just the Reds. Sullivan was hired during the American League war to scout AL players and minor league talent during the era when the National Agreement was suspended. 

For Hanlon, Sullivan acted as an advance man and scoped out potential sites for international exhibitions in Europe and Latin America. He also took jaunts across the Atlantic Ocean to recruit rugby and soccer players for U.S. exhibitions and possible league formations. He also examined the economic possibilities of American tours abroad. 

Sullivan merged McGraw and Comiskey with the result being the World Tour of 1913-14. He also performed numerous tasks for each in promoting not only the Giants and White Sox individually but the game as a whole on a national and international level. 

RESUME 

• Player
• Captain
• Coach
• Manager
• League founder
• League president
• Journalist
• Writer
• Promoter
• Team owner
• Scout
• Cross-checker
• Team executive
• Business manager
• International promoter 

PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION 

Sullivan is also hard to track on a personal basis in existing databases. Born Timothy Paul, Sullivan was universally referred to as Ted, even by his family; thus, does one locate him by Timothy, Ted, Theodore or T.P.? Secondly, Sullivan is a very common name and generates numerous hits during the search process. Thirdly, in the databases he can easily be found in he lists his birthplace variously as Ireland, Missouri, New York or Wisconsin. So how do you track him in the databases he’s not readily found in? Fourth, he lived an itinerant lifestyle, never in one place for very long, rarely setting down any kind of roots. His only marriage (that I could locate) lasted only a short time because – well who could keep up with his wanderlust? 

(As a side note many of these difficulties can be overcome for baseball researchers at Ancestry.com for Sullivan and many of the other names in the game if the Censuses could be searched by occupation. Currently, the only one available through occupation search is 1880. Through this process, Sullivan is easily found. The next steps of course would be an exhaustive search of the database followed by calls and perhaps visits to communities far and wide that might catalog original data. These latter efforts might prove fruitful, but what exactly is their cost in time and money?) 

EARLY LIFE 

Timothy Paul Sullivan was born in County Clare, Ireland on March 17, 1851 (from Retrosheet). Two different records list his birth year as 1854 (Sullivan’s passport application) or 1855 (Sullivan’s immigration record from his return to the United States after the 1913-14 World Tour), same month and day.) The only immediate family that could be located is a brother named Daniel (Ted was residing at the home of Daniel and Janet Sullivan in Milwaukee in the 1900 U.S. Census. In the 1880 Census he can be found at the home of his uncle and aunt, Patrick and Ellen Leahy, in St. Louis.) 

The 1900 Census states that Daniel Sullivan immigrated to the United States in 1860 and that “Teddy” followed in 1865. Therefore, it’s somewhat same to assume that Ted arrived in the United States shortly before, during or shortly after the Civil War. 

Sullivan spent much of his childhood in Milwaukee. After high school, he enrolled at Catholic St. Mary’s Academy and College in St. Mary’s, Kansas in Potawatomi County. Perhaps he had family in Kansas (As noted, he did have family in St. Louis which is 330 miles from St. Mary’s). A natural go-getter, Sullivan was captain and pitcher of the baseball team. During the summers, Sullivan ran and played for a semi-pro club in Milwaukee called the Alerts. 

In 1874 the 15-year-old son of a Chicago political boss was sent to join his older brother at St. Mary’s. His name was Charles Comiskey. By sending him far from home, the senior Comiskey was trying to defeat Charles’ overwhelming thirst for baseball and make him into something useful, a plumber. Instead, Comiskey met an older student, Sullivan, who would help lead him from his father’s path (Comiskey also played ball at St. Mary’s). 

From Sullivan’s passport application on November 10, 1888, we know: 

• Height: 5’6.5”
• Eyes: Hazel
• Hair: Dark
• Facial Features: sound forehead, straight nose, mustache, round chin, fair complexion and oval face. 

BASEBALL 

1876-1882 

In 1876 Comiskey joined Sullivan’s independent Alerts as a third baseman. In 1878 Sullivan formed the Dubuque (Iowa) Rabbits, an independent club. Comiskey had played for a club in Elgin, Illinois in 1877 before finally breaking from his father and leaving home in 1878 to rejoin Sullivan. 

Dubuque was financed by Iowa’s U.S. Senator William B. Allison and future congressman and Speaker of the House David B. Henderson. During the winters in Dubuque, Comiskey worked as a traveling representative a profitable news agency which Sullivan owned. 

By 1879, Dubuque was one of the top clubs in the country not associated with the National League. The team displayed future notables, such as, Sullivan, Comiskey, Tom Loftus, the Gleason brothers, Bill and Jack, Hoss Radbourn, Bill Taylor and Laurie Reis. Sullivan now needed a league to showcase his powerful club. (Sullivan declared that his proudest find as a scout was Radbourn. He also boasted other stars such as Johnny Kling and Ray Schalk.) 

On April 1, 1879 he formed and ran the Northwest League which consisted of clubs from Davenport, Omaha, Rockford (Illinois) and, of course, Dubuque. It was the first so called minor league formed outside the east coast. Sullivan took steps to set a salary structure for the Northwest League and clearly subordinated the league to the National League, which to some establishes it as the first legitimate minor league. 

Dubuque won the pennant in 1879 and even scored a victory over Cap Anson’s Chicago White Stockings in early August. Due in part to Dubuque running away with the pennant, the Northwest League folded. Comiskey stayed with the club through the 1881 season. Many stories abound which suggest that Sullivan taught Comiskey the ins and outs at first base. 

In 1880 Sullivan umpired eleven games in the National League. It has also been said that Sullivan (1880-84) and Comiskey (1880-82) played for the Saint Louis University team in the early 1880s. Around this time, Sullivan and Comiskey married sisters, Nellie and Nan Kelly (from Dubuque), respectively. Sullivan’s marriage didn’t last long but the Comiskeys were married until Nan’s death in 1922. As best as I could tell, Sullivan did not remarry and had no children. 

