In response to my expressions of enthusiasm over this new League Constitution and what it meant for the future of professional Base Ball, I recall the following characteristic remark of Mr. Hulbert:
"Why, Spalding, the wit of man cannot devise a plan or frame a form of government that will control the game of Base Ball for over five years."
And yet the principles engrafted in that Constitution have controlled the game for thirty-five years!
The next move of this active man, who had just broken into the ranks of Base Ball magnates, was to secure a secret meeting, at Louisville, with managers from Cincinnati, St. Louis and Louisville Clubs. I was present at that meeting, and Mr. Hulbert laid before the company the program we had mapped out. He went over the current history of the game, showed conditions just as they were, declared that gambling in every form must be eradicated at once and forever, and closed with the announcement that it was proposed to organize a National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, under rules which should protect players and management and reduce the game to a business system such as had never heretofore obtained. There were present at this meeting Messrs. Charles A. Fowle, John J. Joyce, W. N. Haldeman, Thos. Shirley, Chas. E. Chase, Wm. A. Hulbert and A. G. Spalding. All the managers in attendance agreed to every proposition presented, and powers of attorney from Cincinnati, St. Louis, Louisville and Chicago were made out to Mr. Hulbert and Mr. Fowle, and they were clothed with full powers.
