Tag Archive | "Rajah"

The Troubled Life Of Rogers Hornsby – Part 5

Posted on 16 January 2012. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Rogers Hornsby of the St. Louis Cardinals seemed to have a knack for finding trouble.
In part five of this five part historical series, Andrew Martin takes a look at some of the trouble Hornsby ran into over the course of his life. You can read more of Andrew’s baseball history on his website.
With his .358 career batting average, Rogers Hornsby rates as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. While the “Rajah” dominated on the field, his life was full of struggles and controversy. In particular, he was a regular in the legal system, constantly popping up in investigations and law suits. As the years have passed, much of his troubles have been forgotten. However, it is a fascinating study to explore the near constant nature of his connection with trouble.
Case 14: As Hornsby’s playing career wound down, he continued to be surrounded by controversy and negativity. In 1934 his wife Jeannette petitioned the court for a divorce, claiming that on many occasions Rogers had “laid violent hands on” her and “threatened to do her bodily harm.” She claimed that he had an unpredictable temper and was very domineering, “thereby making life impossible and unendurable to this defendant.” She also alleged that he “often cast reflecting remarks upon her moral character” and accused her of being with other men.
Despite such a strongly worded petition, later that year Jeannette Hornsby withdrew her request for a divorce, telling the press that her husband was welcome to return home “if he will promise to behave.” She revealed that Rogers had aggressively attempted to win her back by calling her nightly, and trying to gain forgiveness. The divorce suit was dismissed on December 8th, and her lawyer announced a complete reconciliation had been reached.
While the couple avoided divorce in 1934, their marriage was not destined to last. In 1953, Jeannette filed again for divorce, and accused her estranged husband of spending $25,000 that she had inherited, while he was out of work. It came out that they had not lived together as a couple for years leading up to the suit, but she finally decided to make their split official once she discovered her money was gone.
Jeannette testified at a hearing that she sought $600 a month in support, but the judge felt that was an excessive number. Hornsby was ordered to pay $400 a month in alimony and $200 in legal fees. This decision helped conclude the case, and a divorce was granted to the couple. No mention was made of Jeannette’s missing inheritance.
Case 15: Perhaps the most salacious incident that Hornsby was involved in, regarded the death ofBernadette Ann Harris. The 55 year-old divorcee fell to her death from her third floor apartment in a North Side hotel in Chicago in 1953. A coroner’s inquest eventually ruled the death a suicide, and that the victim was “temporarily insane due to despondency.” Although he played no part in her death, Hornsby was dragged through the press during the investigation because of his unusual connection to the victim.
Hornsby was notified of Harris’ death after police found a card in her purse that read, “In case of accident notify Roger Hornsby.” They also found a plaque in her room reading, “Roger Hornsby, the best player of yesterday.” He came to be part of the investigation when Harris’ will named him her sole beneficiary. Her will was found by an Illinois Attorney General’s office representative in a North Side bank deposit box, which also contained $25,000 in cash, mostly in $100 and $50 bills.
Hornsby told investigators, and later, reporters, that Harris had been his good friend and secretary since 1945, and that she handled most of his financial affairs. That was partially true, but she was also his romantic companion, increasing the level of scandal over her death.
Hornsby testified in front of coroner Walter E. McCarron. When Hornsby was asked if Harris had possibly died because of violence, he responded, “Oh no. She was depressed.” Hornsby testified that Harris had been going to doctors and believed she was losing her sight, voice, and hearing. “I think she took her own life.” He further stated that “She feared she would be put in an institution. I told her that as far as I was concerned, that would never happen.” It became evident that Harris was disturbed and Hornsby in his own way had done what he could to take care of her despite her obvious issues.
The night of her death, Harris dined with Hornsby and two unidentified men, before she accompanied Hornsby to a train station where he departed for St. Louis. Hornsby said that Harris seemed more depressed than usual that night, telling him, “I won’t be able to see you again. I am going blind.” It proved to be the last time he saw his companion alive. It was a sad tale, but because of the Hall of Fame baseball player involved, it became a prominent news story.
Case 16: The final time Hornsby’s name was involved in a legal case came in 1961, and involved a soft drink company. The 65 year-old Hornsby sued 7-Up and distributors Joyce Seven-Up Bottlers Inc. and the Chicago Seven-Up Bottling Co., for a million dollars, alleging copyright infringement. 7-Up had published a book of baseball advice, featuring Hornsby that he felt was done without his permission.
The suit charged that the firms had published and distributed since 1956, a composite of seven books Hornsby had written in 1936. Their book was titled, “7-Up Presents: How to play baseball, by Rogers Hornsby,” and was fairly popular with baseball fans. It is uncertain as to what the outcome of the suit was, but if Hornsby’s past was any indicator, a settlement of some sort may have been reached.
For as successful as Rogers Hornsby was on the baseball diamond, his life off the field was one of trouble and scandal. Although his legacy has notoriously labeled him as a hard man who thought of little else other than baseball, his personal issues have largely been ignored. While many of the cases he was involved in were personal in nature, he has not received the same amount of scrutiny as other Hall of Fame players with their own issues. Hornsby was a fantastic player who had a much more interesting and troubled life outside of the game than he is typically attributed, which deserves to be part of his story.

