Brian McKenna
04-25-2008, 01:16 PM
The Shaky Peace of 1903
In January 1900 Ban Johnson and Western League (renamed the American League in 1900) owners decided that it wasn’t in their best interests to re-sign the National Agreement tying them to the National League and all of organized baseball. This does not mean that they immediately began tampering with players already signed within organized baseball; in fact, the American League did not sign any National Leaguers until 1901 (that we know of - this very well may have happened covertly).
Further setting into motion the events of 1901, the players’ union solidified itself in 1900. On January 28, 1901 Ban Johnson formally declared his intention to operate the American League as a major league. In February a slew of National League players jumped their contracts and signed with American League clubs. With this onslaught the totality of professional baseball was thrown into an upheaval. The National League suspended the National Agreement and joined the signing fray. Of course, this threatened the Eastern League and the other established leagues.
This was a godsend for the players. The American League was offering multiple year contracts and was doing so without a reserve clause. All leagues had to offer greater financial incentives and otherwise appease their talent. Players would take a signing bonus from one manager in one league and then do the same in another league. The action on the field in 1901 and ’02 was only half the story. Newspapers were filled with articles of disputes between leagues, executives, managers and owners and discussions of lawsuits.
By the middle of 1902, the difficulties were particularly acrimonious in New York. There, three parties merged which had enough venom among them on a personal and professional level to present an aggressive front in the fight against the American League – Andrew Freedman, John Brush and John McGraw of the Giants. McGraw, the American League Baltimore Orioles manager, tried to bring the American League down from the inside. He took about half of his Orioles’ roster with him to the National League in July 1902. The American League then made plans to move into New York and threatened to do the same in Pittsburgh.
Freedman and Brush were intent on keeping Johnson out of New York City. Despite an exhaustive effort by Freedman to block the AL via his political and Tammany connections, it soon became clear that the American League would be placing a franchise in New York. All this particularly disturbed McGraw and Brush (who was in the process of purchasing the Giants outright from Freedman).
(Freedman was in tight with Tammany Hall, the Democratic stronghold which controlled New York City expenditures. He joined right out of college and was good friends with Tammany boss Richard Crocker. Freedman had gained his wealth through real estate and construction and, as such, was among the city’s leaders in each respect. Incidentally, those are the two elements Johnson needed to court so Freedman was in a perfect position to block him. Freedman also sat on the policy board and the finance committee of Tammany and was on the board of directors of the company building the city's subway system. Potentially, Freedman was a powerful foe for Johnson indeed. But, a new mayor was elected in NYC in 1902, Seth Low, a reformist, and Crocker lost his post. Factionalism sprung up within Tammany Hall with one such faction offering Johnson a site for a ballpark.)
PEACE PACT
From January 9-10, 1903, the National and American leagues met in Cincinnati at the St. Nicholas Hotel to discuss a possible truce. The representing parties included:
National League president Harry Pulliam
Frank DeHaas Robison of the St. Louis Cardinals
James A. Hart of the Chicago Cubs
Garry Hermann of the Cincinnati Reds
American League president Ban Johnson
Charles Comiskey of the Chicago White Stockings
Henry Killilea of the Boston Pilgrims
Charlie Somers of the Cleveland Naps
The parties came to terms, signing an agreement which for the most part would set the structure of organized baseball for the next two decades:
-the AL was granted a franchise in NYC
-a new MLB governing body was established – the National Commission
-each team will respect the roster of another
-the reserve clause will be reinstated
-the players’ union would lose the concessions they had gained since 1901
and a few lesser, but essential, topics were settled:
-each league would carry eight clubs
-the foul-strike rule, in force in the NL, will be adopted by the AL
-the leagues would have separate but coordinated schedules
-each league will have common player contracts
The essence of this agreement (the new National Agreement) was repackaged and presented to the minor leagues. It is signed by the National Association of Professional Minor Leagues (the minor leagues had organized in late 1901 in response to the major league withdraw from the previous National Agreement), thus reforming organized baseball in the traditional sense.
(The major leagues would later formally establish a playoff between respective pennant winners. This only occurred after the settlement of yet another New York Giants attempt to break the peace between the leagues in 1904.)
