Clipping:Chicago threatens to drop out from the League if players are not reinstated
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| Date | Tuesday, April 14, 1885 |
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| Text | Notwithstanding reports to the contrary, it is now stated upon pretty good authority that a meeting of the several Eastern league club Presidents—whether formal or informal is not known—was held in New York Saturday, April 4, and that some very significant talk was indulged in by those present bearing upon the probable action of the league with reference to the blacklisted players. The Boston Journal in a recent issue says that as the result of the meeting Dunlap, Shafer, and Sweeney will not only be reinstated, but that when the St. Louis league club appears in the field against the Chicago team the 30th inst. It will present, along with these players, Glassock, McCormick, and Briody, the Cleveland contract-breakers of 1884. The report goes on to state, further, that at the meeting referred to President A. G. Spalding of Chicago plainly informed his associates that his club would drop out of the league unless Mr. Lucas of St. Louis was enabled to secure the best talent the country afforded. The only way to give him a good nine was to give ST. Louis the black-listed men and Sweeney. He stated that his investment in base-ball in Chicago this season would involve between $60,000 and $75,000, which would represent only his new grounds, and his salary list. Unless there should be a good league nine in St. Louis, one that the natural rivalry between the two leading cities in the West should make a drawing card in both, there would be no inducement for him to risk such an outlay, for there would be no prospect of a return of his money. Mr. Spalding argued that if the disqualified players were reinstated and secured by Mr. Lucas the attendance at the ST. Louis games would be very large and visiting clubs would reap a harvest, whereas if theose players were kept out, St. Louis would be dead to the league. He also made the point that after admitting Mr. Lucas the league occupied an absurd position in punishing players for whose misconduct Lucas was largely responsible. Mr. Spalding claimed that his club had been for years the mainstay of the weaker league clubs, and that I had a right to ask reasonable favors at their hands. Chicago Tribune April 14, 1885 [N.B. Spalding goes on to confirm the arguments, but deny he threatened to leave the NL.] [from an interview of an unidentified director of the Chicago Club] I tell you this explanation [of the NL vote to not reinstate the players] was not satisfactory to the Chicago directors and stockholders, and after several conferences had been held the directors passed a resolution instructing President Spalding not to expend a dollar in fitting up the grounds until he knew how the Lucas matter was going to be handled. It may surprise you some to know it, but I tell it to you as a fact that the Chicago Club had fully made up its mind not to submit to any more injurious legislation at the hands of the league. What would we have done? Why, what do business-men do generally when the affairs of a partnership are conducted to their financial detriment? Pull out, don't they? Now, you know Spalding had to go to New York on business about the 1st of April, and before leaving he arranged by telegraph for a meeting there with Messrs. Root, Soden, and Day. The President of the Chicago Club left for New York with blood in his eye and grit in his teeth. I don't pretend to know just what took place at the conference between Root, Soden, Day, and Spalding, but I do know that when Spalding got back to Chicago it was evident that his labors had not been in vain, and that very day orders were given to go ahead with the work with all possible speed. What the assurances were that Spalding received in New York I am not at liberty to say, but you may rest assured they were satisfactory to the Chicago Club. Chicago Tribune April 16, 1885, quoting the Boston Herald |
| Source | Chicago Tribune |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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