Clipping:A call to fire the manager
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
 |
| Add a Clipping |
| Date | Sunday, June 3, 1883 |
|---|---|
| Text | The failure of the Philadelphia club to make a stand against its colleagues in the League has been the source of much regret to the many warm friends of the club. In our judgment the club is composed of players as good as any in the country, and occasionally they prove it by an exhibition that revives hopes of their supporters, but then fall back again to such miserable playing as to invite disgust. All lovers of the game are interested in the club and would like to see it make a respectable showing, but until certain remedies are applied this can never be expected. … In conversation with one of the players the latter said: “There is no use talking, we cannot play under Ferguson. He is harsh, cruel and unjust. Fines are inflected for the most trivial offenses and the entire team is in a state of demoralization. We don't object to discipline, but there is such a thing as too much of it. We are treated more like slaves than players.” This in our judgment is the key-note to the whole trouble and if the club is to be saved at all it must be through heroic measures. There are only two courses open: Release the players who are “kicking” or release the manager. The remedy must be applied at once, too, or it will be too late. It is also evident that the feeling held by the players toward Ferguson has extended to the audiences, and the scene on the ground last Wednesday afternoon was such as is seldom witnessed. Cries of “Lynch Ferguson,” “Somebody hit Ferguson on the head with a bat,” being uttered throughout the game. When players see this the manager's usefulness is at once gone, and he should resign to save his own self respect. No one holds Manager Fergsuon in higher respect as a gentleman, and a ball player than the writer of this, but it is too evident that as a manger he is a colossal failure. He lacks magnetism, his idea of discipline is false, his domineering tendencies fatal. Managers Reach and Pratt are suffering by this a much as the public, as the slim attendance at games last week shows. Mr. Reach is deserving of better fortune than this. He is honest and conscientious in his efforts to raise the standard of the game, and is one of the few professionals who have risen from the ranks to a business that is rapidly making his fortune. To these gentlemen, then, we respectfully submit whether something should not be done at once. The club has many friends, and if it plays good ball, the attendance will be large. |
| Source | Philadelphia Item |
| 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" />