ever hear of the N.A league?

[pmeares17]

On Saint Patrick's day, March 17, 1871, at Collier's Cafe on Broadway and Thirteenth Street in New York City, representatives from some of the best baseball clubs in the land gathered together to form the very first professional baseball league. They named their new creation; the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players.

Unfortunately the National Association turned out to be an embarrassment to all those who were associated with it. It was a loosely knit organization renowned for it's rowdiness, erratic schedule, open gambling on games, liquor selling in parks, bribery and other forms of chicanery.

The league, which was in fact, run by the players, lasted for only five years. The N.A. was characterized by such things as: teams that would not honor their schedules late in the season when it meant traveling far from home, players that would jump from club to club (sometimes in midseason) and a lack of control of the games by umpires who were usually unpaid. There was a constant turnover of clubs in the five years that the league existed, and one team (Harry Wright's Boston Red Stockings) was so powerful that it totally dominated all opposition, winning the league championship four out of five years.

[Trots]

Seems to me I have heard of the NA. Although, nearly all baseball at the turn of the last century was as outrageous as the National Association. Gambling, drinking and fighting were the norm. (If I'm not mistaken there were also "Beer Leagues". The fans were as rowdy as the players. I think Cincinnati's baseball tradition emerged from there.) It took a long time for baseball to shed that image.

Just yesterday, I watched the video "The Glory of their Times", based on the book by the same title. What stories! "Wahoo" Sam Crawford explaining how they travelled by horse-drawn carraiages from city to city. How they slept in barns, bathed in ponds, picked apples from orchards on the way. Amazing how much has changed.

My favorite story is about a Giants player that John McGraw had tailed by private investigators. Seems everyone knew the player was a drinker and McGraw wanted evidence. When McGraw got the report, he reads it to the team. Basically, the guy hit nearly every bar between his hotel and the park, drinking and eating at every stop. When confronted with the report, the player claimed it was a complete lie. He said he never ate a thing. How any of those early players performed at the levels they did is beyond me.

In a book I'm nowhere near finished reading, "1898...The Birth of The American Century", one newspaper bemoaned the overpaid players of the day. That's in 1898, not 1998. The more things change...........

[Baseball Guru]

Oh by the way I have heard about the NABP...
10 teams were represented at the meeting and 9 competed...
The East was represented by the Boston Red Stockings, New York Mutuals, Philadelphia Athletics, Washington Olympics and the Toy Haymakers...
The West consisted of the Chicago White Stockings, Cleveland Forest City's, Forte Wayne Kekioga and the Rockford Forest City's (how original)
James Kerns is elected president of the NA...
In 1872 the NA decides that a baseball must weigh between 5 and 5 1/2 ounces....
The Red Stockings records were as follows:
1872: 39-8
1873: 43-16
1874: 43-17
1875: 71-8 (Albert Spalding went 57-5)


On December 17 at William Hulberts home in Chicago he and Albert Spalding create the consitution and bylaws for a new league-an organizationof team, not players....
It is to be known as the NAtional League of Professionsal Base Ball Clubs, which will ban gambling, drunkenness and disorderly conduct; and sell tickets for 50 cents....

[Baseball Guru]

Originally posted by Trots


Just yesterday, I watched the video "The Glory of their Times", based on the book by the same title. What stories! "Wahoo" Sam Crawford explaining how they travelled by horse-drawn carraiages from city to city. How they slept in barns, bathed in ponds, picked apples from orchards on the way. Amazing how much has changed.


Trots, where did you get this video?? Were yo able to rent it at a video store??
It sounds interesting...

[imgreat95]

The Spying Game
this is a piece that I wrote for a message board a while back.. i believe it may have been for SP..


Baseball owners often come under fire from fans- for lavishing seven-figure salaries on mediocre players, for raising ticket prices to exorbitant levels, for threatening to relocate franchises.

William Nimick was reviled because he hired detectives. Players and fans alike vilified Nimick in 1887 when he employed operatives to shadow players suspected of drinking.

During a pregame meeting on June 21, Manager Horace Phillips warned players "who have been indulging in lager and whiskey a little too freely lately," according to the Pittsburgh Post. When Phillips' admonition went unheewded, Nimick took the extraordinary step of hiring detectives to trail his own employees.

In media reports, Nimick painted a picture of players who "led a reckless life" and were guilty of "midnight carousing." The issue came to a head July 5 when outfielders Fred Carroll and Tom Brown and pitcher Ed Morris were caught drinking in Philadelphia and fined $50 apiece.

The Post called for the immediate release of the trio. An account of the incident concluded with the following pronouncement: "It will certainly be more credible to lose wqith a team of gentlemen than with a number of debauchees."

Brown, who resigned his captaincy over the flap, viewed management's actions as "unjust and tyrannical." The pubic sided with the players. Fans sympathized with the "boozers" as the Post referred to them, and blasted the bclub's covert activities as reprehensible.

Before long, Nimick removed his spies from the payroll.

[Trots]

I can't remember exactly how I acquired it. Either it was a gift or I coughed up the money. It's an hour long and details baseball from the late 1800's until Ruth's emergence. It's interwoven with clips and photos of American history as well. Presidents McKinley, Taft, Roosevelt (both TR in office and FDR as college baseball manager) and Wilson are included. Nice individual segments on players like Mathewson, Cobb, Wagner, etc...

I would think it would still be available to buy, but you'll probably have to look around a bit. I don't even own the book, although I've seen it numerous times.

[imgreat95]

hey james... if you go here...

http://www.half.com/search/search.jsp?product=videos&keyword=the+glory+of+their+times

you can select a place where you can be notified as to if the video become available from someone...


and if you go here:

http://www.half.com/cat/buy/prod.cgi?cpid=2766411&domain_id=1856&meta_id=1

you can get a hardcover copy of the book for $4.00

[Baseball Guru]

Very good...Thanks Shawn for those links...

[Baseball Guru]

Bring this back top for all the new members to see....