Clipping:Post-mortem: charges of hippodroming
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| Date | Tuesday, November 2, 1875 |
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| Text | ...It is, of course, almost impossible to furnish proof positive that a game is not decided on its merits. Yet there were doubtless many of them “thrown” to benefit the gambling fraternity. The Philadelphia and Mutual Clubs, as they always have been, were looked upon as the black sheep in the flock, each particular organization being controlled by a coterie of sporting men,. The Mutuals were not strong enough this season to successfully “hippodrome” to a very great extent. Hicks, their catcher, it is said, could tell how many runs their opponents would make in each inning, and his friends used to lay their bets accordingly. With the Philadelphia nine it was different, its players being skillful enough to win when they pleased, except when pitted against the Bostons or Athletics. Hippodroming places them next to last in the championship race, while their proper position should be third. Zettlein, their pitcher, only last week, openly charged his associates with selling out, and retired in disgust. During the season half a dozen of the players have been frequently charged with “crooked” conduct, among them Treacy, McGeary, Meyerle, and Zettlein. Of other clubs, it is openly charged that Chicago lost her three final games to Hartford to beat St. Louis out of third place, which is about as probable as that Chicago and St. Louis arranged at the beginning of the season that each organization should win all games on its own grounds, which proved to be the case. Many there are who assert that they are confident such was the case. Although numerous players were accused of dishonesty, desertion and unfaithful conduct during the season, not a single member was expelled from the association. On the contrary, they were all released from their engagements; and, by being at once hired by some rival club to the one which they had left, were tempted still further to sell out and “revolve.” Higham left Chicago, and the Mutuals received him with open arms. Blong was expelled from the Reds and Stars, to be affectionately received in the Brown Stockings fold. Latham went from Boston to New Haven, and thence to Canada. Fields skipped the Washingtons for the Ludlows, and others too numerous to mention, skipped from one club to another with perfect impunity. This has done more than anything else towards killing base ball, and, unless the players to which class those mentioned belong are at once emphatically informed that their services are not desired, another year will show that base ball is assuredly played out. Philadelphia All-Day City Item November 2, 1875, quoting the St. Louis Globe-Democrat naming clubs with fraudulent play There has been but one drawback to the credit of the season's play, and that is the fraudulent play which has been indulged in by a small minority of the players of the Philadelphia, Mutual, Atlantic, and Chicago Clubs. There is no need of mincing matters on the subject—the facts are too plain, in showing the “crooked” play indulged in by a few members of each of the above mentioned teams during the past season, to be doubted. The Chicago and Philadelphia Clubs have openly suspended players for alleged dishonest practices, and the style of play exhibited by the other two clubs shows plainly enough what both could have done had all of their nines played with earnest efforts to win in every contest in which they were engaged. The worst cases of this “crooked” business have occurred in the Philadelphia Club team; and for the credit of the honest portion of that corps, we hope to see the Judiciary Committee throw light on the frauds committed, and place the knaves outside the pale of the Professional Association. Out of about a hundred and thirty regular professional players who have taken part in the contests of 1875, there are about ten whose record for honest play will not bear examination. This list includes a well-known pitcher, a catcher, a short-stop, a second baseman, and two outfielders, all of whom are marked men in the cities where they play. New York Clipper November 6, 1875 |
| Source | Philadelphia All-Day City Item |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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