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Show II NEW YORK, Dec. 21 The custom of buying bull players dates back 4o j the early '80s. Although the deals I and prices paid' were not as large a3 i at the present time, it may interest tj Home of the present-day fans to re- call some of the famous deals of early 1 davs as the olditime records show. !j Thev created much interest then and' 13 the press of that decade had much to say pro and con. The sale custom followed fol-lowed the scandal of 1S70, and rules were made that players should sign i contracts and could not jump from f team to team. ( Chicago started something in 1S7G, j the opening year of the National i League, and stole Al Spalding, pit.) or. Jarvcs White, catcher; Ross Barnes. ! second baseman, and Cal McVey, first I baseman from the champion Boston i team of 1S75. They were known as the "stolen four." This deal created jj such a row in baseball that teams had b to buy players afterward. , The Detroit club paid a large sum for the franchise and players of the Buffalo team at the end of the season of 1SS5. The "big four" Dan Brou-thers, Brou-thers, Hardy Richardson, Jim White and W. Rowe were secured. The t Tigers, however, had to wait until 1S87 1 to win their first National League pennant. I The Boston club wanted to land the I National League pennant in 1S87 and startled the baseball world by pay-i pay-i ing 10,000 to Chicago for Catcher Mike Kelly, who helped the White Stockings Ao win in 1SS5 and 1880. This deal created as much of a sensation sen-sation at that time as some of the present-day sales and trades. Boston did not land the pennant with King Kellv. the 10,000 beauty, as he was called by the press. Boston wanted the pennant badly, and as the club had plenty of money in 18S3. 510.000 was paid of Pitcher Clarkson. of Chicago. Chi-cago. Here was another big sensation. sensa-tion. Kelly and Clarkson worked hard that season, but Boston got no higher than fourth place. In 1883 the Detroit club paid Fred Dunlap a bonus of $2,000 for signing, v i tli Pittsburg. Dunlap had played first base for the champion Tigers inj 13S7. Pittsburg paid him $5,00, and with 2,000 bonus he was a top price H r; 137 was the purchase of the St. W Loui Maroons for ?12,000 ,bythe In-I In-I o.juapolis team, which joined the Nail Na-il tlonal League that season. Manager Chris Von dcr Ahe, of the jj St. Louis Browns, sold five players of the chamoion teams of 1S85. 18S6 and fl 18S7 Tor ?22,000 at the colso of the season of 1SR7. Pitchers Foutz and B Caruthers with Catcher Bushong went j to Brooklyn in the American Assacia-lj! Assacia-lj! tion. Bill Gleason, shortstop, and til Curt Welch, fielder, .were aold to the f Athletics. This was the biggest sale jj on record at this stage. m In 1S9G Manager Arthur Irwin, of El I the Giants, gave 1,000 and Harry Da-J Da-J vis to the Pittsburg team for Beck-l Beck-l lay. Later he got 2,00 and Scrappy 1 Bill Joyce, of the Washingtons. for' I Pitcher Flynn and Catcher Duke Far-ItH Far-ItH rell. Pitcher Meekin, of the Giants, j was bought for $1,000 in 1S99 by the m Boston team. ij In 1S99 Charles Ebbets, president of I the Brooklyn team, paid '10,000, a JU large sum, for the Baltimore Orioles ffl and consolidated the two teams. W. J Robinson and John Muggsy McGraw u j would not play with Brooklyn, and II j their release was sold to St Louis K) for 15,000. jj In 1892 the National League and Bj American Association consolidated and 11 1 until 1900 ran a twelve-club league, yjl In 1900 the National league went back RU to eight teams and paid 10,000 for Wjj the Louisville players, most of them ml going to Pittsburg. Twenty-five thou-, li sand dollars was paid for the Wash- H Ington team and 40,000 for the Balti-1 H more Orioles. The Cleveland fran-! rhisc and players cost 20,000. |