Page:America's National Game (1911).djvu/333

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AMERICA'S NATIONAL GAME
303

Mr. Freedman's move to syndicate Base Ball. But, prior to this time, Freedman's personal course had become so obnoxious to most of those connected with the game that nobody outside his own following could endure his eccentricities of speech or action. He would apply to other members of the League, in ordinary conversation, terms so coarse and offensive as to be unprintable. Taking umbrage at some personal newspaper criticism, he would openly declare his intention of ruining the game. My brother, Mr. J. Walter Spalding, who was a Director of the New York Club (owned by Freedman), was compelled to resign in order to retain his self-respect. Even those who were associated with Freedman in the enterprise which called me into the struggle complained to me of his ungentlemanly bearing whenever he met with opposition from any source, while those opposed to him and to his methods pleaded with me to re-enter the field, urging that my presence was needed to force this undesirable magnate from the ranks.

The following, from the columns of a New York paper at about this time, will serve to show the peculiar personal quality of the man:

"After remaining away from the Polo Grounds since the Fourth of July, when he had a row with ex-Umpire Heydler, Andrew Freedman, President of the New York Base Ball Club, visited the field on July 2Sth, with the result that there was another muss which disgusted 3,000 spectators. This time it was not the umpire against whom Freedman made his attack, but one of the Baltimore players, 'Ducky' Holmes, who was a member of the New York team last year. The score was 1 to 1 when the first half of the fourth inning began and the teams were playing sharp ball. With one out and McGann on first, Holmes went to the bat and struck out. He was in the act of walking back to the bench when a man in the grandstand cried out: 'Holmes, you're a lobster. That's what you left