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The Troubled Life Of Rogers Hornsby – Part 4

Posted on 15 January 2012. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Rogers Hornsby of the St. Louis Cardinals seemed to have a knack for finding trouble.
In part four of this five part historical series, Andrew Martin takes a look at some of the trouble Hornsby ran into over the course of his life. You can read more of Andrew’s baseball history on his website.
With his .358 career batting average, Rogers Hornsby rates as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. While the “Rajah” dominated on the field, his life was full of struggles and controversy. In particular, he was a regular in the legal system, constantly popping up in investigations and law suits. As the years have passed, much of his troubles have been forgotten. However, it is a fascinating study to explore the near constant nature of his connection with trouble.
Case 11: Another lawsuit alleging erratic driving was brought against Hornsby in July, 1931, Hornsby was named as defendant in suit brought by Miss Effie Blume, a nurse. David Young, the couple’s chauffeur, and Jeannette Hornsby were also named as co-defendants.
Blume claimed she suffered injuries while she was a guest of the Hornsby’s in May, 1930. A car owned by them, and driven by Young, ran off the road and overturned near Bloomington, Illinois. Blume lost an eye and suffered other devastating injuries which she said prevented her from working as a nurse. This suit also disappeared from the public view almost as soon as it appeared; presumably solved with yet another settlement.
Case 12: Hornsby’s lax habits with his finances were brought under a microscope, when the federal government went after him for failure to pay income taxes. The return in question was initially from 1927, when it was believed that Hornsby had not paid the proper amount in taxes. Hornsby asked the board of tax appeals to mediate between him and the government over the amount he owed. He had been originally assessed $2,763, but was later told he owed an additional $8,782, consisting of $7,026 for taxes and $1,756 in penalties for not filing his report on time.
In his appeal, Hornsby indicated that his home was in Forth Worth, with half of his income listed as his and half as his wife’s, in conjunction with Texas community property law. The government contacted him because their evidence contradicted his return, and showed their belief that his home was in St. Louis, Missouri, and that only time he spent in Texas were trips to visit relatives. Missouri did not have a community property law that allowed the splitting of property and income, which reduced taxes owed.
Hornsby had reported his 1927 income as $36,603, but the government doubled this and added $700 in World Series money, $300 for newspaper articles ghost written in his name, and $154 in “personal expenses.”
As the case unfolded, the government filed two income tax liens against Hornsby totaling $21,282. A lien filed on October 8, 1932 was for 12,871, representing the back taxes he allegedly owed, including interest and penalties for 1927 and 1928. Another lien for $8,412 was filed on September 13th. Examiners claimed they found additional money in the bank that was not accounted for in Hornsby’s tax returns.
As with most tax delinquency cases, there was not much Hornsby could do to help himself once it was determined he owed money. Although he avoided more severe penalties, he was made to pay back everything was claimed he owed, which took a number of years and made even more problematic because he did not have the funds to make good on his obligation.
Case 13: The tax trouble encountered by Hornsby showed that even though he was one of
the highest paid players in baseball, he had no money. At least there was not enough to pay his tax debts. Up until that time he had led a comfortable, yet not overly extravagant lifestyle. It is reasonable to presume that much of his earnings were lost during the course of gambling. That combined with his tax troubles painted Hornsby into a corner financially as his playing career wound down.
In December, 1932, it was determined that Hornsby’s St. Louis county home was to be sold at a foreclosure auction. A published advertisement of the auction stated he had failed to meet an interest payment from October 16th and that certain county taxes were delinquent.
The Hornsby property consisted of 86 acres, a 14 room house, and several barns. When purchased in 1928, he had paid $40,000. A saddened Jeannette Hornsby described the sale as “another hard knock.” She pragmatically said the house was too large and cost too much to keep up. Subsequently, the Hornsby’s moved to an apartment and never fully recovered financially. Hornsby spent the rest of his days searching for a big payday, and while he did alright for himself, he never again approached the level of financial success he had experienced as a star player.
For as successful as Rogers Hornsby was on the baseball diamond, his life off the field was one of trouble and scandal. Although his legacy has notoriously labeled him as a hard man who thought of little else other than baseball, his personal issues have largely been ignored. While many of the cases he was involved in were personal in nature, he has not received the same amount of scrutiny as other Hall of Fame players with their own issues. Hornsby was a fantastic player who had a much more interesting and troubled life outside of the game than he is typically attributed, which deserves to be part of his story.

