THE 1900 CARDINALS ... part 1

The 1900 Cardinals had Hall of Famers Cy Young, John McGraw, Jesse Burkett, Wilbert Robinson, and Bobby Wallace playing for them. With all that talent, they ended the season tied for 5th place and management withheld the last months salary for most of the players, largely because of "dissipation". Well, I got the chance to spend a day at the Sporting News research library. I spent that day thumbing through the all the issues of the Sporting News for the year 1900 and the following is a general idea of what transpired that year.

The year 1900 found baseball in turmoil. There was only one major league and that was the National League. Before the 1899 season, the Robison brothers, who owned the Cleveland Spiders, were very unhappy with lack of support by the Cleveland fans, even though the Robisons were fielding very good teams. They proceeded to buy the St. Louis Browns (Cardinals). By moving all his best players, including Cy Young and Jesse Burkett, to St. Louis, and sending all the rest to Cleveland, he created a team of "haves" and a team of "have nots". The have not Spiders went on to set an all time major league record for futility by winning only 20 games while loosing 134 for a .130 winning percentage, a record that stands to this day. Back east, the same thing was going on when the Brooklyn Bridegrooms (Dodgers) merged with the Baltimore Orioles. Manager Ned Hanlon brought such stars as "Wee" Willie Keeler, Hughie Jennings and Joe Kelley to Brooklyn from Baltimore. It's not clear why two of the team's super stars, 3rd baseman John McGraw and catcher Wilbert Robinson were left behind in Baltimore. The most likely reason is they had joint business interests in town including the Diamond Cafe and a bowling alley. The Bridegrooms changed their names to the Superbas and went on to win the pennant. Ironically, some of the Superbas biggest threat was not from the revitalized Perfectos, but from the "have not" Baltimore team. With McGraw at the helm, Baltimore managed to stay in the race right up to the end of the season, though finally ended up in 4th place. As a matter of fact, Baltimore may have taken the flag had it not been for the death of John McGraw's wife. For some weeks, John was so depressed that he couldn't even make it to the ballpark. During that time Baltimore played only .500 ball. Near the end of 1899, the Orioles and the Superbas squared off for a hotly contested pennant. Hanlon's Superbas triumphed, but the hot headed McGraw put up such a protest in one of those games that the umpire forfeited the game to Brooklyn. So vile were McGraw's actions that it severely strained whatever relationship McGraw and Hanlon may have ever had.


This brings us up to January of 1900. The rest is gleaned from those issues of the Sporting News.

The NL was in disarray with Baltimore and Cleveland having been virtually abandoned and Washington and Louisville fielding teams that were constant basement dwellers with very poor attendance. The NL was threatening to remove those four teams and go from a 12 team league to an 8 team league. Elsewhere, the former star of the Chicago Orphans (Cubs) Cap Anson, had garnered support from 7 cities to create the return of the old American Association League that had folded in 1892. Teams were lined up in Chicago, Milwaukee, Louisville, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Baltimore. It was speculated that the Baltimore team was to have McGraw and Robinson as owners. To make matters even worse for the NL, Ban Johnson, the president of the Western League, a minor league, had changed its name to the American League, and was poised to build itself into a Major League.


With rumors of the NL Orioles' demise, there was a lot of speculation as to what would happen to John McGraw. One Baltimore writer states "'Mac' says, and I think the baseball public, not only here, but all over the country will agree with him that he deserves a better birth that playing for $2400 under some manager who knows one twentieth as much as he does about the game".

In February, McGraw makes a preemptive move by leasing the Orioles Union park in preparation of the AA Baltimore team. Hanlon is livid with the action. At one point, Hanlon sends men to Baltimore to occupy left field while McGraw has men occupying right field, both groups hoping to lay claim on the park. A judge finally rules in Hanlon's favor and the siege is ended. In Cleveland, Cy Young says he thinks the American League will eventually have a team there and he would be happy to pitch there. Back in St. Louis, the fans are wondering what the Robison brothers next move is, though most think they are going to sell Cleveland and put all there eggs in the St. Louis basket. Cincinnati's owner tries to talk to McGraw about coming to take the helm for his team, but "Muggsy" is adamant about staying in Baltimore.

By the time March rolls around, the NL finally puts an end to the 4 teams in question. McGraw and Robinson's contract are moved to Brooklyn, but Hanlon wants nothing to do with either one of them and sell their contracts to St. Louis. With this purchase, the Perfectos are picked as being a shoe in for 1st or 2nd place. The only problem is Mac and Robby still have no intention of leaving Baltimore. They're holding out for the fruition of Cap Anson's American Association League.


The St. Louis Perfectos start their spring training down in Hot Springs Arkansas. Back then, players were not expected to keep in shape during the off season nor were they expected to hone their skills by playing other teams during spring. Rain had pretty much closed the local fields, but Perfectos manager, Patsey Tabeau was happy to know that the players would be "boiling out impurities" at the local hot springs spa. Local streetcar drivers were instructed to not let Perfectos in uniform on the streetcars as they were supposed to be running into town and back as part of their fitness training. The Robison brothers are telling the public they are confident that McGraw and Robby are going to eventually come to St. Louis because of the "princely sums" they are offering them. The term "princely sums" is used time and time again referring to John McGraws salary plus McGraw's name appears in at least one headline almost every week throughout the year in the Sporting News. These exemplify the fact that McGraw's salary is unprecedented and his star status is quite established. Cy Young is mentioned often, but only because he pitches several times each week. He is already known to be a very good pitcher, but he is by no means the superstar that McGraw is.

As the season opens in April, the Perfectos are very promising. Burkett and Young are looking good and the Perfectos are being picked for near the top whether McGraw and Robinson sign with the team or not. They come out of the box up to speed and quickly pull into first place. Anson's American Association is starting to fall apart and Muggsy makes a play to get a job with the Philadelphia or New York teams so he can stay close enough to Baltimore to still take care of his business interests there.



By May 12th, the American Association is dead on arrival. Muggsy and Robby are still under the reserve clause of St. Louis, so if they aren't going to play in St. Louis, they are not going to play in the Majors that summer. With their backs against the wall, they finally agree to play in St. Louis, but not before McGraw receives an unprecedented $10,000 salary plus an unheard of stipulation that the reserve clause would be scratched out of their contracts freeing them up to play anywhere at the end of the year. With the acquisition of McGraw and Robby, it is assumed that the Robisons have just bought the Pennant. However, with McGraw comes the first chink in the team's armor. McGraw had already become known for managing baseball. Player-managers were the norm at the time, but Muggsy is not given the job as manager of the perfectos. Patsey Tabeau remains the manager while McGraw became the team captain. This brought about two problems. The first is the dual chain of command plants divisions in the team; the second, by making Muggsy the captain, it splits the team in two. Apparently, the players, led by Jesse Burkett, already had a captain who was a friend of theirs. When McGraw arrives, the Robisons sell the captain to another team, and Burkett and his buddies are totally ticked off at McGraw and Tabeau.