Brian McKenna
06-20-2008, 01:18 PM
Jimmy Callahan & His Logan Squares
Jimmy Callahan joined the National League with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1894. He left the majors that year and didn’t reappear until 1897 with the Chicago Cubs. In 1901 he jumped to the American league Chicago White Sox with his good friend Clark Griffith.
Primarily a pitcher, Callahan often played the field between starts as hit bat was valued. He was essentially finished as a major league pitcher after 1902. The following year he manned third base for the White Sox. From then on he moved to left field.
Callahan took over the field manger position with Chicago in 1903 when Griifith departed for New York. After 42 (23-18 record) games in 1904 club owner Charles Comiskey replaced his manager with Fielder Jones; though Callahan remained with the club.
After the 1905 season at age 31 Callahan decided to purchase a local semi-pro club, the Logan Squares, and leave the White Sox to play for and manage the club. Of course, he was still bound by the reserve clause. When he did not report in 1906, Callahan was placed on the ineligible list; though, he remained on friendly terms with Comiskey.
Callahan’s desire to broaden his scope within the game was not atypical of the era. Many of his contemporaries, perhaps the smarter ones, which would include Griffith and Comiskey, moved into the promotional end of the game to gain a brighter financial future. However, Callahan would soon be known as the “anarchist of baseball.”
LOGAN SQUARE
Logan Square is a community located about 22 miles northwest of thee Loop in Chicago. It is bound to the east by the Chicago River. Milwaukee Avenue, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, bisects the community.
Logan Square throughout history has been heavily populated by immigrants. The community was, in increments, annexed by the city of Chicago between the 1860s and 1880s. The area’s population grew dramatically after the Fire of 1871. Since it lay outside the city’s fire limits, cheaper homes could be made in Logan Square which in turn attracted those who lived closer to the heart of the city.
The “L” train finally connected Logan Square to the rest of the city in 1890. This further spurned the building of new homes, paved streets and the impressive planted boulevard system.
BASEBALL IN CHICAGO AND THE LOGAN SQUARES
Chicago is and always has been one of, if not, the foremost baseball ravenous cities in the nation. Not only did the city support two major league clubs at the onset of the 20th century, but Chicago fans attended games for hundreds of local amateur and semi-pro clubs. In 1906 the Intercity Association included nearly 400 clubs. The number rose to 550 by 1909.
At the end of 1905 Callahan purchased the semi-pro Logan Squares and their ballpark at corner of Diversey and Milwaukee Avenues. Within a year he built perhaps the premier semi-pro club in the United States.
Callahan’s first order of business was to establish a league. It took some cajoling in 1905 and into 1906, but the Chicago City League was established with ten clubs. It became a model for city competition throughout the country, especially after the Logan Squares defeated both World Series opponents in late 1906.
Callahan and the Logan Squares made a lot of money playing local semi-pro, college, black, minor league and even major league clubs during Callahan’s tenure which lasted through 1910. The club only played on the weekends, usually once each day. Crowds of 5,000 were not uncommon. It was not unheard of to draw over 10,000 to Logan Squares Park for heated contests against black clubs, such as, the Chicago-based Leland Giants.
The cash inflow and Callahan’s connections led to the hiring of and competing against some of the top talent in the country, professional or otherwise. It really established the Logan Squares in a special category hovering between semi-pro and professional (like many of the black clubs of the pre-Negro league era). This set Callahan on a collision course with organized baseball, a course that at various times would work to the benefit and/or detriment of each.
Team photo:
http://books.google.com/books?id=74Gb4JYii_8C&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=%22logan+squares%22+callahan&source=web&ots=vwZEdVmDg1&sig=JrA939FzucnGBUx-QO6It3VXjws&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result
FAMILIAR NAMES TO PLAY FOR THE LOGAN SQUARES
Artie Bell, 1907
Ossie Bluege, after Callahan owned the club
Jimmy Callahan, 1906-10
Mike Donlin, 1907
Phil Douglas, after Callahan owned the club
Frank Erickson, minor league catcher
Lou Fiene, 1906
Tom Hughes, 1906
Burt Keeley, 1908, under contract to Logan Squares but did not play
Vive Lindaman, 1906
Joe Magero, mascot in 1906, joined the Cubs in 1907 through death in 1912
Moose McCormick, 1907
Bill McGill, 1907
Frank McNichols, minor league third baseman
Bob Meinke, 1908
Johnny Rigney, after Callahan owned the club
Percy Skillen, Dartmouth pitcher and captain, 1907
Jake Stahl, 1907
Hippo Vaughn, after Callahan owned the club
Buck Weaver, after Callahan owned the club
Jimmy Wiggs, minor league pitcher, 1908
Many other professionals played either under their own name or an assumed name for the Logan Squares. Ty Cobb and Tommy Leach also contacted Callahan to potentially join the club in 1908 if their contract negotiations fell through with their major league clubs.