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The Troubled Life Of Rogers Hornsby – Part 3

Posted on 14 January 2012. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Rogers Hornsby of the St. Louis Cardinals seemed to have a knack for finding trouble.
In part three of this five part historical series, Andrew Martin takes a look at some of the trouble Hornsby ran into over the course of his life. You can read more of Andrew’s baseball history on his website.
With his .358 career batting average, Rogers Hornsby rates as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. While the “Rajah” dominated on the field, his life was full of struggles and controversy. In particular, he was a regular in the legal system, constantly popping up in investigations and law suits. As the years have passed, much of his troubles have been forgotten. However, it is a fascinating study to explore the near constant nature of his connection with trouble.
Case 8: Finances were just not Hornsby’s forte. He was sued by Dr. John H. Barto alleging that he had not been paid $387, dating back to January through March, of 1925, for the ongoing treatment of Hornsby’s pregnant wife, Jeannette. Barto obtained a judgment in his favor from a justice of the peace court in 1928, but Hornsby’s attorney later secured a reversal in a city circuit court on a technicality.
Case 9: Another accusation about a failure to pay a debt came in 1929. Hornsby had done improvements on his farm near Anglum, Missouri, and employed contractor Fred Newhausen to help with some specific projects. Hornsby changed his mind on the location of nests in a hen house, requiring extra work to be done. The lawsuit charged that he did not pay for the extra work, and asked for $500 in restitution. Newhausen claimed that the additional money was owed because the changes to the hen house were not part of the original contract he had agreed to with Hornsby. Keeping in line with previous lawsuits, this one was also settled out of court.
Case 10: In May, 1931, Hornsby and his wife Jeannette were named as co-defendants in a damage suit brought by Mrs. Rebecca Winner, who sought $15,000 in damages. Winner claimed she had been struck by a car driven by Mrs. Hornsby on July 14, 1930. The injuries she suffered incapacitated her, preventing the continuation of her occupation as a mid wife. While the suit was in the papers briefly, it too disappeared as quickly as it came; suggesting yet another settlement.
For as successful as Rogers Hornsby was on the baseball diamond, his life off the field was one of trouble and scandal. Although his legacy has notoriously labeled him as a hard man who thought of little else other than baseball, his personal issues have largely been ignored. While many of the cases he was involved in were personal in nature, he has not received the same amount of scrutiny as other Hall of Fame players with their own issues. Hornsby was a fantastic player who had a much more interesting and troubled life outside of the game than he is typically attributed, which deserves to be part of his story.