The only major to-do left for the leagues was to assign the rights of players whose contracts were under dispute. Some players had signed multiple contracts, some with both major leagues and some with minor league clubs as well. These signings which occurred over the winter of 1902-03 had to be settled. For example, in 1902 pitcher George Mullin was being sued for accepting money under false pretenses. The Fort Wayne, Indiana club claimed that Mullin had taken money from them and from the Detroit Tigers as well. Obviously, since Fort Wayne was suing, Mullin had ended up pitching for Detroit in 1902. A total of sixteen contracts were under dispute in January 1901.
Awarded to the American League:
Sam Crawford to Detroit, loser
Wid Conroy to New York, loser
George Davis to Chicago, loser New York Giants
Lefty Davis to New York, loser
Ed Delahanty to Washington, loser New York Giants
Wild Bill Donovan to Detroit, loser
Kid Elberfeld to Detroit, loser New York Giants
Dave Fultz to New York, loser New York Giants
Wee Willie Keeler to New York, loser
Napoleon Lajoie to Cleveland, loser New York Giants
Awarded to the National League:
Frank Bowerman to New York, loser St. Louis Browns
Rudy Hulswitt to Philadelphia, loser
Tommy Leach to Pittsburgh, loser
Christy Mathewson to New York, loser St. Louis Browns
Sam Mertes to New York, loser
Harry Smith to Pittsburgh, loser
Vic Willis to Boston, loser
The players who had received advance money from clubs they were not assigned to were expected to repay the cash.
FALLOUT FROM THE PEACE PACT
The Pirates were big losers at the peace conference. The players Clark Griffith had earlier raided from the Pirates for his upcoming franchise in New York were in the end assigned to the Highlanders. However, as noted Pittsburgh management was quite happy that the American League backed off of placing a franchise in the city. It should also be noted that the Pirates were strong enough to win the 1903 pennant anyway.
The Giants weren’t as forgiving though despite retaining the rights to Mathewson. George Davis, Delahanty, Elberfeld, Fultz and Lajoie were slated, at least in the mind of McGraw and Brush, to join the Giants in 1903. They were not pleased to have lost out on the ballplayers.
Brush popped off in the press as soon as he got word concerning the events in Cincinnati. Within a week he filed for and had an injunction served on National League president Pulliam to keep the league from ratifying the peace accord. In the end he dropped all his legal objects on January 21 and the accord ratified the following morning.
ED DELAHANTY AND GEORGE DAVIS
In the fall of 1902 Delahanty had signed two contracts, one with Washington and a three-year deal with the Giants for $18,000. The New York Giants advanced him $4,000. One of the factors depressing Delahanty in 1903 was his assignment to Washington. He didn’t particularly want to be there. Or, it might be fair to say that he preferred the deal offered by the Giants. Plus, Delahanty no longer had the $4,000 to return to the Giants.
In December 1902 McGraw presented his roster for the upcoming season to the press. On it were the names of Elberfeld, Fultz and Lajoie. Also at issue for the Giants was the assignment of George Davis who had jumped to the Chicago White Sox for 1902 but was seeking to return to New York. Similar to Delahanty, he had taken money from the Giants but in the end was assigned to the White Sox.
By late-March 1903, Delahanty, $4,500, and George Davis, $2,775, still hadn’t paid back the money they had accepted from the Giants. Instead, Davis decided unilaterally to join the Giants for spring training in Savannah, Georgia. The Giants accepted his presence (McGraw, for one. actually encouraging it) in defiance of the recent peace agreement. Delahanty, for his part, was refusing to report to the Senators.
Major League Baseball’s new governing committee, the National Commission, began weighing options to punish and possibly blacklist the players. Garry Herrmann stated that the Reds would not take the field against the Giants if they were intent on playing the disputed players. Ban Johnson and Pulliam went a step further, giving the players an ultimatum to return to their assigned teams or be banned from the game.
Under pressure, Delahanty reported to Washington (though Delahanty’s troubles in 1903 were only beginning). Davis consulted with his lawyer, Hall of Famer Monte Ward, who advised him that the Chicago contract was no good. Davis, having left the Giants camp, then returned to McGraw’s ball club. With that Davis stood in defiance of the National Commission, leaving the issue in the hands of his lawyer.
