AMERICAN GLADIATOR: The Life And Times Of ... - The Book Locker

AMERICAN GLADIATOR
Many contend that Louisville and New York City share the honor. That is, they are co-founders, that opinion
based on the solid, historical precept that the National League founding could not have been done without both of
them. This is absolutely true, considering the logistics of the situation: four “western” and four “eastern” teams.
However, there is a third belief about the National League’s founding, which is perhaps the most radical of
all. That is the contention that Louisville was the outright founder of the National League.
A notable advocate of that viewpoint is the renowned baseball writer and historian, Harold Seymour, who
boldly stated in his classic work, Baseball: The Early Years: “At Louisville, Hulbert and (St. Louis owner Charles)
Fowle were appointed a committee with full power to act for the Western clubs and given the job of going east to
negotiate with the Eastern teams they wanted to include. Louisville, therefore, was the real birthplace of the
National league, not New York City.”
This is not an isolated quote. Part of a baseball item from the Sunday, March 27, 1892 issue of the Louisville
Courier-Journal says: “It is not well known that the first meeting of the National League was held in this city, at
the Louisville Hotel.” (The correct site is discussed later in this chapter.)
Today, the various supporters are still divided into three distinct camps, two of which have credibility. Nononsense
hard-liners like Seymour, acknowledged by many as the game’s greatest scholar and the namesake of
one of this country’s finest baseball research awards, say that Louisville founded the National League.
Compromise artists say that Louisville, along with New York, co-founded the National League, the most
reasonable assessment when all the factors are weighed in.
The third group, which adheres to the line that New York City founded the National League, is occupied
solely by criminal historical plunderers and dysfunctional revisionists.
******
Louisville began its major-league play by losing its opener at home on Tuesday, April 25, 1876 before some
6,000 fans to the Chicago White Stockings, the National League’s inaugural flagwinner.
The Chicago club was a powerhouse that included the league’s champion pitcher in Albert Spalding; the
loop’s champion batter in Ross Barnes; and future Hall-of-Fame first-sacker Cap Anson, the first man to collect
3,000 hits. After a brief hiatus, a revised Chicago club came back in the 1880s and became the game’s first
dynasty. In the space of seven years, they churned out five flags behind the likes of Anson, George Gore, Billy
Sunday, and eventual Hall-of-Famer King Kelly. The club also featured a first-flight infield. Nicknamed “The
Stone Wall” by foes who viewed it as virtually hit-proof, its second-sacker was Louisville native Fred Pfeffer.
The opening-day score was 4-0, and was the first shutout in National League and thus, major-league history.
The pitcher of record for the Louisville Grays was the brilliant Jimmy Devlin, a rising gold-and-silver-laden star
who destroyed himself the following season.
The inaugural 1876 campaign ended the way it had begun—with a loss, Louisville dropping an 11-2 decision
on Thursday, October 5, 1876 at home to the Hartford Dark Blues behind James Clinton.
Favored to win the 1877 National League pennant, the Louisville franchise suffered a late-season tailspin,
that initially attributed to poor hitting and star pitcher Jimmy Devlin’s bout with a case of the boils.
Instead, they ran a disappointing second to the Boston Red Caps. After the season, the reason became clear: a
mammoth game-fixing scandal that ultimately led to Louisville’s ignominious departure from the National League
and the lifetime expulsion of five Louisville players: utility infielder Al Nichols, outfielder George Bechtel,
shortstop Bill Craver, outfielder George Hall and pitcher Jimmy Devlin. It was a particularly cruel blow to a city
who was both a charter member and co-founder of the league.
The scandal’s damage also reached quarters far beyond the team. One prime example was Walter N.
Haldeman, one of the city’s most prominent citizens. Publisher of the renowned Louisville Courier-Journal and
President of the National League Louisville Baseball Club, he had been encouraged by his son, John Avery
Haldeman, to give more space in the newspaper to baseball.
This was far from partisanship. Buoyed by the additions of such players as Hall, first-baseman Juice Latham,
center fielder Bill Crowley and right fielder Orator Shaffer, the 1877 Louisville Grays sported a new look that
made it a major contender for the flag in the eyes of many.
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