Sports league

“ 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. ”

“ It is to the introduction of base ball as a national pastime, in fact, that the growth of athletic sports in general in popularity is largely due; and the game pointed out to the mercantile community of our large cities that "all work and no play" is the most costly policy they can pursue, both in regard to the advantages to their own health, and in the improvement in the work of their employees, the combination of work and play judiciously, yielding results in better work and more satisfactory service than was possible under the old rule. ”

“ While this was confined comparatively to a few men, the innocent suffered largely from it, and the National League was brought into disrepute. Heroic measures were again adopted, and several players were indefinitely suspended, with excellent effect. It is safe to say that to-day there is less dissipation and drunkenness in the ranks of professional ball players in proportion to their number than in any other organized or unorganized body in this country identified with outdoor sports. ”

“ If there is any sport which yields a fair equivalent in the special attractions it presents for an admission fee of half a dollar, it is such ball playing as was exhibited during the past season on the grounds of the leading clubs of the National League. A feature of the attendance at the League games of 1888 was the presence of the fair sex in such goodly numbers. Where the ladies congregate as spectators of sports a refining influence is brought to bear which is valuable to the welfare of the game. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ By the organization of the National Association of Base Ball clubs the minor leagues, for the first time in their history, placed themselves in a position where they could demand proper enforcement of regulations for the government of the sport, and by their alliance with the major league clubs, under the articles of the National Agreement, a general working basis was effected whereby compliance with rules could be insisted upon. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In the first place, the amateur clubs could never have given the game the time and labor required for its evolution which the professional clubs were enabled to do; and, moreover, not one club in a thousand could have spared the money required to fit up and keep in serviceable condition such finely equipped ball grounds as those now owned by the leading professional clubs of the National League. ”

“ As football reigned supreme in the fall programme of recreational sport, and boxing in the winter, baseball furnished the greatest solace for the men of the navy marooned from city and college games. Scattered through the stations were former major and minor league and college players in abundance, and nines, vying in their intrinsic strength with major-league champions, were organized in every station. ”

“ The costumes of the players are varied, appropriate, and tasteful, and the arrangement of the fielders is very picturesque.
Baseball, on the other hand (which, pace, my American friends, is simply glorified rounders) , with the exception of school and college teams, is almost wholly practised by professional players; and the place of the county cricket matches is taken by the games between the various cities represented in the National League, in which the amateur is severely absent. ”

“ We ask to be judged solely by our work, and believing that the game can be played more fairly and its business conducted more intelligently under a plan which excludes everything arbitrary and un-American, we look forward with confidence to the support of the public and the future of the National game. (Signed) THE NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BALL PLAYERS."
The Players' League, as finally organized, embraced the cities of Boston, Brooklyn, New York and Philadelphia, in the East, and Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland and Pittsburg in the West. ”

“ It is safe in the hands of true and tried men, who are devoting their lives to its success. It is dominated and controlled by that grand old organization, the National League, which for twenty years has been the great exponent of the game, and has done more to advance the game than any other factor. The League has, during its life, stood on one platform, "honesty and purity in base ball," and has always retained the confidence and respect of the people. It has elevated the game until to-day base ball stands on a firm foundation of popular approval unequaled by any other athletic sport. ”

“ The unattached clubs derived much of their revenue from exhibition games with National League teams, and it was not unusual for a League nine to visit a small city, sign up one or more of the. best players of the local organization and take them away. ”

“ Games of base-ball played on empty lots and association grounds are as wranglingly contested as in the country of its origin. In a meadow near the Inch Arran, on the shore of Bay Chaleur, the writer once witnessed a really ferocious exhibition between town boys from Dalhousie and juvenile guests of the hotel, resident in Ottawa and Montreal, the latter protesting that base-ball as played in northern New Brunswick was not in strict compliance with American league rules. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When the huge, wooden stadium burned at the Polo Grounds, in the spring of 1911, Base Ball men sat aghast, because it meant much to the national pastime to lose the home of the most important National League club in the largest city of the United States. ”

“ 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. ”

“ They may say baseball is the same in the minor leagues that it is in the big leagues, but any old ball player or manager knows better. Where the difference comes in, however, is in the greater excellence and unity of the major players, a speed, a daring, a finish that can be acquired only in competition with one another.
I thought of this when I led my party into Morrisey's private box in the grand stand of the Chicago American League grounds. We had come to see the Rube's break into fast company. ”

“ This was the last season of the Professional Association, it being superseded by the National League, an organization which still exists, though it lacks the brains and power that carried it on to success in, its earlier days, this being notably the case in Chicago and New York, where the clubs representing these cities have gone down the toboggan slide with lightning-like rapidity. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Offences and late time are entered in a record book, and an opportunity is given to wipe off all past records by two years' good service. The Athletic Club, with over 500 voluntary subscribers, runs three cricket, four football, and two hockey teams, besides bowling, tennis, swimming, and other sports. ”

“ 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." ”

“ It has been made known to us, and we have good and substantial reasons for believing that such knowledge is correct, that a new organization of base ball clubs is contemplated, which, of necessity, must operate without the pale of the national agreement. ”

“ A VERY useful rule forbids an historian to deal with the matters of his own day; and in obedience to this rule we have decided not to discuss the developments, changes, and general progress of modern football since the institution of the governing bodies of the two games—Association and Rugby Union—placed each of them upon a firm basis as a national sport. The only task, therefore, left to us before we conclude our welcome labours, is to sketch in outline the steps which led to the re-establishment of football in its old position as the chief of the winter sports of England. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There is no reason why they should not. I can think of hardly a single obstacle in the way of the formation of such a league. All that is needed is that some energetic individual or individuals, or some enthusiastic and sporting spirited Athletic Association take the matter in hand and put it through. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is true that prosperity in the cities means a certain amount of Base Ball interest in all the territory which is within the metropolitan influence, but it is also true that there has been a very wonderful and general growth of interest in sections which are remote from the major league circuits, and which are dependent for their professional Base Ball upon the so-called minor league organizations. ”

“ CHICAGO.
"Spalding's League Ball" enjoys the very highest reputation among the base ball players of America, as evidenced by its general use throughout the country in all championship games played under League rules. It was first adopted by the National League as the official ball of that association in 1879, and has been each successive year since that time. Under the League rules, this ball must be used in every championship game played by League clubs. ”

“ Players competing for any money prizes in football contests are also considered professionals.
In 1888 the Football League, a combination of professional clubs of the north and midlands of England, was formed; and a new scheme was inaugurated for the playing of matches on what is known as the “League” principle, the essential advantage of which is that the clubs in membership of a league agree to play with each other “home and home” matches each season, and also bind themselves under certain penalties to play their best team in all league matches. ”

“ Incidental reference to Preston North End's double first in 1889 recalls the formation of the Football League, the creation of a life long worker in Association football, Mr. W. McGregor, early that season. What an important part the League system has played in the economy of modern football can hardly be fully discussed in what is primarily a practical treatise on the game. It certainly came originally to supply a general and obvious want in the shape of a competition of continuous interest, and not like the F. A. Cup, with a glorious uncertainty to all the clubs concerned. ”