KID ELBERFELD
Meanwhile, another issue was brewing in Detroit. On January 12, 1903 new Tigers manager Win Mercer committed suicide. Mercer had started 33 games for the Tigers in 1902, before being named to replace Frank Dwyer. Ed Barrow was hired as the Tigers manager. His first personnel trouble came from disgruntled shortstop Kid Elberfeld who was unhappy with his assignment back to Detroit after he had signed a two-year, $9,000 deal with the Giants. Elberfeld began to cause trouble within the ranks, having difficulties with and drawing the ire of Barrow and team captain Heinie Smith.
Nicknamed the “Tabasco Kid,” Elberfeld was a McGraw-type player. For one, he was particularly fond of the 1890s Baltimore Orioles and their style of play. He prided himself on adopting the aggressive style of the old Orioles; as a result, Elberfeld would be ejected for 21 games as a player and more as a manager and coach.
When the season started, Elberfeld caught fire, batting .431 in the first three weeks. However, his play and attitude soon tanked. Barrow soon claimed that Elberfeld was throwing games with indifferent play. Particularly appalling was the shoddy play by the Tigers in a seven-game series against the Browns:
May 26 at Detroit
The Tigers win the only contest of the series, a 3-0 shutoutby Frank Kitson.
May 28 at Detroit
The Tigers lose 7-2 because of shoddy fielding in the first inning. Elberfeld had one error and a hit.
May 29 at Detroit
The Tigers lose 7-3 after allowing five unearned runs in the second inning. (Couldn’t locate a box score to cite Elberfeld’s play)
May 30, Game One at St. Louis
Elberfeld’s wild throw home allows the winning run to score in the ninth in a 2-1 loss. (1 error, 1 hit)
May 30, Game Two at St. Louis
Tigers lose 5-0. Elberfeld place one hit and has another error.
June 1 at Detroit
Tigers lose 7-6 and Elberfeld has another error.
On June 2 prior to the final game of the series, Barrow suspended Elberfeld and fined him $200 for “loaferish conduct." Rumors flew around the league concerning Elberfeld’s indifferent play and it was alleged that he was “playing for his release,” a form of game-fixing. It was also alleged that Elberfeld had played indifferently against the Browns because they had offered him a slot on their team.
For his part, Elberfeld swore that he wouldn’t take the field with barrow again and he threatened to jump to a California club if a trade wasn’t arranged. On June 8 league officials (Johnson, Comiskey, Fred Postal of Washington and Sam Angus of Detroit) met to discuss the Elberfeld situation and how best to deal with it. In all probability the group decided it was best to trade the disgruntled player, but not to the browns or Giants.
Clark Griffith of the Highlanders saw an opportunity. He approached Barrow about a trade but he wanted Dave Fultz and Wid Conroy. Since Griffith wasn’t interested in trading either, he sought out Angus for trade discussions. On June 10 the deal was announced. Elberfeld was traded for Ernie Courtney and an aging Herman Long. It was the Highlanders’ first trade since moving to New York from Baltimore.
FALLOUT OF THE ELBERFELD TRADE
The Giants viewed the Elberfeld trade as a personal affront. They saw it as a direct American League action to siphon fans from the Giants to the cross-town Highlanders. Brush once again started banging Pulliam’s ear. In short, he wanted to once again derail the peace agreement.
In late June Pulliam sent a letter to Ban Johnson charging the American league with violating the “spirit” of the peace agreement. The actual letter of the pact wasn’t violated since Elberfeld was assigned to the Tigers who could dispose of him any way they liked. Brush had also asked and received permission from Pulliam to field shortstop George Davis. Davis played for the Giants on June 26. Herrmann was livid, writing a letter and publicly questioning Pulliam’s motives and actions in potentially derailing the peace agreement.
Comiskey obtained two injunctions in the Davis case. In all, Davis appeared in only four games for the Giants before sitting out the rest of the season and then joining the White Sox in 1904.
Brush kept harping on the losses of Elberfeld, Davis and Delahanty. In the meantime Elberfeld assaulted a waiter and was arrested on July 9. The following day Brush obtained a temporary injunction preventing Elberfeld from playing with the Highlanders. Elberfeld rejoined the Highlanders on June 15 after the New York Supreme Court dissolved the injunction as there was no cause.
The saga of 1903 would repeat itself in the following season as Brush and McGraw would once again stand in defiance of the best interests of Major League Baseball. With the Highlanders driving for the pennant in 1904, they would refuse to enter into post season play. Their hatred of the American League far outweighed any sensibilities to the contrary, even considerable financial benefits.
