There is a feeling of intense disgust at base ball headquarters in [Cleveland] over the fact that Chris Von der Ahe, after being yanked to Pittsburg much as a murderer or bank robber might be taken, should have been allowed to go to ail for the want of a few hundred dollars.  Such a thing would not have occurred in Cleveland if the base ball writers here themselves had been obliged to raise the money to keep the brave old Teuton from going behind the bars.

Even this would have been unnecessary, for, as Captain Tebeau put it to-day, "the players now in Cleveland know enough of what Von der Ahe has done for the game and for the men who played it in the past to not stand idly by and see him chucked into the prison cell if he had been in trouble here instead of in Pittsburg."

-Sporting Life, February 19, 1898

George Munson, the well-known secretary of the St. Louis Maroons, and to whose efforts alone that League club now owes its existence, signed last week a contract with President Von der Ahe to act as secretary of the St. Louis Browns.  The genial Chris is to be congratulated on securing so capable a secretary.  Al. H. Spink will take Munson's place as secretary of the Maroons.

-New York Clipper, January 22, 1887

Al Spink

"The Derby Winner," in charge of Al Spink and George Munson, will start out next season with an improved cast and new specialties and accessories.  The season opens Aug. 18, at the Grand Opera House, in [St. Louis.]  The company goes North from here.  Three State fair weeks are booked at Minneapolis, Minn., Topeka, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo.  Mr Spink has engaged Edward Giguere to play Arthur Dunn's old part of the Sport, and Blanche Bayer as soubrette...

-New York Clipper, May 18, 1895

 [In 1890,] Al's interest in the paper waned as he turned to his other passion, the theater. He wrote and produced a play, The Derby Winner, which required a cast of 42 persons and six horses. It was a success in St. Louis, but on the road, the play flopped, and Al was wiped out financially. He used his Sporting News stock as collateral for loans he could not repay. Charles bought the stock, and the two brothers feuded, reconciling just before Charles died in 1914.

"The Derby Winner" was played by the St. Louis company at the Lansing last night. The audience was large, enthusiastic and political. There have been several plays by illiterate playwrights brought out this year and of them all "The Derby Winner" is certainly the worst. "On the Bowery," the play written and now being acted in New York by Steve Brodie, the noted Bowery bartender and all around tough, is a classic compared to this. The author of this perpetration is one Mr. Al Spinks, editor of a St. Louis sporting paper. Of course the play comes from St. Louis; there is no other spot on the globe that could produce quite such a play. The dialogue was fearful and wonderful, consisting of all the old gags shaken up in a hat and poured out at random. The characters utterly lacked consistency. The racing scene made one long to lay aside the tabernacle of clay. Beside this play the "Police Patrol" and the "Heroes of the Hook and Ladder" loom up as Shakespearean masterpieces. The play is not worthy of criticism and produces no impression except "that tired feeling." As for the actors, for their own sake we will not mention who they were.

-Nebraska State Journal, October 5, 1894

The man holding all the cards

A breeze is said to have been stirred up in base ball circles because the officers of the Brown Stocking Club desire to manage that organization in their own way. Some interested individual has seen fit to furnish a one-sided version of the affair to the press. It is claimed that the Brown Stocking Club gets half of the gate receipts, and that the St. Louis Sportsman’s Club gets nothing for the use of its grounds. Such is far from being the case. The association gets 10 per cent of the gross receipts, the proceeds from the sale of reserved seats, the profits for refreshments and the income from all other privileges. The team which, by its superb play throughout the season, has earned the liberal patronage of the public, never cost the association a cent. The boys were solicited to play at the park at the beginning of the season, and a complete outfit, uniforms, etc., for the players was offered as an inducement. The Brown stockings are under no compliment to any organization nor do they propose to be. They have put a small fortune into the treasury of the association alluded to, and are not indebted to it or any one, except a generous public, in the slightest. The President of the Brown Stocking organization stated last night that no complaints had been brought to his notice, and added that if any dissatisfaction existed the club was ready to sever its connection with the park at once. He also stated that the unprecedented base ball boom was due to the brilliant and reliable work of the home team on all occasions, and that the slurs cast at the playing of the Browns were entirely undeserved. The fact that they had lost but one Sunday game this year was because they are enabled to present their full team on that day, while it is a difficult matter to do so at other times. If any complaint has been made it is because the team has been a much greater success than was anticipated when the season opened. It is certainly entitled to all that it has earned, and lovers of the game, with fair play in view, will undoubtedly look at the question in that light.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 1, 1881

The fourth and last hearing in the suit of the Mississippi Valley Trust Company to foreclose on a mortgage of $20,000 held against Sportsman's Park and Club was heard in Judge Spencer's Court in St. Louis on Wednesday, Jan. 18.

Al Spink The Organizer.

