Clipping:Washington said to have bought out the Lucas franchise
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| Date | Wednesday, August 18, 1886 |
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| Text | ...the League may have some difficulty in filling the vacancy which is threatened, and such a vacancy is more than probable at the end of the season, as there will be no Lucas club in the field next year. The St. Louis League Club, or a semblance of it, will undoubtedly play out the season, as in all the history of the League—particularly in the instances of the Buffalos and the Providences—the League has not allowed a vacancy to occur during the season. Indeed the franchise has been practically sold for a goodly sum to the Washington Club, which wants the players only. It has no use for the franchise, but has been informed by the league that a success to the Lucas Club must be found to finish the season ere any deal or transfer will be ratified. … So the Washington Club, which now practically controls the franchise, must either provide a successor or assume the responsibilities of the Lucas club and run it through the balance of the season, just as Detroit did with the Buffalo Club last fall. To do this, however, will entail a greater burden upon the Washington club than it is willing or indeed can afford to carry, and so the club is in somewhat of a fix, and any further deal may be suspended until the season ends. … [An interview of Scanlon follows in which he claims that he had arranged a deal whereby Von der Ahe would jump to the League, but Von der Ahe backed out.] The Sporting Life August 18, 1886 [from the St. Louis correspondent] In a conversation with President Von der Ahe at Sportsmans' Park office yesterday morning, he told me that he had received several telegrams from Washington from a party that was no doubt acting for President Young, in which overtures had been made to him to join the League. The telegrams were said to be signed by Mike Scanlon, of the Washington Club. When asked whether he intended to join the League or not, President Von der Ahe replied most emphatically: “No; no indeed. Do you think I want to cut my own throat? These people have said to me that if my club was the only club in St. Louis I would have no trouble in getting a good attendance at fifty cents a head, and that my club would do splendidly without Sunday tames. This talk is all good enough, it's cheap; but when it comes to running a ball club it takes money, and lots of it, too. The fifty-cent admission has been tried here, and it has been fully shown that it will not work; and as for running a club here without Sunday games, the idea is simply a foolish one. …” The Sporting Life August 18, 1886 Washington virtually buys out the St. Louis Club and all its players, etc., for $17,500 and agrees to fill out the season with a dummy team at St. Louis as the Detroit Club filled out last season at Buffalo after securing the “big four.” The Sporting Life August 25, 1886 |
| Source | Sporting Life |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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