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The Troubled Life Of Rogers Hornsby – Part 2

Posted on 13 January 2012. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Rogers Hornsby of the St. Louis Cardinals seemed to have a knack for finding trouble.
In part two of this five part historical series, Andrew Martin takes a look at some of the trouble Hornsby ran into over the course of his life. You can read more of Andrew’s baseball history on his website.
With his .358 career batting average, Rogers Hornsby rates as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. While the “Rajah” dominated on the field, his life was full of struggles and controversy. In particular, he was a regular in the legal system, constantly popping up in investigations and law suits. As the years have passed, much of his troubles have been forgotten. However, it is a fascinating study to explore the near constant nature of his connection with trouble.
Cases 5 & 6: 1927 was not a good year for Hornsby when it came to lawsuits. He was also sued for $5,250 in unpaid attorney fees by Frank J. Quinn, who claimed he was retained in 1923 to represent Hornsby against the Cardinals, who had fined him $3,000 for insubordination. Hornsby dismissed the allegations, saying he couldn’t figure out “what Quinn’s idea was.”
The suit dragged on, as Hornsby dodged appearing in court. Finally on September 5, 1929, Hornsby was cited for contempt of court and sentenced to city jail by Andrew H. Watson, a notary public. However, the citation was unenforceable without a duplicate order from the circuit court, which was not forthcoming. Nonetheless, Watson filed the citation against Hornsby after he twice failed to appear on a summons to take his deposition.
Watson made no sentencing recommendation and later said he imposed it to preserve the jurisdiction in the event it was decided it should be enforced. Hornsby’s lawyer had telephoned for a continuation until September 4th, but Hornsby still didn’t show even after that had been granted.
Nothing ever came of the citation or the suit. Hornsby never spent any time in jail, and settled the case quietly out of court. It was another example of him being able to evade serious trouble with little consequence.
Case 7: Hornsby’s involvement in gambling came close to catching up with him for good in early 1928. A plot to kill or cripple him because of his alleged welching on betting debts was uncovered by the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, which reported that $10,000 to $25,000 was supposedly offered by a prominent bookmaker who sought his death as revenge for non-payment.
Hornsby called the plot “hokum and propaganda,” scoffing, “So far as ‘welching’ is concerned, if the truth were known, Frank L. Moore, who recently brought suit against me for $90,000 owes me plenty of money himself. I carried him long enough.” Naturally, if the plot was real, Hornsby was not going to air his dirty laundry in the press and admit that it had substance.
The veracity of the plot was never determined, but at the least, was likely based in some truth. Hornsby’s propensity for gambling and history of not paying his debts give a lot more substance to this story in hindsight. Much like his other instances of bad behavior, Hornsby escaped peril, probably thanks in large part because of the media reporting on the plot before it could be put in motion.
For as successful as Rogers Hornsby was on the baseball diamond, his life off the field was one of trouble and scandal. Although his legacy has notoriously labeled him as a hard man who thought of little else other than baseball, his personal issues have largely been ignored. While many of the cases he was involved in were personal in nature, he has not received the same amount of scrutiny as other Hall of Fame players with their own issues. Hornsby was a fantastic player who had a much more interesting and troubled life outside of the game than he is typically attributed, which deserves to be part of his story.

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The Troubled Life Of Rogers Hornsby

