League

“ The work of the league organization is a very thorough and matured plan. It is divided into three sections, national state and local. The state organizations are subordinate to the national, and the local leagues are subordinate to the state. The object of the national league is the same as that of local and state leagues, only the national is pledged to support the local and state leagues in any way whetever in the carrying out of the principles set forth in Article II of the constitution for local leagues heretofore quoted. ”

“ Thus the big leagues are controllers in a way of the players themselves, for the latter cannot go to any club they choose, whereas any big league club can pick whom it chooses from the little or “bush” leagues. ”

“ No scruples were entertained regarding the securing of players in any way from the opposition by either side. The League, having been robbed of nearly all its men, was perfectly willing to engage in any act that would sow discord in the ranks of the Brotherhood and secure a return of some of the stars. ”

“ For the fact that the promoters of the ball determined that it should be a ball rather than a dance was taken by the League men as a concession to the new public opinion in favour of respectability created by the League. ”

“ What was the organization of this League for? To perpetuate, establish and maintain the integrity of Base Ball. What is this Base Ball that we talk about? I do not want to take much of your time, but let us take a few moments to answer this question.
"Base Ball is a distinctly American sport, suitable to the American character, played under rules known to every American boy ten years of age. And here is the National League, the guardian of that sport. To be the guardian of a nation's sport is no mean honor. I sometimes wonder if you realize the responsibility. ”

“ Rivalry in football is one of its biggest assets, and in this way I should like to see the big Southern clubs formed into a Southern League and the Northern clubs into a Northern League, and the two top clubs of each League to fight out the question of supremacy. As I have already stated, I consider that the present governing body of Association football is admirably constituted, and it will be a sorry day for the game if the leading clubs rebel. ”

“ When I was a young fellow and read about the Big League clubs going South, I used to think what a grand life that must be. Riding in Pullmans, some pleasant exercise which did not entail the responsibility of a ball game, and plenty of food, with a little social recreation, were all parts of my dream. A young ball-player looks on his first spring training trip as a stage-struck young woman regards the theatre. ”

“ The purposes of the league are: (1) to improve school grounds and buildings; (2) to furnish suitable reading-matter for pupils and people; (3) to provide works of art for schoolrooms. There are three forms of the league, the local leagues organized in each school; the town leagues, whose membership consists of the officers of the local leagues; and a state league, whose members are delegates from the town leagues and members of the local leagues who hold school diplomas. Any pupil, teacher, school officer, or any other citizen may [Pg 128] join the league on payment of the dues. ”

“ I am glad to say that the suggestion of forming a general league has been favorably received by many enthusiasts in interscholastic sport, and, so far as I know, has been unfavorably commented on by no one. ”

“ To these facts, too, are to be added the statement that to the National League's government of the professional class of the fraternity is due the lasting credit of sustaining the integrity of play in the game up to the highest standard; so much so, indeed, that it has reached the point of surpassing, in this most important respect, every other sport in vogue in which professional exemplars are employed. ”

“ Most of the clubs of both leagues flourish financially, as also do the many minor associations which control the clubs of the different sections of the country, among which are the Eastern League, the American Association, Western League, Southern Association, New England League, Pacific League and the different state leagues. ”

“ The position of the League as regards the whole question of “sport”—i.e., the diversions and amusements of the people—is this, that while heartily approving all such fair and manly recreations as cricket, rowing, football, cycling, the drag-hunt, etc., it would place in an altogether different category what may be called “blood-sports”—i.e., those amusements which involve the death or torture of sentient beings. ”

“ The National League was organized in 1876 as a necessity, to rescue the game from its slough of corruption and disgrace, and take it from the hands of the ball players who had controlled and dominated the "National Association of Professional Base Ball Players." ”

“ The first campaign; Leaguers in power; The League becomes “national”; War issues; Producers and consumers; “Patrioteering”; Growth and power; The second big battle; League democracy at work; “The new day in North Dakota”; Another crisis passed; Organization changes; Survey and forecast.
“Three years’ employment on the publication controlled by the league has given Mr Gaston an intimate knowledge of the organization, and, although the reader is assured of a ‘conscientious effort to make a faithful report of facts of essential interest,’ favorable conclusions are the rule. ”

“ The teams belonging to the association increased so in number, that the association had to be divided into two parts, known respectively as the Senior League and the Junior League, the Seniors playing each year for the cup, the Juniors playing for a pennant. ”

“ The clubs going to make up the Professional League were admittedly stronger than ever before, and to take the pennant from Boston was the avowed ambition not only of the Athletics but of every team that was to contest against the "Hub" aggregation. ”

“ A professional shall not be allowed to serve on the Council of this Association, or on the Committee of any Association, League, or Club, or represent his own or any other Association, League, or Club at any football meeting. ”

“ THE March of Intellect will eventually stride onwards in "seven-leagued boots," for there is every now and then some new league claiming to give a forward impetus to humanity. The last new league is calculated to carry us many miles in advance of everything we have yet approached, for it is no other than a "Woman's Elevation League." ”

“ When the season came to a close the majority of the League clubs had made money and base-ball was more popular than ever with the public, who had learned to look upon it as a square sport, and one over which the gamblers had no control whatever. ”

“ My plan is that the National League shall pass a rule forbidding the sale of a player from a club in the second division, to a club in the first division. I think this would, in a measure, prevent some of the hustling to dispose of a clever man for the sake of the cash that is in the trade. ”

“ A League pennant race—or that of a minor league, for that matter—to be up to the regulation standard, should at least show a difference in percentage figures varying, on the average, not far from 250 points ”

