Clipping:An airing of old grievances against the League
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| Date | Wednesday, November 27, 1889 |
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| Text | [from W. D. Sullivan's column] In reading the manifesto of the magnates it would certainly seem that the players had done wrong in deserting the men that have taken them to their arms and nurtured them, only to find that they were like the serpent that stung its benefactor. The screed reads well. There is another side to it. Let us look at it. Let us look back to the second year of the League. At that time several men had signed two and three-year contracts. The League passed a law taking away a part of the salary of the men to defray the cost of traveling and uniforms. At that time they were breaking a written contract and it caused the first break between players and club. This was illegal, and to show it was so judgment was obtained against one of the clubs. None of the old-timer have got any of that money. It s well known that some of the players had to sign receipts in full with a threat of not getting the last month's salary if they did not do so. The third year of the existence of this righteous body that we read abut they got a new wrinkle. They signed men for so much a year, so rather at so much pro rata. Then when the season had nearly ended, the players was cut off a month in his wages and turned loose for the winter but held for the next season by the men that had absolutely put their hands in his pocket and robbed him. Again, the legality of the transaction was tested, and this time the money was collected by the man that took the action. He quit the business and went as an express driver, preferring to earn a thousand dollars where he could get it rather than have the name of making three times as much that only existed on paper. It could name a dozen more cases, but the readers of The Sporting Life are too well posted to need me to rehash the matter. There is only one thing that I need say, and that is that there are League clubs that have owed their old players money for years. |
| Source | Sporting Life |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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