Posted on 12 January 2012. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Rogers Hornsby of the St. Louis Cardinals seemed to have a knack for finding trouble.
In part one of this five part historical series, Andrew Martin takes a look at some of the trouble Hornsby ran into over the course of his life. You can read more of Andrew’s baseball history on his website.
With his .358 career batting average, Rogers Hornsby rates as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. While the “Rajah” dominated on the field, his life was full of struggles and controversy. In particular, he was a regular in the legal system, constantly popping up in investigations and law suits. As the years have passed, much of his troubles have been forgotten. However, it is a fascinating study to explore the near constant nature of his connection with trouble.
Case 1: The earliest of Hornsby’s known dalliances with the legal system came in the form of an automobile accident. On June 17, 1919, while driving his Buick Roadster, Hornsby knocked over an elderly man named Frank G. Rowe. Five weeks later, Rowe claiming serious injuries, including a permanently crippled right arm, sued, seeking $15,000 in damages.
Rowe’s petition stated Hornsby was “driving carelessly and negligently… his said automobile at a careless and reckless rate of speed: to-wit, in excess of fifteen miles per hour and with reckless disregard for the life and limb of the defendant.” In his deposition Hornsby insisted he had blown his horn at the intersection as required by local law, but Rowe suddenly stepped in front of his vehicle. By March, 1920, Hornsby and Rowe agreed to settle for an unknown amount
Case 2: The next time Hornsby went to court was because of a more severe matter. John A. Hine, an automobile salesman, filed a court petition in St. Louis in 1923, naming the married Hornsby as the person having broken up Hine’s marriage. The petition asked that a divorce be granted between Hine and his 23 year old wife Jeannette Pennington Hine.
Hine alleged that he had uncovered an affair between Hornsby and his wife, and had seen the pair emerging together from a New York hotel. A love letter that was attributed to Hornsby, and was introduced by Hine’s lawyer, advised Pennington “You ask in my letter whether my wife will come back to St. Louis. I am not sure, but it will be better for us two if she don’t as you know the detectives were pretty hot on my trail.” It also referred to Hine’s wife as “my darling little sweetheart,” and was signed, “You’re loving sweetheart, Rog.” Hornsby later claimed that the letter was simply a fan mail reply.
Hornsby’s lawyers tried to show that the case was nothing more than an attempt to extort their client. They presented a witness, a St. Louis baker, who testified that Hine had only brought the suit because of financial motives. In his testimony, the baker said Hine had bragged to him, “I’ll make a bunch of money out of a big ball player.” While Hine may have sought money, there is little doubt that Hornsby and his wife were having an affair.
Hine immediately fought the accusations that cast doubt upon his intentions, stating, “My attorneys have telegrams which were sent to me by Hornsby’s attorney offering to hush up the matter. If necessary I can bring Hornsby’s teammates into court to prove that he wrote the letter. It is not money I want, it is revenge. Hornsby has broken up my home.” Hine further testified that his wife admitted to him that Hornsby wrote the letter.
Jeannette Pennington Hine acknowledged she knew Hornsby, but that she had never been in his company prior to her divorce. She testified that she married Hine in 1919, and that he had failed to support her. The case dragged on for some time, causing Hornsby a great deal of embarrassment, before it was ultimately dropped by Hine. Public resolution to the case came the next time Hornsby was required to appear in a courtroom.
Case 3: Although Hornsby denied the general charges alleged by John Hine, it did not save his own marriage. His wife Sarah filed for divorce in July, 1923, shortly after Rogers was brought to court in the Hine case. Mrs. Hornsby specifically alleged her husband was quarrelsome and indifferent, and said she had separated from him several months earlier “when she learned what was going on.”
The couple was married for nearly five years, and Mrs. Hornsby requested a lump sum alimony and custody of their son, Rodgers Jr. The divorce was finalized rather quickly after Rogers agreed to pay his departing wife a lump sum of $25,000 and gave her full parental custody.
Although they claimed that they had not known each other prior to the lawsuit, Hornsby and Jeannette Pennington married in April, 1924. This came less than a year after his own divorce was finalized. Their son William was born in 1926. The press did not point out that their nuptials contradicted the denials Hornsby had made during the Hine case, but the news of their marriage was more than enough public indictment.
Case 4: Gambling was a vice that Hornsby was linked to throughout his life. In particular, he loved to play the horses, and his inveterate betting impacted his status in baseball, as such behavior was heavily frowned upon after the Black Sox scandal of 1919. Many players other figures in baseball gambled at the time, but as long as it stayed out of the news, baseball typically looked the other way. Hornsby’s issues with gambling became very public because of a relationship he had with Frank Moore, a betting agent. This became such a mess that it led to Hornsby’s trade from the Cardinals after 12 seasons.
