Chronology:Baltimore
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1866c.19 Burlesque Baseball Performances in Baltimore, MD
Advertisement for the last performance of a series of a burlesque baseball games by a minstrel group from California at the Holiday Street Theater in Baltimore, MD.
Sources:
Baltimore American, July 13, 1866
Circa
1866
1872.12 NA Clubs Struggle to Meet Payroll
Tags:
Game:
Age of Players:
Sources:
Baltimore American September 7, 1872.
Comment:
Richard Hershberger, "150 Years Ago Today," 9/8/2022:
"The officers of the Baltimore Club are working to raise funds to carry the club over the coming winter. This speaks volumes. The Baltimores were a good team. At this point their record is 29-13-1, putting them in second place behind Boston. The quality of the product on the field is not their problem. Yet they aren't breaking even, and have to scramble to raise funds to stay afloat.
I have had two great realizations about the early business of baseball. It dawned on me years ago that the later 1870s makes sense only in light of the Panic of 1873 and the depression that followed. But that is in the future. My more recent realization is that even apart from the general economy, they did not yet have a viable business model. Competition for players inevitably drove salaries up beyond the break-even point. The scramble to raise funds we see here is the rule, not the exception. This is why the churn rate was so high. Investors got tired of being tapped for more cash. Two or three years was about the limit for most clubs.
The creation of "organized baseball" was all about controlling costs, by which I mostly mean player salaries. This will take a while for them to figure out. The great breakthrough will be the reserve system, but that won't come until the 1879/1880 offseason."
See also Steve Colbert comment, in Supplemental Text (Below).
Year
1872