In January 1900 Ban Johnson and Western League (renamed the American League in 1900) owners decided that it wasn’t in their best interests to re-sign the National Agreement tying them to the National League and all of organized baseball. This does not mean that they immediately began tampering with players already signed within organized baseball; in fact, the American League did not sign any National Leaguers until 1901 (that we know of - this very well may have happened covertly).
Further setting into motion the events of 1901, the players’ union solidified itself in 1900. On January 28, 1901 Ban Johnson formally declared his intention to operate the American League as a major league. In February a slew of National League players jumped their contracts and signed with American League clubs. With this onslaught the totality of professional baseball was thrown into an upheaval. The National League suspended the National Agreement and joined the signing fray. Of course, this threatened the Eastern League and the other established leagues.
This was a godsend for the players. The American League was offering multiple year contracts and was doing so without a reserve clause. All leagues had to offer greater financial incentives and otherwise appease their talent. Players would take a signing bonus from one manager in one league and then do the same in another league. The action on the field in 1901 and ’02 was only half the story. Newspapers were filled with articles of disputes between leagues, executives, managers and owners and discussions of lawsuits.
By the middle of 1902, the difficulties were particularly acrimonious in New York. There, three parties merged which had enough venom among them on a personal and professional level to present an aggressive front in the fight against the American League – Andrew Freedman, John Brush and John McGraw of the Giants. McGraw, the American League Baltimore Orioles manager, tried to bring the American League down from the inside. He took about half of his Orioles’ roster with him to the National League in July 1902. The American League then made plans to move into New York and threatened to do the same in Pittsburgh.
Freedman and Brush were intent on keeping Johnson out of New York City. Despite an exhaustive effort by Freedman to block the AL via his political and Tammany connections, it soon became clear that the American League would be placing a franchise in New York. All this particularly disturbed McGraw and Brush (who was in the process of purchasing the Giants outright from Freedman).
(Freedman was in tight with Tammany Hall, the Democratic stronghold which controlled New York City expenditures. He joined right out of college and was good friends with Tammany boss Richard Crocker. Freedman had gained his wealth through real estate and construction and, as such, was among the city’s leaders in each respect. Incidentally, those are the two elements Johnson needed to court so Freedman was in a perfect position to block him. Freedman also sat on the policy board and the finance committee of Tammany and was on the board of directors of the company building the city's subway system. Potentially, Freedman was a powerful foe for Johnson indeed. But, a new mayor was elected in NYC in 1902, Seth Low, a reformist, and Crocker lost his post. Factionalism sprung up within Tammany Hall with one such faction offering Johnson a site for a ballpark.)
PEACE PACT
From January 9-10, 1903, the National and American leagues met in Cincinnati at the St. Nicholas Hotel to discuss a possible truce. The representing parties included:
National League president Harry Pulliam
Frank DeHaas Robison of the St. Louis Cardinals
James A. Hart of the Chicago Cubs
Garry Hermann of the Cincinnati Reds
American League president Ban Johnson
Charles Comiskey of the Chicago White Stockings
Henry Killilea of the Boston Pilgrims
Charlie Somers of the Cleveland Naps
The parties came to terms, signing an agreement which for the most part would set the structure of organized baseball for the next two decades:
-the AL was granted a franchise in NYC
-a new MLB governing body was established – the National Commission
-each team will respect the roster of another
-the reserve clause will be reinstated
-the players’ union would lose the concessions they had gained since 1901
and a few lesser, but essential, topics were settled:
-each league would carry eight clubs
-the foul-strike rule, in force in the NL, will be adopted by the AL
-the leagues would have separate but coordinated schedules
-each league will have common player contracts
The essence of this agreement (the new National Agreement) was repackaged and presented to the minor leagues. It is signed by the National Association of Professional Minor Leagues (the minor leagues had organized in late 1901 in response to the major league withdraw from the previous National Agreement), thus reforming organized baseball in the traditional sense.
(The major leagues would later formally establish a playoff between respective pennant winners. This only occurred after the settlement of yet another New York Giants attempt to break the peace between the leagues in 1904.)
