Clipping:Von der Ahe's threat to join the League; argument about Wikoff, splitting gate receipts
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
 |
| Add a Clipping |
| Date | Tuesday, August 2, 1887 |
|---|---|
| Text | Just before yesterday’s game President Von der Ahe mounted the Athletic grand stand and, coming into the reporters’ box, said: “Gentlemen, I see that several papers say that the statement I made in New York about joining the League is a cold bluff. I simply want to say that I meant what I said then, I mean it now and I will mean it on September 3.” The Philadelphia Times August 2, 1887 There has been considerable talk and discussion during the past week over American Association affairs. All the clubs have been heard from, but even now it is a very difficult matter to say certainly where more than two or three of them stand. St. Louis and Brooklyn lead the opposing factions. The former is for the removal of President Wikoff and the percentage plan, and the latter is for the present guarantee system and is championing Wikoff’s case. Mr. Byrne denies that all the gentlemen named were at the secret conference in New York, but as Wikoff has called the special meeting after nearly a week’s delay, it is probable that he took plenty of time to find out that the called issued from New York was genuine and no hoax. Byrne is determined in his opposition to any change in the system of dividing the gate receipts, and he claims to have Cincinnati, the Athletics and Baltimore with him. He is probably counting his chickens before they are hatched, as Von der Ahe claims to have two of these clubs on his side. Byrne, in a very weak argument, proposed to let St. Louis get out of the Association. He thinks the Association could get along without St. Louis. Possibly it might, but with the present champions out of the circuit the beginning of the downfall of the American Association would follow. The Association lost one of its best cities when Pittsburg joined the League. Cleveland has not yet and never will fill the gap then made, but the lesson learned seems to have been forgotten by some of the Association clubs. The Philadelphia Times August 7, 1887 ...Von der Ahe seems to be very much in earnest in his threat to jump and while in Philadelphia entered the newspaper box at the Athletic grounds and announced to the reporters that he was not bluffing, but was firmly resolved in his intention to enter the League in case his demands for a living chance were not acceded to by the Association. There is a disposition on the part of the clubs opposed to percentage, supposed to be Athletic, Brooklyn, Cincinnati and Baltimore, to grant the St. Louis Club special privileges. There is also a strong undercurrent in some quarters in favor of taking an even more determined stand, in case Von der Ahe cannot be placated by reasonable means, and to prevent at all hazards the transferal of so many fine players and so attractive a team to a grasping and overshadowing rival. The loss of the Pittsburg players was even a greater loss than the city they represented, and there isn't the slightest doubt that each and every club felt in pocket the loss of that team as an attraction. Cleveland as a city counterbalanced Pittsburg, but as a drawing attraction, it is needless to remark, the Cleveland team could not offset the Pittsburg team, this season at least. To now lose Von der Ahe's team would even be a greater calamity. True, the Browns might jump from the frying-pan into the fire, and the establishment of a rival team in the Mound City, even at a loss, might prove a damaging blow, financially, to the “genial German,” but this policy of revenge would not compensate for the loss all the Association clubs would suffer by reason of the absence of the star team of the Association. But the Association is not in a position to prevent the withdrawal of the Browns, except by absolute surrender to the president of that club (whom concession will doubtless make more arbitrary than ever), because the house is divided against itself. There is no unity, no fixed purpose and no spirit of sacrifice for the common weal... The Sporting Life August 10, 1887 rumor of the Metropolitans to disband [from George Stackhouse's column] Present indications point with a considerable degree of accuracy to the disbandment of the Metropolitan Club at the end of the present season. There is no danger of its dissolution at present and it will fulfill all its obligations to the Association this season, and play out its full complement of games, if the other American Association clubs do the same. The Metropolitan Club has been an unfortunate one and has steadily lost money for its luckless owners for the last three or four years. Even in the year which the Metropolitans won the pennant they lost money. The Metropolitans, as a local institution, died when the present New York Club was organized. Victory and popularity for the New Yorks meant in a measure defeat and small gate receipts for the Mets. It would have been a happier thought to have disbanded the Mets when the local League club was formed. W hen Keefe and Esterbrook were taken from the Mets to strengthen their local rivals a few years ago, the local public saw the move and recognized its significance fully. It is better that the New York Club was never born, or that when born the Indians had been forced out. Under one management one eats up the dividends of the other. Under different managements the results have been nearly the same. The Metropolitans draw nicely when the Giants are away from home, but not so when the Giants are ambling over the green at the Polo Grounds. The Sporting Life August 3, 1887 Walter W. Watrous, a director of the “Mets,” says: “If the percentage plan is [sic: should be “is not”] adopted the Metropolitans will not be in the Association next year. I can place all our men to good advantage. Every man of them will go into the League, for I would not be wiling to have them in the Association when there would be a chance for any of them to strengthen the teams that voted against our life in the Association.” The Philadelphia Times August 7, 1887 Messrs. Wiman and Waltrous say there will be no Metropolitan Club next season unless the percentage plan is adopted. O. P. Caylor says the Mets will exist under either the guarantee or the percentage system. Which is which? The Philadelphia Times August 7, 1887 |
| Source | The Philadelphia Times |
| Tags | |
| Warning | |
| Comment | Edit with form to add a comment |
| Query | Edit with form to add a query |
| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
Comments
<comments voting="Plus" />