Clipping:Spering wants to reclaim the Athletic name
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| Date | Monday, September 24, 1883 |
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| Text | A number of individuals in Philadelphia who claim to have the original charter of the Athletic Club, granted in 1876, are indulging in a great deal of talk about organizing a club and taking the name from the present Athletic Club. When the rumor was first started it was regarded as a hoax, but later developments indicate that there are people in Philadelphia insane enough to contemplate such a step. Chas. Spering, a dealer in calico, at one time president of the old Athletic Club, and one of its heaviest stockholders, is said to be the most prominent in the movement. He is reporting as saying to a Record reporter: “We have not yet decided just what course to take, but certain it is that we alone have legal right to the name “Athletic.” We were incorporated in 1876 and still have the charter. The club was somewhat in debt when it disbanded, but the amount of the indebtedness was small, and would have no weight whatever either one way or the other should we decided to take the field again. Six hundred dollars would square us up, even if we were forced to pay everything, and the chances are that a part of the debts are outlawed. We shall do nothing until after the championship season. I don't think we shall claim damages of the present Athletic Club for using our name, although we could if we were so inclined.” It is possible that these people may have a legal right to the title, although that would perhaps have to be determined in court. But what of that? Suppose they do take the title and organize a club, do they think they will be admitted into the American Association? Do they think their club will receive popular support? The present Athletic Club under its present management is the favorite in this city, and any attempt to injure it in the manner proposed will only result in disaster to the schemers engaged in the plot. The old Athletic Club went out of existence under a cloud, leaving numerous debts unsettled. Should the club be reorganized it would find itself swamped at the start with a suit about the title and also with numerous claims on its treasury by reason of outstanding judgments. The club owed Al. Reach considerable over $1,000, and salary to a number of its players, besides other debts to private parties, the whole aggregating a large sum, and satisfaction for these would at once be demanded. The Athletic managers need give themselves no unnecessary trouble over the scheme. They hold the fort, and “possession is nine-tenths of the law.” In base ball circles, everywhere the scheme is denounced the mean contemptible work of a lot of speculators, who think that the present management is making too much money, and that because they were at one time connected with the club (to its discredit) they ought to have a finger in the pie. When base ball in Philadelphia declined, through the general rottenness into which the game had sunk, and from which these same people, who were that at the head of affairs, had not the ability or the will to rescue it, they resolutely shut their pockets and let the club die, not even paying the just debts incurred. Now, after new men had come to the front, and, by hard work, purified the game and elevated it to a plane where it could secure enthusiastic popular support, these old “Monsieur Tonsons” turn up again, eager for a share in the spoils. The scheme is entirely too thin. The people who support base ball will easily see through what looks like pure blackmail, and the club, even should it get so far as to start, will be a miserable failure under these people, just a it was when they had control before. The American public like to see fair play and will not support those who try to rob others of the fruit of honest work and liberal enterprise. |
| Source | Sporting Life |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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