Clipping:Prospects for an AA-PL or AA-NL alliance; is the AA a major league
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| Date | Friday, August 23, 1889 |
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| Text | [from W. I. Harris's column] Whether there will be an alliance between the two organizations [AA and PL] is an entirely different question. What the Association has to gain by such an alliance is not perfectly plain. If the object of it is to get protection from raids on their players, an alliance would be simply jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. They would stop forays by the Players' League, but expose themselves to the sallies of the National League. This would not be a gain, because the League would probably take more players away from them than the Brotherhood. The Sporting Life August 23, 1889 [editorial matter] The problem that confronts the Association is not that of amalgamation, but of alliance, and here the Association is between the devil and the deep sea, because, no matter with which side it cats its fortunes, the other will be sure to war upon it. There is, however, a good deal more concern expressed over this phase of the situation than is called for. The only way in which either of the two big leagues can make war upon the Association is by raiding it for players, since it has no cities left which would prove advantageous additions to either of the big leagues, and there is, besides, no city whose loss could not be made good at short notice, provided neither of the big leagues increase their circuits, which, it can be taken for granted, neither will be foolish enough to do. But if the desertions shall stop there the existence of the Association is by no means endangered from outward agencies, as least, because Washington, New Haven and Newark are open to it in the East, and Milwaukee or Minneapolis, with good teams ready to hand, in the West. So there is no reason to altogether despair of the future of the Association with so many possibilities before it, if it can but regulate its internal affairs, and shape its circuit satisfactorily, and especially cut the base ball coat according to the financial cloth, always keeping in view the limited capacity of its small cities to successfully compete with the wealth and resources of the National League and Players' League. So, about the only effective method of reprisal left for any warring power is to help itself to such of the players of the Association as it may want, and that is not such a dreadful thing, after all. The number of men either the League or Players' League could take from the Association would be limited; because comparatively few of them would be up to the playing standard of the major leagues, to say nothing of exceeding it, which alone would warrant the big clubs in making changes, as they are pretty well loaded up now with good playing material. And for every man captured from the Association another player, perhaps almost as good, would be available because of release from the big clubs, which after all, cannot afford to carry more men than they can find use for. So any raid upon the Association would, perhaps, amount, in effect, to nothing more than an exchange of players with this marked advantage to the Association: The men whom the big clubs would take would swell their salary lists and relieve the Association of higher priced material than it can really afford to carry, while the released major league players it can get in return for its stolen stars would cost it far less in the aggregate, and thus expenses would be materially reduced. So good would come out of fancied evil, and none of the Association clubs be affected by the change of players, except, perhaps, the Athletic Club, which being the only club which is brought into direct competition with the big major leagues would probably suffer, with a weakened team, by contrast. So with the fact assured that no matter which side the Association allies itself with it must expect to receive no quarter from the other, and with all the possible damage discounted in advance, it only remains for the Association to consider the advantages and disadvantages of alliance with one party or the other, since there can be no neutrality so long as the battle between the National League and Players League [illegible] Now this is an important matter for the Association because of the bearing it will have upon its own future, and deserves very careful consideration. A conclusion should not be hastily arrived at. There is still more than a month left before active hostilities can be begun, which will give the Association ample time to size up the situation in all its bearings and shape its course accordingly. The first and most important thing would doubtless be to learn just what advantages and conditions an alliance with the Players' League would confer and what the intentions of that League are toward itself, and for this purpose a conference would be in order. The relations of the League with and sentiment towards its old ally are too well known to need any particular attention, and it only remains to discover just what advantages would accrue from alliance with the Players' League. A crisis for the Association is approaching and it will require skillful handling. In the disposition of the problems confronting the organization sentiment should form no factor. This is important. The Sporting Life August 23, 1890 |
| Source | Sporting Life |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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