Hornsby went from heavily betting, to constantly having Moore around to run bets for him. Cardinals’ owner Sam Breadon said outright that he traded Hornsby following the 1926 season because of his gambling, and in particular his relationship with Moore. Breadon told reporters, “I don’t approve of men who make their money playing baseball gambling it away on horse races.”
Moore had gone to 1926 spring training in San Antonio as a guest of Hornsby. They were seen together nearly every day, to the point that Breadon told Hornsby that he needed to end the relationship because it did not look proper to have a betting commissioner in baseball camp. Hornsby refused the request and said Moore was there as a personal friend. He relied on his status as the biggest star in the National League at the time to do what he wanted.
Breadon didn’t care if Moore was a personal friend or not. “All that is true, but that is not all,” he later said. “Throughout the season Mr. and Mrs. Moore visited here on weekends when the Cardinals were playing in St. Louis. Moore would be down on the bench with ‘Rog’ during the game, and Mrs. Moore and Mrs. Hornsby would be in the box; of course I didn’t approve of it.”
Their relationship already strained, Hornsby stopped talking to Breadon in the waning days of the 1926 season because he was upset that the owner had set up exhibition games during the final days of the pennant race. The relationship was so fractured at that point, that the off-season trade of Hornsby to the Giants for Jimmy Ring and Frankie Frisch was inevitable.
Hornsby’s troubles worsened when Moore brought suit against him in 1927, asking for $49,000 that he claimed was owed as the result of losses sustained in horse race betting in 1926. Moore originally asked for $92,000, but later amended the petition. Moore claimed that he had placed bets on Hornsby’s instructions that he typically received over the phone. He provided betting tips and was used as Hornsby’s betting agent so the player would not attract attention by placing the bets himself.
Hornsby immediately went on the defensive, telling reporters, “This is all news to me and it sounds like a joke. This fellow must be talking about my automobile license or my fielding average. I have referred him to my attorney and I don’t care to discuss it. But I will say that it is ridiculous to suggest that Moore would give me or I’d accept $92,000 worth of credit. I don’t owe Moore a quarter.”
Hornsby’s lawyer, William F. Fahey announced that he had conducted his own investigation which showed that not only did Hornsby owe nothing, but that Moore actually owed Hornsby $9,700. Fahey crowed that Hornsby would “pay a gambling debt as quick as any other.” He further maintained that any debt being claimed by Moore was invalid because the law did not recognize gambling debts (as gambling was illegal).
Fahey didn’t deny that Hornsby was a gambler and had a relationship with Moore, but his version of things were much more sanitized than the accusations. The lawyer told reporters, “He [Hornsby] told me all about his relations with Moore. How he had never bet more than $10 on a race before he met Moore, that he has laid off hundreds of thousands of dollars in his name for Moore with various bookmakers, but that every bet he had made for himself or had authorized others to make for him, he has paid if that bet lost, excepting $7,500 and $8,000 he then owed to bookmakers and later paid.”… “I took him before Judge Landis and the judge raked him fore and aft, but his story remained as straight and true as an engineer’s slide rule.”
Fahey continued his spin control with the press, providing material that would make any contemporary injury claim attorney proud. He described his first impression of Hornsby’s personality “as unattractive, [but] has on close contact turned out to be the more attractive and magnetic; and the face that on the ball field seemed expressionless has elsewhere a radiant and fascinating smile and is backed by clear wide-set eyes that meet your own squarely upon every occasion and under every circumstance.”
After a three day trial, the court found against Moore, but the decision was not unanimous, as two jurors refused to sign the verdict. Despite the quashing of the case, Hornsby did not escape unscathed from the proceedings. It was revealed that his contract with the New York Giants included a clause that forbade him from betting on horse races or associating with those who did. Although he won the lawsuit, it was the catalyst for him being traded again; this time to the Boston Braves in January, 1928.
For as successful as Rogers Hornsby was on the baseball diamond, his life off the field was one of trouble and scandal. Although his legacy has notoriously labeled him as a hard man who thought of little else other than baseball, his personal issues have largely been ignored. While many of the cases he was involved in were personal in nature, he has not received the same amount of scrutiny as other Hall of Fame players with their own issues. Hornsby was a fantastic player who had a much more interesting and troubled life outside of the game than he is typically attributed, which deserves to be part of his story.

