"What were you doing?"
"I was thinking."
"Have you decided what you're going to do?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied without hesitation; "I've decided not to accept."
"What?" I ejaculated. "You don't want the $10,000?"
"Aw, I want the ten thousand bad enough; but I've thought the matter all over, and I can't go back on the boys. And," he added, "neither would you."
Involuntarily I reached out my hand in congratulation of the great ball player on his loyalty. We talked for a little while, and then he borrowed $500 of me. I think it was little enough to pay for the anguish of that hour and a half, when he was deciding to give up thousands of dollars on the altar of sentiment in behalf of the Brotherhood.
From 1876 to 1899 the National League of Base Ball Clubs occupied the unchallenged position as the great major organization, to which all minor leagues looked for advice and protection. But in 1899, owing to financial conditions growing out of the Spanish-American War, the game was not profitable, and the League managers, mistaking the true cause of the trouble, attributed it to the carrying of so many clubs, and decided to return to the eight-club system, dropping Baltimore, Cleveland, Louisville and Washington from the League, though holding League franchises in those cities.
This was just exactly what had been hoped for by a certain bright young enthusiast who was at that time