1883 

In 1882 Comiskey signed on with Chris von der Ahe’s St. Louis Browns of the major American Association. The 1882 Browns included Sullivan graduates Comiskey and the Gleason brothers. As noted, Sullivan was living in St. Louis by 1880, thus he probably supplied the Browns with the Dubuque players. When von der Ahe replaced manager Ned Cuthbert at the end of the season, Sullivan was chosen as his replacement. 

Sullivan managed the Browns through their first 79 games in 1883 to an impressive 53-26 record. Comiskey took over the club on August 30 tied for first with Philadelphia. Sullivan quit the Browns, fed up with continual interference by von der Ahe.

Eighteen Eighty-Three is also the year that Sullivan is said to have coined the term “fan” to refer to the ballpark’s faithful. 

1884 

In October Sullivan agreed to manage Virginia of the Eastern League in 1884; however, he was approached by a 26-year-old St. Louis millionaire named Henry Lucas. Lucas had designs on starting a third major league to be called the Union Association. Lucas topped Virginia’s offer by $1,000 and Sullivan went to work recruiting talent for the new Maroons and helping form the league. (The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball shows Sullivan as manager of Virginia in 1884; however he reneged on that agreement prior to the season) 

Sullivan’s recruiting went so well that the Maroons won their first twenty games. The streak took the starch out of the rest of the league and eventually aiding its demise. Not one to stay put, Sullivan left St. Louis with a 35-4 record on June 25. He then went from first to worst, joining the Kansas City club in the UA. He posted a 13-46 record to finish the season in last place. 

The Altoona club disbanded on May 31, so Lucas replaced it with Kansas City backers, headed by Americus V. McKim. It was hastily put together and would have no chance in the standings (Actually, part of the agreement Lucas made with McKim was that the KC games would not count in the standings; thus, they could not win the pennant.). At the end of Sullivan was coaxed to take over the KC squad by being given part ownership. 

Sullivan took the field for Kansas City in 1884 in his only active games in the big leagues. He appeared in four games, two in right field, one on the mound and one at short. At the plate he went 4 for 11. 

Kansas City though did well financially though, more so than the other squads. Over the winter, Sullivan went east to try to land some talent for 1885; however, the Union Association soon collapsed. 

1885 

Sullivan stayed in Kansas City in 1885 and set about to establish and run the Western League. The league kicked off but Cleveland and Toledo disbanded on early June. When the Indianapolis club fell on June 15, so did the league. At the time KC was in third place with a 17-13 record. 

Sullivan then took over Memphis in the newly-formed Southern League. Near the end of the season, he got into a row with Macon’s manager. After Macon’s manager slapped Sullivan with his scorecard, Sullivan “threw out his right fist and a knock-down that would have done credit to his cousin from Boston, John L., was the sequel. Brass buttons (the police) interfered and Price was gently lifted from the ground.” (This account of the fight suggests that Sullivan was righthanded, a fact unknown to the encyclopedias) 

At the end of the season Memphis was kicked out of the league in the aftermath of the incident (Memphis soon bought back into the league after Sullivan departed). Memphis finished with a 38-54 record and a fifth place finish. 

1886 

In 1886 Sullivan set about reviving and running his old Northwest League. This time he returned to his hometown of Milwaukee to do so. Unlike in other seasons, Sullivan didn’t horde the talent; his Brewers finished in last place with a 35-43 record. 

By the end of the season, he had worn out his welcome. Always fiery, he purposefully turned the hose on his home field on September 20 flooding it in an effort to delay a game. The moved backfired as the umpire declared it a forfeit after Sullivan locked his opponents out of the park. Other league officials demanded his heavy-handed removal. 

1887 

Sullivan umpired fourteen games in the American Association during August 1887. 

As previously noted, the fact that Sullivan was not tied to a specific league or team as manager or organizer in any given time period (whether as manager or organizer) does not mean he was idle. His business interests in and around baseball were extensive. He took hundreds of jaunts throughout the country in search of talent, signing men for club executives in every corner of the country. 

1888 

Towards the end of 1887, Sullivan, acting as scout and business agent, was scouring the country signing up talent for Walter Hewett, president of the Washington Senators of the National League. Hewett had just replaced field manager John Gaffney with himself. On a trip in October Sullivan signed Dummy Hoy and Walt Wilmot. Sullivan was set to manage Troy of the International Association in 1888. 

Hewett and Sullivan became very interested in using the Troy club as “a training school or feeder for the Washingtons.” This marks one of the earliest efforts at developing a farm team for a major league club. 

In February 1888 Hewett became ill and hired Sullivan to oversee spring training.. Sullivan had already scouted the locations (mainly New Orleans). For the first time in history a major league club would train in Florida, Jacksonville to be specific. 

In Florida the club had a tough time finding a hotel. No one wanted a bunch of uncouth ballplayers hanging around their establishment and disturbing the decent guests. When Washington found a hotel that would accept them, the players were given specific instructions. They were not allowed to eat in the dining room with the other guests, they were not permitted to mingle with the other guests and they were requested not to disclose their profession to the other guests. 

The first preseason exhibition held in Florida between major league clubs took place on March 22 – Washington versus the New York Giants. Sullivan however wasn’t present; he left to oversee his Troy club. 

The Senators started off with a 10-29 record. Club investors and supporters were busting a gasket for Hewett to hire a professional manager. Finally on June 13, he did so. Sullivan was brought in from the equally inept Troy franchise. He guided the club for over its last 96 games to a 48-86 record and a last place finish. It would be his last games in the majors.