The only major to-do left for the leagues was to assign the rights of players whose contracts were under dispute. Some players had signed multiple contracts, some with both major leagues and some with minor league clubs as well. These signings which occurred over the winter of 1902-03 had to be settled. For example, in 1902 pitcher George Mullin was being sued for accepting money under false pretenses. The Fort Wayne, Indiana club claimed that Mullin had taken money from them and from the Detroit Tigers as well. Obviously, since Fort Wayne was suing, Mullin had ended up pitching for Detroit in 1902. A total of sixteen contracts were under dispute in January 1901.
Awarded to the American League:
Sam Crawford to Detroit, loser
Wid Conroy to New York, loser
George Davis to Chicago, loser New York Giants
Lefty Davis to New York, loser
Ed Delahanty to Washington, loser New York Giants
Wild Bill Donovan to Detroit, loser
Kid Elberfeld to Detroit, loser New York Giants
Dave Fultz to New York, loser New York Giants
Wee Willie Keeler to New York, loser
Napoleon Lajoie to Cleveland, loser New York Giants
Awarded to the National League:
Frank Bowerman to New York, loser St. Louis Browns
Rudy Hulswitt to Philadelphia, loser
Tommy Leach to Pittsburgh, loser
Christy Mathewson to New York, loser St. Louis Browns
Sam Mertes to New York, loser
Harry Smith to Pittsburgh, loser
Vic Willis to Boston, loser
The players who had received advance money from clubs they were not assigned to were expected to repay the cash.
FALLOUT FROM THE PEACE PACT
The Pirates were big losers at the peace conference. The players Clark Griffith had earlier raided from the Pirates for his upcoming franchise in New York were in the end assigned to the Highlanders. However, as noted Pittsburgh management was quite happy that the American League backed off of placing a franchise in the city. It should also be noted that the Pirates were strong enough to win the 1903 pennant anyway.
The Giants weren’t as forgiving though despite retaining the rights to Mathewson. George Davis, Delahanty, Elberfeld, Fultz and Lajoie were slated, at least in the mind of McGraw and Brush, to join the Giants in 1903. They were not pleased to have lost out on the ballplayers.
Brush popped off in the press as soon as he got word concerning the events in Cincinnati. Within a week he filed for and had an injunction served on National League president Pulliam to keep the league from ratifying the peace accord. In the end he dropped all his legal objects on January 21 and the accord ratified the following morning.
ED DELAHANTY AND GEORGE DAVIS
In the fall of 1902 Delahanty had signed two contracts, one with Washington and a three-year deal with the Giants for $18,000. The New York Giants advanced him $4,000. One of the factors depressing Delahanty in 1903 was his assignment to Washington. He didn’t particularly want to be there. Or, it might be fair to say that he preferred the deal offered by the Giants. Plus, Delahanty no longer had the $4,000 to return to the Giants.
In December 1902 McGraw presented his roster for the upcoming season to the press. On it were the names of Elberfeld, Fultz and Lajoie. Also at issue for the Giants was the assignment of George Davis who had jumped to the Chicago White Sox for 1902 but was seeking to return to New York. Similar to Delahanty, he had taken money from the Giants but in the end was assigned to the White Sox.
By late-March 1903, Delahanty, $4,500, and George Davis, $2,775, still hadn’t paid back the money they had accepted from the Giants. Instead, Davis decided unilaterally to join the Giants for spring training in Savannah, Georgia. The Giants accepted his presence (McGraw, for one. actually encouraging it) in defiance of the recent peace agreement. Delahanty, for his part, was refusing to report to the Senators.
Major League Baseball’s new governing committee, the National Commission, began weighing options to punish and possibly blacklist the players. Garry Herrmann stated that the Reds would not take the field against the Giants if they were intent on playing the disputed players. Ban Johnson and Pulliam went a step further, giving the players an ultimatum to return to their assigned teams or be banned from the game.
Under pressure, Delahanty reported to Washington (though Delahanty’s troubles in 1903 were only beginning). Davis consulted with his lawyer, Hall of Famer Monte Ward, who advised him that the Chicago contract was no good. Davis, having left the Giants camp, then returned to McGraw’s ball club. With that Davis stood in defiance of the National Commission, leaving the issue in the hands of his lawyer.
