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Show 1 Baseball of the Bygone Days Related by James Wood, Captain and Manager of the Famous Chicago White Stockings of 1870-71, to Frank G. Menke. VL THE formation of the National league in 1876 was the direct outgrowth of crookedness which had existed in baseball some years previously and which I was fortunate for-tunate enough "to uncover during the sensational Louisville-Chicago series in the summer of lS7o. tome historians have it that Hall, Cravcr and Devlin, the Louisville players, play-ers, were expelled from baseball in J-S77, but that is an error. They were barred from baseball two years earlier, due to the fact that I intercepted their telegrams, tele-grams, addressed to some of mv Chicago players, in which they outlined how my team was to throw the ensuing series to the admittedly inferior Louisville club for the benefit of tho gamblers. 1 u t he early days of baseball, especially espe-cially during that period from to 1 .s7o, baseball was the real gambling s; ort in A merit1 a. II imdreds of thousands thou-sands of dollar:? ofte i was bet on the j outcome of big series. Gamblers circulated circu-lated wi t bout restraint through the stands, offering bets. They would lay odds on any angle of the game; bet on the straight outcome, on the number of hits, the number of runs in each inning and the number of errors, etc. Not only was there heavy plunging on the ga rres in t he parks, but thou--ands of dollars was wagered in tiie pool rooms in every city on tho result ot the different games. A nil because of the tendency of the public to back their diamond favorites to the limit, the gamblers planned a huge clean-up in ilia t Louisvilie-l iiica-go iiica-go serie-, expecting the aid of the three Louis i'le players. Gniver, the Lonicvillo rntcher and captain, was selected as the real go-h. go-h. 'tween. Hp previously played on mv r;hicag() b't 1 suspected him of diariy tacrics and released him. LouN-vi'K' LouN-vi'K' later signed him. ('raver told the gamblers that he needed the assistance of ono or two of the other Louisville players to swing the big coup, and, with their sanction, enlisteil the services of Hall, the center fielder, and Devlin, the first baseman of the Louisville club. Shortly before Louisville came to Chicago Chi-cago to play that series, telegrams arrived ar-rived for some of my players. They were not at the clubhouse at the time, and I thought probably the messages might contain some important news. So I opened them, and in the reading of those messages tiiere was unfolded" before be-fore my eyes the monstrous plot to throw the ensuing; Louisville-Chicago games to Louisville for the benefit of the gamblers. There was nothing in those messages which led me to believe that my own boys were in the plot up to that time. The messages were more in the. form of a proposal than anything else. But the way the pro-position was worded meant that they would enter the (dot and would throw the game to the Louisville Louis-ville club. Those messages promised my boys that is, those who were to be ring leaders in bringing about our defeat a fabulous sum of money. And why sbouldn 't they have been given a big amount had thev entered into the compact? com-pact? The gamblers behind the scheme had planned, to bet everv dollar they could get on the Loui-ville team. The oil ds were big some t hing like to 1 that Ghicago would win the series. It meant close to $l,ononini fnr that outfit out-fit if it could swing the game to Louisville. Louis-ville. Gamblers Lose Out. Well, T finked thoe messages in my pocket and never said a word to nnv uf the players. When the Lou isville club arrived I kept my p la vers under cover. I didn't want that 1 lal!-De vlin-Craver vlin-Craver crowd to meet my boys and to discover that the messages never had been delivered. It was my aim to give the gamblers , .what they had coming to them to trap ! them with the very same trap they hail jlaid for others. And that .is just what I happened. Assuming that the game was fixed, the gamblers went ahead and bet every dollar they could muster on Louisville to win and Louisville was beaten! Not being absolutely sure that my players hadn't been tampered with in person, 1 called them fogetber before the game began. I told them that there was a scheme afoot to have Chicago throw the game and the series to Louisville. Louis-ville. And then I told my boys that the first imperfect play on" the part of anyone of them would mean not only his removal from the game, but his expulsion ex-pulsion from baseball. And tp this day regard the playing of my Chicago club that afternoon as the most perfect have ever seen any club perform. Those boys played beyond be-yond themselves; not one of them dared to make an error of hand or head, fearing fear-ing ho would lie tain ted immediately with tho suspicion of being a crook. We won easil x and the terrific financial fi-nancial loss which the gamblers suffered that day cured many of them forever of the plunging fever. I m medial ely a ft er our series was over 1 went to William II. TTulbprt, president pres-ident of our club, and laid all the facts before him. ' ' Tli is is the climax, " said Hnlbert. " F.aseb;ill is a sport and should bo kept a dean sport. Gambling should not enter en-ter into it. Unless we take some drastic dras-tic steps now, the game will be wrecked on the rocks of crooked ti ess. " II ulbert. one of the finest, sportsmen the game oyer has produced, then went to the other club owners, mane a formal complaint against ('raver. Devlin and ! Hall and brought about their expulsion. The story of tho frame-up was given ! wide publicity at the time and it served i as a lesson to all other ball players. National League Formed. Cntil that, time baseball had been controlled con-trolled by an organization known as the National Association of La se ball Play- j " Tt is not powerful enou glr and its scope is too limited, ;j said Hulbert. "A I new ruling budy is needed one with ! absolute authority, one which can stamp ! out dishonesty and gamljliii" in base- hall.-" Mo Ilulbcrt, working uncea-ingly dur- ing the winter of 1875 and the spring of 1 S7ij, brought about the formal ion of the National league the same National league which has lived and prospered during forty -two years of peace and warfare. Ilulbert, in organizing the new circuit, cir-cuit, made it a condition that ''no club can be a member of the National league unless it has a population of 7o,0il0 or more. ' ' The original National league circuit follows: Chicago, 8t. Louis, Cincinnati Cin-cinnati ami Louisville, in the west; Boston, Bos-ton, Hartford, New York (Mutual club) -and the Philadelphia Athletics, in the east. . Hulbert was the unanimous selection for the presidency of the league. All he needed to do was to indicate his willingness willing-ness to hold the office. But Hulbert didn't want it to appear that he sought the honor as a reward for what he had done. "I would suggest that in electing our first president we dismiss the straight voting pian," he said. ''Let us write on separate slips of paper the names of each club president. Then drop them in a hat. 'Iho first name withdrawn shall be our president. ' ' The suggestion was accepted ; the name of Morgan 0. Bulkeley of Hartford, Hart-ford, Conn., was extracted and to him was accorded the honor of being the first chief executive of the National league. My own baseball career ended with the close of the season of 1S75. During IS 74 I had lost a limb, due to blood poisoning, following a knife jab, ending my playing days. Tn 1S75 I consented to" manage the White Stockings, the team which I originally organized in IS(i9-70. but T found during thaflS7o! season that the managerial end of the ! game was a bit too strenuous for a man j in my condition and T hung up my uni- i form when the last game was played j never to don it again. |