Alfred H. Spink, formerly secretary of the Browns, was the first witness called.  He testified to the organization of the St. Louis Base Ball Association by himself, his brother, the late William Spink, and William Pennoyer, now a theatrical manager.  This organization, according to Mr. Spink, formed the St. Louis Browns during the season of 1881, and their games were played on the grounds of Sportsman's Park and Club on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.  The St. Louis Base Ball Association, said Mr. Spink later on, had a contract with Sportsman's Park and Club, whereby the former got 90 per cent. of the gross gate receipts, the corporation getting 10 per cent. of the gate, whatever reserved seats were sold and all other privileges, such as sale of score cards, etc.  When the season of 1881 had been completed he and his associates turned over their base ball interests to Von der Ahe, who continued the arrangements with Sportsman's Park and Club.

The Boss On The Rack.

Chris Von der Ahe succeded Mr. Spink on the witness stand.  He went over his first connection with the national game on much the same lines as Mr. Spink had done in his testimony.  Von der Ahe recounted the trials which he underwent in forming the American Association in 1882, six clubs constituting the original circuit.  The franchise for a club in St. Louis had been awarded to him as an individual, and he had conducted his base ball affairs as such.  The money it cost to secure it came out of his pockets, and he also put up to keep some of the weak members alive during the early days of adversity which some of them experienced.  When the Brotherhood was organized in 1890, the owners of Association clubs, as well as those in the National League, lost considerable money in protecting their interests, the competition for players being waged on extravagant lines.

The Consolidation.

Von der Ahe, recited how he had been visited by John T. Brush, Frank DeHaas Robison and the late Charles H. Byrne, representatives of the National League, and George and J. Earl Wagner, owners of the Athletics, the Brotherhood team of Philadelphia, and Editor Richter, of "Sporting Life," and an attorney from Philadelphia named Frank S. Elliott, in the fall of 1891, they making overtures to secure his co-operation in settling the base ball troubles by a consolidation of the League and Association.  This meeting was held in the rear of a saloon conducted by him near his old base ball park at Grand and Sullivan avenues.  Three days were consumed in the preliminaries, and then a final meeting in the nature of a ratification followed at the Southern Hotel.  The parties present had arrived at an 

Amicable Agreement,

but to carry it out it was necessary to secure the signatures of the other club owners and to purchase the franchises of the retiring Association members.  The "peace" conference, as it has ever since been called, met again at the Bates House, in Indianapolis, in December, that year, and the consolidation of the American Association with the National League was finally consummated...The twelve-club agreement was subscribed to by all the parties interested.  "Der Boss" acquired the St. Louis franchise as the "St. Louis Base Ball Association; Chris Von der Ahe, president."

Von Der Ahe's Personality.  

Two years later he moved his club from the old Grand avenue grounds to its present home, at Vandeventer avenue and Natural Bridge road, costing him $59,550 to complete all the expenses.  His share of the receipts had always been paid to him in checks made out to him personally.  Some few seasons later the League discontinued an emergency fund, which originally had been formed, and when the balance on hand was divided the check of President N.E. Young for the amount due the St. Louis Club was to "Christ Von der Ahe."  The witness then went on to say that trapshooting and foot races were features of sport that were conducted at the old park.

-Sporting Life, January 28, 1899

Chris Von der Ahe recited his base ball valedictory in Judge Spencer's court [on January 19.]  For two hours he occupied the witness stand and explained his complicated role of president of the St. Louis Base Ball Association, owner of the St. Louis Club League franchise, and president of Sportsman's Park and club, which operated the club.  Al Spink was the first witness called and testified to the organization of the St. Louis Base Ball Association, by his brother, James Pennoyer and himself.  He conducted the Browns during the summer of 1881 and then transferred their interest to Von der Ahe.

Von Der Ahe's Claims.

"Der Boss" then took the stand and continued the story.  He told how it was through his personal efforts the American Association of Base Ball Clubs was formed.  He insisted that Sportsman's Park and Club cut no figure with his American Association team.  Finally he came to what he termed the "promulgation the National League and American Association."  In answer to questions, Von der Ahe stated that improvements on the new ball grounds represented an outlay of $59,555.  Von der Ahe further testified that the Sportsman's Park and Club never had a bank account; that the directors were his closest personal friends; that he named them; that not one of them ever advanced money to help the club, and that he himself had advanced over $100,000, which the corporation owed him.

A Handicap.

The destruction of the books of the Sportsman's Park and Club in the fire last spring hampered Von der Ahe's cross-examination.  Lawyer Rowell drew from him the statement that although he allowed the corporation to operate the club, he received and paid out all the money and lumped the corporation's funds at the Northwestern Bank with his individual account.

Edward Becker

testified that on Von der Ahe's statement that unless his players received their salaries by 10 o'clock the next morning the franchise would be forfeited, he lent to Chris the money to pay the players.  George P. Riecher, son of the contractor who built the grand stand, testified to Von der Ahe having paid his firm with bonds, saying that the franchise was included in them.

Evidence All In.

Von der Ahe, when recalled, denied the statements of Becker and Riecher.  The attorneys said that all the evidence was in, and Judge Spencer ordered them to have their briefs in by Friday noon, saying he would pass on the case by Monday.

-Sporting Life, January 21, 1899