Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime

Page 114

#7- Barnstorming

In the context of baseball, barnstorming was the name given

to professional baseball players off season attempts to make

some more money by playing baseball. Unlike today, only a few

made huge salaries during the regular season. Salaries were

sufficiently lackluster that many players, some with impressive

performances, quit the “big leagues” and went back home to play

in the local leagues. Some cited a wish to not be away from home

for so long as well as an ability to make more money through

local endorsements.

Before television this barnstorming practice was the only

way for most people living outside of the eastern based city

teams’ area to see the stars they read of in their newspapers.

Rather than the economics, the reason it is mentioned here is

that many of the small town teams were competitive with “Babe

Ruth’s Travelling All-Stars.” It should be noted that “Babe

Ruth’s Travelling All-Stars,” “Pepper Martin’s Aces,” and other

barnstorming teams were not truly all-star teams. Most often

they had one marquee name and filled out the roster with

everyday pro players.

At the same time other teams were formed with the integral

purpose of barnstorming; much like “The King and his Court”

softball team of today. The Israelite House of David played

competitive baseball and were barnstorming by the middle 1910’s.

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They toured rural America through the 1950s, playing amateur

and semi-pro teams in exhibition games. Perhaps anticipating the

1960’s they wore long hair and beards. The money helped sustain

their Michigan colony.

The salaries, if paid at all in the financially shaky Negro

Leagues were low. So barnstorming tours were always scheduled

between league games to provide more money; often the owners’

taking the best cut. This took a few different forms, and has

served to provide debates about “official” Negro League

statistics. Teams played non-league games against other clubs in

their Leagues, and also played professional teams, semipro

teams, other barnstorming teams, local town teams, industrial

league teams, and pretty much anyone else. At the height, games

were played between the likes of “Satchel Paige’s All-Star Team”

and “Bob Feller’s Major League All-Star Team.” These games were

often sold out.

The “off season” was not so “off” in prior times as players

from different leagues also played winter ball where the climate

allowed; mostly out of the continental US. It’s readily apparent

that though the salaries were meager by today’s standards; a lot

of baseball was being paid for without the benefit of a TV

contract.

In those days the fact that interest in baseball was so

rampant that it resulted in locally based teams able to compete

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with a major league one demonstrates a love for the game not

existent today. If barnstorming was still going on it would be

an embarrassment and no fans other than the player’s families

and those in need of a good laugh would attend the farce. There

used to be a lot more competitive players and consequently a lot

of fans interested in seeing their local best go against the

guys in the headlines.

The history of MLB barnstorming is confusing. People

commonly believe that Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis

banned it in his famous altercation with Babe Ruth. He did not.

He merely chose to enforce a clause which was written into every

players’ contract; which had previously been ignored or resulted

in a slap on the wrist; much like a $100 fine of today. What

follows is the radically condensed version of white MLB

barnstorming and its legal ramifications.

The first formal barnstorming tour likely took place in

1860 when the Brooklyn Excelsiors played games around the state

of New York. By the 1880’s, postseason barnstorming became the

norm.

When the first World Series was played in 1903, players

found it lucrative to “re-play” the fall classic during the off

season. Suddenly, without any written executive level action in

1910, this prohibiting clause appeared for the first time in

every player contract.

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“The party of the second part (the player) will not be

permitted at any time, either during the playing season or

before the commencement or after the close thereof, to

participate in any exhibition baseball games, indoor baseball,

basketball, or football, except that the consent of the party of

the first part (the club) has first been secured in writing.”

Ban Johnson, the American League president at the time, was

quoted as saying, “It doesn’t look good for a professional

baseball player to be beaten by an amateur or a semi-

professional. It discredits the league players, and if they are

defeated causes remarks to be made about their inability to beat

a town nine. Now an owner is not going to stop the player from

earning a little extra money in a legitimate way after the

season is over, but the owner has a right to protect the good

name of his club. Barnstorming doesn’t help baseball. Now, when

the new clause is thoroughly understood, it will be a benefit to

the game and the players as well.”

Finally, in 1916, the “Baseball Players’ Fraternity”

objected, saying, “The fraternity cannot recognize the right of

organized baseball to fine players for taking part in games

after the season.” Simultaneously not much was happening.

Still somewhat fresh off his “cleaning up” of the Black Sox

Scandal of 1919, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis forbade

Babe Ruth from barnstorming in 1921, after the Yankees had lost

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the World Series. The two men clashed. Ruth barnstormed and

Landis suspended him until May 20, 1922; essentially the first

month of the season. It is said that Ruth did get verbal

permission from Yankee management, but was told to talk to

Landis. Ruth took his time.

Despite all of that off season barnstorming went on, Ruth

included. One of the more interesting tours was in 1946, just

before Jackie Robinson’s arrival in Brooklyn, when Bob Feller’s

All-Stars played against Satchell Paige’s All-Stars. The results

of the series, like so much of the history of the Negro Leagues

is shrouded in mystery; with a bit of wiggle room. Bob Feller

said; “I always tell Buck O’Neil that we broke even.”

The tours still sporadically go on today. The old style is

gone, and they now take the form of things like exhibitions in

Japan. It’s distinctly possible that today’s pros just don’t

need the money or the potential hassle.