“ And so as an institution the league was conceived as an animate being, endowed with definite biotic properties and functions, as the male and female sexes, fatherhood and motherhood, mind, eyesight, dream power, human blood, and the possession of guardian spirits for its two highest organic members. ”

“ BASE RUNNING. It should be borne in mind by the rulemakers of the League, and especially by the magnates who pass upon the work done by the Rules Committee, that base running has come to be as much of an art in the game as is skilful, strategic pitching or team-work in batting. ”

“ I do not limit or attempt to define the qualification of prosperity and success by any material advantage which may have happened to each individual club of the major league circuits. Superficial observers of Base Ball conditions are too prone to believe that the general conditions affecting the national game are contingent upon the attendance in the greater cities. ”

“ They practically controlled professional base-ball for many years, although there were occasional attempts to overthrow their authority, the most notable being the formation in 1890 of a brotherhood of players called the Players’ League, organized for the purpose of securing some of the financial benefits accruing to the managers, as well as for the purpose of abolishing black-listing and other supposed abuses. ”

“ Ball playing is looked upon as the national sporting game of this country, just as poker is looked upon as the national gambling game, and never was ball playing so popular as it is at present. We have national leagues of all kinds. Every city of consequence has its Base Ball club, a member of some league or other. Semi-professional clubs are numerous. Big business houses maintain amateur clubs. Every vacant lot has its ball, players organized and unorganized. ”

“ League, lēg, n. a nautical measure, 1⁄20th of a degree, 3 geographical miles, 3.456 statute miles: an old measure of length, varying from the Roman league, 1.376 mod. Eng. miles, to the French, 2.764 miles, and the Spanish, 4.214 miles. [O. Fr. legue (Fr. lieue) —L. leuca, a Gallic mile of 1500 Roman paces; from the Celt., as in Bret. leó.]
League, lēg, n. a bond or alliance: union for mutual advantage.—v.i. to form a league: to unite for mutual interest:—pr.p. ”

“ Because of the fact that the members of the League continue to follow their daily vocations and maintain their normal connections with the community, they are afforded unusual opportunities for the investigation of radical organizations of all kinds. The League has been able to introduce members into all of the more important organizations, and to report upon their policies and activities as well as upon the activities of individual members. ”

“ Base Ball is the topic of universal conversation, and keeping the percentage of the several clubs is making us a nation of mathematicians. On the streets, in the alleys, in business offices, in public resorts, in private houses, at morning, noon and night, young and old, rich and poor, are discussing Base Ball and arguing in favor of their particular favorites. The boy or girl of 15 who does not know the batting record of every member of the local league is looked on with pity. ”

“ They are mere gate-money organizations, lacking all of the attractive features of sectional and State league pennant races. State leagues also possess the advantage of not interfering with the interests of the sectional leagues which include State clubs. Take any State in which professional base ball flourishes, and in the State there will be found two classes of professional clubs, viz., the one strong class, which exist in the larger cities of the State, and the weaker class which represents the smaller towns. ”

“ Mills left the League arena he has done most efficient service in conserving the best interests of the New York Athletic Club and those of the clubs of the Amateur Athletic Union at large.
The great master of League records, and the whilom Secretary of the League since its organization, Mr. Young, is known throughout the entire base ball world, alike for the integrity of his character, the geniality of his disposition and the marked industry and persevering application which has characterized the discharge of his onerous official duties. ”

“ All clubs must register with the Secretary of the League the colors of their playing uniform, and no two clubs shall be permitted to have uniforms of the same color. The order of being admitted to League membership shall determine choice of colors. ”

“ Though the numbers of persons thus dealt with are inevitably somewhat limited, the League unquestionably gains more ground in this way than it can hope to win by pamphlets which are read and lectures which are listened to mainly by the already convinced. ”

“ Since the reconstructed National League began its new life, blundering management of teams has characterized the running of a majority of its twelve clubs, and it will continue to do so while the system of engaging players for their records merely and not for their ability in doing team work and in playing harmoniously together, is continued. Especially, too, is the plan of engaging players whose daily habits of life are at war with their ability to do first-class work in the field. ”

“ The cost of the amalgamation of the four American Association clubs with the National League, together with the financial losses incurred by the revolutionary period of 1890 and 1891—losses, by the way, which the players did not participate in, the clubs alone being the sufferers—left a heavy burden of debt to handicap the reconstructed National League in its efforts to recover the public confidence in professional ball playing lost by the malcontents of 1890 and 1891. ”

“ There is something to fight for in the winning of a State league's championship honors, while there is little or nothing at stake in a trio or duo State league. Suppose each State had a four or six club circuit, and at the close of its season, each August or September, what a paying series of October games could be arranged in the Southern section of the country in October for a grand championship series for the prize of leading all the State leagues of the country for the honors of the champion pennant of State league organizations? ”

“ No improvement in this branch of League legislative work, too, may be looked for until a regular and permanent committee of rules be appointed, with President Young as its continuous chairman, aided by the chief of the umpire staff, Harry Wright, and one member of the League, a member like Mr. Byrne, who has done more since he has been in the League to really improve the game than any other of the several members of the rules committee since 1891. ”

“ The duties and obligations of the clan or sisterhood of clans of a father to the clan of his children were by the founders of the league made a part of the functions of the male member, or sisterhood of tribes, in the organic structure of the league. In like manner the duties and obligations of the clan or sisterhood of clans of a mother to the clan or sisterhood of clans of the father of the children were made a part of the functions of the female member, or sisterhood of tribes, in the organic structure of the league. ”