1906
Comiskey still attempted to re-sign Callahan; he needed an outfielder. A Roger Clemens-type offer was even made for Callahan to play for the Sox when he wanted – during games that didn’t interfere with his Logan Squares’ commitment. Callahan would relent near the end of the year and sign with Comiskey which itself would cause significant problems.
On September 10, 1906 Lou Fiene was fined by the National Commission for playing with the Logan Squares.
On Saturday October 20 Callahan pitched the Logan Squares to a 2-1 victory over the newly-crowned World Champion Chicago White Sox in front of 5,000 fans at Logan Squares Park. Nick Altrock was on the mound for the White Sox.
The following day Tom Hughes pitched the Logan Squares to a 1-0 victory over Miner Brown and the National League champion Chicago Cubs. Brown threw a wild pitch in the tenth inning which allowed the game’s only run. The Cubs roster though was filled out with an all-star squad. Nevertheless, the 8,000 in attendance stormed the field in enthusiasm. Callahan, disheveled and with a torn jersey, barely made it out alive in all the excitement; a police escort was required to rush him to safety.
Hughes had recently joined the Logan Squares after being suspended at the end of the season by Washington manager Jake Stahl for excessive drinking.
Six days later, after seeing the success Callahan was having with his semi-pro club, his good friend Cap Anson announced his intention to field a club in the Chicago City League in 1907. He teamed with wealthy local gambler Mont Tennes in doing so.
As a magnate, Callahan made particular effort to intercede on behalf of his players. He negotiated for the re-admittance of Hughes with the National Commission, organized baseball’s governing body. He won such with a $100 fine on March 30, 1907.
On November 2, 1906 the National Commission fined Vive Lindaman $100 of the Braves for playing with the Logan Squares.
On November 3 Callahan filed a $3,000-lawsuit against the Chicago White Sox for breach of contract. Comiskey had re-signed Callahan on August 31 and intended to use him for the rest of the season; however, American League president Ban Johnson refused to reinstate Callahan. Callahan was suing for six weeks pay and a World Series share. The lawsuit was directed at Johnson and his heavy-handed tactics but of course it had to be filed against the White Sox, the party to the contract.
It was later learned that Johnson never even put the request for reinstatement to a vote by the National Commission; he merely tabled it himself. The inference here was that Johnson was acting willfully to the detriment of Comiskey (and his White Sox) whom he had been having a personal feud with. For weeks, Callahan and Johnson traded barbs in the press.
1907
In January 1907 Callahan with Lou Criger began coaching the Norte Dame University baseball squad.
After a holdout from the New York Giants for all of 1906, Mike Donlin joined the Logan Squares in April 1907. Callahan had to first gain a waiver by the local Artesian club whom Donlin had also signed with. Jake Stahl also joined the club. They were both fined $100 and reinstated by organized baseball in 1908. The Giants would later claim that they gave Donlin permission to play in Chicago in order to smoothly gain his re-admittance.
On October 19 the Logan Squares fought the American League champion Detroit Tigers to an 11 inning tie at Logan Squares Park. They played again the following day. Cy Falkenberg, property of the Washington Senators, pitched the Tiger squad to a 4-0 victory over the Logan Squares and Logan Squares Park.
In December Callahan entered into negotiations with the American Association to purchase the St. Paul club and move it to Chicago. The plan was for him to become president and field manager. Cubs’ owner Charles Murphy had a strong reaction to this possibility. The plan fell through though. (The idea would be raised again at the end of 1909 but with Johnny Kling taking the place of Callahan)
1908
In March 1908 Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers and Tommy Leach of the Pittsburgh Pirates remit letter to Callahan inquiring of the possibility of playing with the Logan Squares in 1908. They both are using Callahan’s club as a bargaining chip in contract negations with their teams. Cobb had already rejected a $3,000 offer by Tigers owner Frank Navin; he wanted a three-year deal for $5,000 per.
Callahan accompanied Washington Senators’ manager Joe Cantillon and his brother Mike Cantillon’s Minneapolis Millers to spring training in Texas in March. There, Callahan played a few games with the Millers which prompted a terse telegram from ban Johnson decrying Callahan’s ineligibility. Actually, there were no rules at the time to cover the situation; though the National Commission acted quickly to close the loophole (the soon-to-be Rule 47).
Joe Cantillon was interested in signing his good friend Callahan for the Senators but he backed off with Johnson involved (Cantillon had played with Clark Griffith in California in the early 1890s which in turn led to the friendship with Callahan).
