Clipping:Going to great lengths to sign a minor leaguer
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| Date | Sunday, January 29, 1888 |
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| Text | In an interview President Spalding of the Chicagos told a Tribune man how he got John Clarkson. Said he: “In the fall of 1884 we were pretty hard up for ptichers and there seemed to be no chance to get one that was any good. I had heard all about Clarkson and had offered $1,000 for his release and $1,000 at that time was a big figure for a release, but I couldn’t get him. One day the president of the northwestern league of that year dropped in to see me. He said he was on his way to Milwaukee and his league would hold a meeting there; the East Saginaw club was behind in its dues and the chances were it would be expelled. Before he went away I got him to promise me that if East Saginaw was expelled he would telegraph me as soon as the action was taken. As soon as he went out I sent for a young fellow that had been Clarkson’s roommate during the summer, and I engaged him to go there and bring Clarkson here in case the club was expelled. I told him I would telegraph him as soon as I heard from Milwaukee, and if my message said the club was expelled I wanted him to see that Clarkson came here on the first train. He went to East Saginaw and saw Clarkson. The meeting at Milwaukee was held and the club expelled. I got my telegram from the president of the northwestern league and immediately sent a message to East Saginaw. Eight minutes after it reached there my man and Clarkson were on board a train bound for this city and had left Caylor sitting in a hotel. Caylor wrote to Mills, who was then president of the league, and tried to establish that I had not acted on the square, and Mills wrote me a long letter asking an explanation. I wrote back and told him exactly what had occurred, showing that I had not done a thing until the East Saginaw club was expelled, and wound up by saying I had only indulged in a little ‘practical base ball,’ which Caylor didn’t understand. He decided that my part of the transaction was all straight. That expression, ‘practical base ball,’ amused him greatly, and I never meet him now without his referring to it. |
| Source | Cleveland Plain Dealer |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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