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The Cardinals In Time: Rickey And Rajah

Posted on 28 November 2010. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

During the offseason we have been taking a look at the past, giving readers a timeline of St. Louis baseball throughout history. Last time we learned about how Branch Rickey made the jump from the Browns to the Cardinals, and how his sharp work in the front office started to turn around a Cardinals team that had languished in last place since its inception in 1899.

While Branch and Cardinals’ owner Sam Breadon had launched their secret plan to own minor league teams in 1919 when they purchased half of a Class C team in Arkansas, what good would that do them when the players they owned were ready to move up to the next team? Rickey and Breadon put their heads together and kept calling up every contact they could, trying to get in with more minor league clubs.

Some of the contacts were easier than others. Rickey called up one of the owners of the Houston team in the Texas League and said they wanted to buy an 18 percent interest in the team for $15,000, and the owners took him up on his offer, no money down. Rickey had built a reputation for not breaking his word, and people trusted him unwaveringly. Breadon did his part, snaking out a 50 percent interest in the Class A Syracuse team after going out and getting drunk (literally) with the owner of the team during one evening of the winter meetings in Kansas City. Things moved slowly, but by 1925 the Cardinals owned a team at every minor league level, from Class D to Triple A.

Considering the revolutionary nature of this adventure, there were many unique problems. Since the Texas League did not allow higher leagues to own teams in their league, Rickey had to put ownership in the name of a third party. The Houston president tried to sell a budding superstar by the name of Chick Hafey to another team, and when Rickey found out he was forced to match the offer on his own player! Eventually the Texas League challenged his ownership, but Rickey told them that unless they wanted to pay the $500,000 that it would take to buy him out they should be quiet. Not surprisingly they left him alone, and Rickey soon bought out the Houston team, as well as the teams in Little Rock, Syracuse and St. Joseph.

Rogers Hornsby

While all this was going on, baseball was obviously still being played. Now that the Cardinals were actually able to afford to pay their players enough to keep them they were also seeing some success in the standings. In 1922 they even made a push for the pennant! Rogers Hornsby was proving Rickey brilliant by picking up his third consecutive batting title. He hit .370 in 1920, .397 in 1921, and blew everyone out of the water by having one of the single greatest seasons in the history of baseball in 1922, picking up the Triple Crown by leading the league in batting average (.401), home runs (42), and RBIs (152). Just for good measure he also led the league with 46 doubles and 141 runs.

Hornsby was a beast of a man, and hit line drives so hard that fielders feared for their lives and appendages. The classic poet Ogden Nash even referenced Hornsby in his poem “Line-up for Yesterday: An ABC of Baseball Immortals”:

H is for Hornsby

When pitching to Rog

The pitcher would pitch,

Then the pitcher would dodge.

Hornsby was the complete package: hitting for power, fielding sharply, enough confidence to fill a whole team, and the one that everyone overlooked: running. His speed was vastly overrated, and he stretched doubles into triples on a regular basis. He was simply the best, and expected everyone else to recognize his greatness as well. It was creating quite a stir in St. Louis, as many fans spent long afternoons and evenings arguing about which St. Louis hitter was better – the slugging Rajah or “Gorgeous George” Sisler of the Browns. In reality the two were apples and oranges. Sisler had some power and slapped hits in bunches, but Hornsby was a one man wrecking crew, and wanted everyone to know about it.

Jim Bottomley

Hornsby was not the only Cardinal making waves in 1922. “Sunny Jim” Bottomley was called up towards the end of the season, and made a quick impression, hitting .325 in 37 games. His kind and inviting spirit caused him to be the idol of the Knothole Gang kids, and his being one of the first solid prospects to come out of Rickey’s farm system meant that all eyes were on him.

