Clipping:Washington Club finances, ownership
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| Date | Wednesday, October 31, 1888 |
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| Text | [reporting on a meeting of the Washington Club directors 10/25] Secretary Burket submitted a statement of the club's financial afairs, showing that the expenses during the past season exceeded the receipts by something like $5,000. President Hewitt stated that he was anxious to give Washington a first-class team for next season, and it would be necessary to expend about $20,000 to carry out the idea. He said he was willing to put up half that amount, or perhaps all of it, provided he could get control of the entire stock. After a lengthy discussion all of the present stockholders were induced to give Mr. Hewitt an otpion on their holdings, which amounts toa bout $4,500. It is probable that theyw ill retire from the club, leaving MR. Hewitt sole proprietor of the franchise and all that goes with it. The Sporting Life October 31, 1888 NL exhibitions on Sunday [editorial matter] The Chicago base ball team and the All-American base ball team, composed of players picked from various League teams, both under the personal direction of Mr. Spalding, played regular games of base ball for gate receipts at St. Paul last Sunday, and the New York team, we are informed, is announced—presumably with the consent of President Day, who is with the team—to play an exhibition game in St. Louis on Sunday, Oct. 28, also for gate money. Now, Sunday games are common enough, but what makes the above cases worthy of special comment is that regular National League teams are participating therein. This League draws the line very rigidly at Sunday championship games, and frowns down even exhibition games on the Sabbath. Presidents Spalding and Day have been two of the greatest stickler for strict observance of the prohibition of such desecrating games, yet here we find all at once a radical departure from long-established rule and usage, and that in a quarter least expected. The question of distinction between championship and exhibition games does not enter here, as both styles of games are played for gate receipts, and if it is wtong to play one kind of game on Sunday, it is equally wicked to play the other. That such clubs as Chicago and New York should for financial considerations play any ball at all on the Lord's Day must certainly weaken to some extent the League's position on the Sunday playing question, and give point to the assertions very frequently made by Association writers that the League's professed abhorrence and position prohibition of Sunday games is not due at all to principle, but is merely a matter of business policy. The Sporting Life October 31, 1888 |
| Source | Sporting Life |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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