1872.2
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Pro Players Disparaged in Newspapers As Worthless, Dissipated, Buyable
| Salience | Noteworthy |
|---|---|
| Tags | |
| Location | |
| City/State/Country: | Titusville PA, New York NY, United States |
| Modern Address | |
| Game | Base BallBase Ball |
| Immediacy of Report | Contemporary |
| Age of Players | AdultAdult |
| Holiday | |
| Notables | |
| Text | "The professional player, aside from his personal character, is not precisely a majestic object . . . . Not to put too fine a point upon it . . . is usually a worthless dissipated gladiator; not much above the professional pugilist in morality and respectability. . . . It is only necessary for the gambler who has large sums at stake to buy him, in order to make certain of winning his bets." |
| Sources | Base Ball: The Professional Player, Titusville (Pa.) Herald March 12, 1872. Ascribed to the the New York Times of March 8, 1872. |
| Warning | |
| Comment |
Richard Hershberger' FB commentary, 3/12/2022: "150 years ago in baseball: A discussion of professional ball players. It is not complimentary. It would take decades for this attitude to disappear entirely. Note in particular the assumption that of course a professional will throw a game if you pay him enough." Richard Hershberger, subsequent email to Protoball, 3/12/2022: "Titusville adapted this from the NY Times of March 8. Some other papers also picked it up. T t is hard to say just how widespread this] the attitude was, but it certainly [was] in the air. In Zane Grey's [1906]novel The Shortstop, when the protagonist tells his mother he has decided upon a career as a professional baseball player, she bursts into tears at that ruination of her son."
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| Query | Any idea who might have written this little barb at the NYT? Was it widely quoted in the US? Edit with form to add a query |
| Source Image | |
| External Number | |
| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Submission Note | FB posting 3/12/2022 |
| Has Supplemental Text |
1872.3 Pro Players Disparaged in Newspapers As Worthless, Dissipated, Buyable"
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