It would be one thing if Bottomley had been just another solid hitter. Instead he provided a rather stark contrast to the cold and callous attitude of Hornsby. He was personable, a clubhouse leader by example rather than by spitfire. Although he was just a rookie in 1922, he was pushing his way to being front and center in just a fraction of a season.

But how about that 1922 season? The Cardinals had a shot, finishing up with an 85-69 record after going 87-66 in the 1921 season. Those two records were the best finishes the team had achieved since the 1899 St. Louis Perfectos season. Yet even with a solid finish, the team still finished eight games back of John McGraw and his champion New York Giants. The reason for it was simple – when a team like the Giants (or Yankees in the AL) got to a certain point in the year and couldn’t quite push over the top, they would just buy whoever they wanted, no matter the pricetag.

Obviously, this still happens to a certain extent today, but the problem was back then it did not matter the date in the season, so teams could pick up whoever they wanted right on through the end of September. Rickey and some of the other front office people from around baseball caused a stir, and Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the commissioner of baseball at the time, finally had to put his foot down. He eventually had to issue an edict proclaiming that after June 15, teams could not trade players, except for waiver transactions. The trade deadline was born.

While Rickey was making waves in the front office and building a farm team from the ground up, he was also the manager on the field. While he had formerly thought of himself as a student of the game, Rickey was now in a position where he could be the teacher as well. He loved charts and spreadsheets, keeping track of statistics that were so new and complicated he was the only one who understood most of them. His mostly uneducated players, many of whom were plucked off back lots and out of coal minds, had no idea what Rickey was talking about. Roy Stockton of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch confirmed their confusion when he wrote, “Rickey’s players could not understand his ideas or execute them. The majority either became wanderers in a labyrinth of theories or took to scoffing at it all.”

The Rajah took exception to how Rickey managed. In 1923 Hornsby publically criticized his manager mid-game. When Rickey tried to pull him aside to sort through the issue after the game, Hornsby was not about to settle down, swearing at the manager and almost causing the mild-mannered visionary to throw a punch. The superstar decided to take matters into his own hands afterward, and complained for several days of a skin infection that held him out of the lineup. When Rickey eventually tried to coax the Rajah into returning, he refused.

Sam Breadon

This could not go on. Rickey went to Sam Breadon and asked him for permission to suspend Hornsby for the rest of the season. To the owner’s credit, he put the team and his manager above his superstar and agreed to the suspension. Things stayed tense between player and manager throughout the entire 1924 season as well, and Breadon, despite his non-confrontational disposition, knew that something had to be done.

During spring training in 1925, Breadon approached Rickey and asked him to consider stepping down as manager. He tried to be logical – Rickey was doing great things in the front office, but he was getting stretched very thin. Would it not be a smart move to focus on one thing wholly instead of trying to be everywhere at once? Rickey agreed and even pretended to name a replacement, but the announcement never came. Rickey did not want to give it up.

After a 13-25 start to the season, Breadon did what he should have done before – he quit asking. He informed Rickey that he would be stepping down immediately and that Rogers Hornsby – the same man that had been a thorn in Rickey’s side for the past two seasons – would be taking over as player/manager. Rickey was dumbfounded, but Breadon was smart. All the great teams had a superstar player manager at the time, from the Tigers with Tris Speaker to the Browns, where George Sisler was leading the charge. The fans responded in droves, and attendance spiked 125,000 above the 1924 season.

Everything looked to be moving along just fine, until Breadon did what no manager likes and entered the clubhouse after a tough loss. Hornsby swore at the owner and ran him out of the clubhouse. Steaming mad, Breadon stormed into Rickey’s office and demanded that the vile superstar be traded immediately to whoever would take him. Now Rickey was in a bind. What would happen to a team and a city that had rallied behind Hornsby and the Cardinals?

Angela Weinhold covers the Cardinals for i70baseball.com and writes at Cardinal Diamond Diaries. You may follow her on Twitter here or follow Cardinal Diamond Diaries here.

Posted in Cardinals, Classic, Featured, The Cardinals In TimeComments (1)


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