Interesting demotion (1876)

Joseph Borden could not replace Al Spalding in 1876. The Braves (then known as the Red Stockings) got pretty frustrated with him. How much? So much so they demoted him. Moved him to the bullpin? Nope. Moved him to the bench? Nope.

They made him a groundskeeper. They didn't want him to pitch anymore but needed to get something for what they were paying him. OK, this was the first year of the National League and the rules were a little different. OK, they were a lot different.

Two hours

"Two hours is about as long as any American can wait for the close of a baseball game, or anything else for that matter."

---- Al Spalding

Vim and Vigor

"Baseball is the exponent of American Courage, Confidence, Combativeness, American Dash, Discipline, Determination, American Energy, Eagerness, Enthusiasm, American Pluck, Persistency, Performance, American Spirit, Sagacity, Success, American Vim, Vigor, Virility."

-- Al Spalding

 

Could it be right?

"I was not able to understand how it could be right to pay an actor, or a singer, or an instrumentalist for entertaining the public and wrong to pay a ball player for doing exactly the same thing."
-- Al Spalding

Really???

"Next to Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, the name A.G. Spalding is the most famous in American literature." - Boston Herald Editorial (1880)