KID ELBERFELD
Meanwhile, another issue was brewing in Detroit. On January 12, 1903 new Tigers manager Win Mercer committed suicide. Mercer had started 33 games for the Tigers in 1902, before being named to replace Frank Dwyer. Ed Barrow was hired as the Tigers manager. His first personnel trouble came from disgruntled shortstop Kid Elberfeld who was unhappy with his assignment back to Detroit after he had signed a two-year, $9,000 deal with the Giants. Elberfeld began to cause trouble within the ranks, having difficulties with and drawing the ire of Barrow and team captain Heinie Smith.
Nicknamed the “Tabasco Kid,” Elberfeld was a McGraw-type player. For one, he was particularly fond of the 1890s Baltimore Orioles and their style of play. He prided himself on adopting the aggressive style of the old Orioles; as a result, Elberfeld would be ejected for 21 games as a player and more as a manager and coach.
When the season started, Elberfeld caught fire, batting .431 in the first three weeks. However, his play and attitude soon tanked. Barrow soon claimed that Elberfeld was throwing games with indifferent play. Particularly appalling was the shoddy play by the Tigers in a seven-game series against the Browns:
May 26 at Detroit
The Tigers win the only contest of the series, a 3-0 shutoutby Frank Kitson.
May 28 at Detroit
The Tigers lose 7-2 because of shoddy fielding in the first inning. Elberfeld had one error and a hit.
May 29 at Detroit
The Tigers lose 7-3 after allowing five unearned runs in the second inning. (Couldn’t locate a box score to cite Elberfeld’s play)
May 30, Game One at St. Louis
Elberfeld’s wild throw home allows the winning run to score in the ninth in a 2-1 loss. (1 error, 1 hit)
May 30, Game Two at St. Louis
Tigers lose 5-0. Elberfeld place one hit and has another error.
June 1 at Detroit
Tigers lose 7-6 and Elberfeld has another error.
On June 2 prior to the final game of the series, Barrow suspended Elberfeld and fined him $200 for “loaferish conduct." Rumors flew around the league concerning Elberfeld’s indifferent play and it was alleged that he was “playing for his release,” a form of game-fixing. It was also alleged that Elberfeld had played indifferently against the Browns because they had offered him a slot on their team.
For his part, Elberfeld swore that he wouldn’t take the field with barrow again and he threatened to jump to a California club if a trade wasn’t arranged. On June 8 league officials (Johnson, Comiskey, Fred Postal of Washington and Sam Angus of Detroit) met to discuss the Elberfeld situation and how best to deal with it. In all probability the group decided it was best to trade the disgruntled player, but not to the browns or Giants.
Clark Griffith of the Highlanders saw an opportunity. He approached Barrow about a trade but he wanted Dave Fultz and Wid Conroy. Since Griffith wasn’t interested in trading either, he sought out Angus for trade discussions. On June 10 the deal was announced. Elberfeld was traded for Ernie Courtney and an aging Herman Long. It was the Highlanders’ first trade since moving to New York from Baltimore.
FALLOUT OF THE ELBERFELD TRADE
The Giants viewed the Elberfeld trade as a personal affront. They saw it as a direct American League action to siphon fans from the Giants to the cross-town Highlanders. Brush once again started banging Pulliam’s ear. In short, he wanted to once again derail the peace agreement.
In late June Pulliam sent a letter to Ban Johnson charging the American league with violating the “spirit” of the peace agreement. The actual letter of the pact wasn’t violated since Elberfeld was assigned to the Tigers who could dispose of him any way they liked. Brush had also asked and received permission from Pulliam to field shortstop George Davis. Davis played for the Giants on June 26. Herrmann was livid, writing a letter and publicly questioning Pulliam’s motives and actions in potentially derailing the peace agreement.
Comiskey obtained two injunctions in the Davis case. In all, Davis appeared in only four games for the Giants before sitting out the rest of the season and then joining the White Sox in 1904.
Brush kept harping on the losses of Elberfeld, Davis and Delahanty. In the meantime Elberfeld assaulted a waiter and was arrested on July 9. The following day Brush obtained a temporary injunction preventing Elberfeld from playing with the Highlanders. Elberfeld rejoined the Highlanders on June 15 after the New York Supreme Court dissolved the injunction as there was no cause.
The saga of 1903 would repeat itself in the following season as Brush and McGraw would once again stand in defiance of the best interests of Major League Baseball. With the Highlanders driving for the pennant in 1904, they would refuse to enter into post season play. Their hatred of the American League far outweighed any sensibilities to the contrary, even considerable financial benefits.