Clipping:Athletic grounds to be sold
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
 |
| Add a Clipping |
| Date | Saturday, May 10, 1873 |
|---|---|
| Text | On May 1 the ordinance authorizing the sale of the ball-grounds located at Twenty-fifth and Jefferson streets, Philadelphia, Pa., rented by the Athletics, and upon which all the principal games in that city are played, came up in Council for a second reading. Mr. Smith opposed the sale on the theory that the ground adjoins the Park, and in a short time must attain an enhanced value, and although the rental paid by the baseball clubs was insignificant, he thought delay in this matter would repay the city. Mr. Hanna read a letter from John I. Rogers, one of the directors of the Athletics, of which the following are extracts: “This sale, besides being premature for obtaining good prices, will be unfair to our club. A little over two years ago we expended $7,000 in leveling, fencing, and erecting pavilions upon the ground. This large outlay was made under the express verbal understanding that we should be undisturbed in our possession until the ground was needed by the Water Department, in which event we should vacate on three months' notice. The ground is now used by the Athletic, Philadelphia, and Olympic Clubs, and is a means of exemplifying the national game. If ancient Greece fostered and maintained, out of the public purse, the Olympian games, surely the great city of Philadelphia can give a slight encouragement to the American Olympiad by postponing for a few years the sale of a small piece of suburban territory. There is not American institution that will more deeply interest our Centennial visitors than the typically national game of baseball, if its existence be not practically terminated by banishment beyond municipal limits.” After considerable discussion, an amendment directing the survey of the land and its sale by building lots by plan was agreed to by a vote of 16 to 7; and another motion, to amend and refer to the committee on law was agreed to by a vote of 11 to 10. A parcel of politicians evidently are on the qui vive to make money on this matter, and are regardless of the fact that the persons directly or indirectly interested in the game of baseball in this city form a large and influential portion of the community, and can punish at the polls this attempt to deprive the fraternity of their only ground. |
| Source | New York Clipper |
| 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" />