Cantillon though did make a move that irked Johnson. He paid Callahan for pitcher Burt Keeley. Keeley was a bank clerk in Chicago making $25 a week. Callahan signed him in early 1908 to play on the weekends for $35 a week. During camp, he sold the pitcher to the Senators which upset Johnson because MLB did not recognize the contracts of semi-pro clubs; thus, Johnson fully expected Cantillon just to raid Callahan’s roster.
Initially, Callahan wanted Keeley to pitch a few games for the Logan Squares before joining the Senators; however, as not to cause the young pitcher any trouble with the National Commission Callahan backed off that agreement. Keeley made his major league debut on April 18 without any minor league experience (which wasn’t that atypical in baseball’s early decades). Callahan has also been acting as an agent for Cantillon, Comiskey, Griffith and others in signing talent for their clubs.
The Leland Giants with their powerful pitcher Rube Foster defeated the Logan Squares eight out of nine games in 1908.
On June 2 Callahan was denied reinstatement by the National Commission.
In October 1908 Comiskey gave Callahan his unconditional release in order to pave way for his reinstatement by the National Commission.
As usual, major and minor league clubs (more aptly, clubs made of an all-star squad with a good amount of players representing one team) began barnstorming after the season in 1908. The Washington Senators, Chicago White Sox, Minneapolis Millers and a smattering of other minor league players played the Logan Squares at their park in October. The Detroit Tigers were also set to do so before being warned by the National Commission.
On October 17 National League president Harry Pulliam, Johnson and a representative of commission chairman Garry Herrmann met and decided to tighten the grip on Callahan and other semi-pro clubs that utilized professionals from organized baseball.
The move was retaliation by Johnson for a bar fight at Joe Cantillon’s saloon on October 12 after the third game of the World Series. As the Washington Post stated, Callahan “whaled the tar out of Ban Johnson.”
The National Commission decided to suspend (make ineligible) members of the Senators, White Sox and Millers for playing against the Logan Squares. The also threaten the White Sox and Tigers not to participate in upcoming scheduled games with the semi-pro club.
Each player was fined $200 according to Rule 47 (adopted 5/6/1908) of the National Commission. The rule read:
No National Agreement player will be permitted at any time, either during the regular playing season or after or before the commencement thereof, to participate in any game or games with or against clubs harboring ineligible players or whose owners or manager are ineligible players. Every National Agreement player who hereafter violates this rule will be fines not less than $200 for the first offense.
Under this ruling the clubs were directed not to come to contractual terms with:
Ed Hughes, Boston Red Sox
Hub Hart, Chicago White Sox
Jesse Tannehill, Washington Senators
Jerry Freeman, Washington Senators
Jim Delahanty, Washington Senators
George McBride, Washington Senators
Bill Shipke, Washington Senators
Mike Kahoe, Washington Senators
Burt Keeley, Washington Senators
Walter Johnson, Washington Senators
Doc White, Chicago White Sox
Jake Atz, Chicago White Sox
Jiggs Donohue, Chicago White Sox
Lou Fiene, Chicago White Sox
Frank Smith, Chicago White Sox
Nick Altrock, Chicago White Sox
Billy Purtell, Chicago White Sox
Frank Owen, Chicago White Sox
Frank Roth, Chicago White Sox
Minneapolis and Milwaukee of the American Association were also directed similar with players: O’Neill, Robinson, Wheeler, Kerwin, Dougherty, Smith, Clarke, Olmstead, Hecklinger and Block. A few others were also declared ineligible from other minor league clubs.
For his part, Walter Johnson claimed he was unaware of breaking any MLB rules (Ban Johnson would return Walter’s $50 fine six years later). Eventually, the fine was lowered to $50 for each. The players began paying in January; all were reinstated prior to the 1909 season.
Callahan claims that he is being persecuted by Johnson and the baseball monopoly for merely running his business. He also makes the salient point that he has done nothing remotely as damaging to organized baseball than Johnson had asked him to do during the war between the American and National Leagues from 1900-02.
1909
In February 1909 Callahan suggested that major league baseball enter into a working agreement with his club. He was finally reinstated on March 26 with a $100 fine.
In the spring Callahan is promoting the business end of a marathon (foot race). He also manages boxing champion Jim Jefferies’ U.S. tour. Over the winters, he performs on the vaudeville circuit telling baseball stories.
In May Callahan turned down offers from Callahan (Senators) and Griffith (Reds) to join their clubs.
In July 1909 MLB formally recognizes player contracts with semi-pro clubs.
A big to-do takes place in November involving player W.A. Torrey. A dispute arose over the player between the Logan Squares, Springfield of the Three-I League, New York Giants and Cincinnati Reds. No surprise, National Commission chairman and Reds’ president Herrmann awarded the player to Cincinnati.
Johnny Kling ran into some trouble on September 7 for bringing his Kansas City club to Chicago to face the Logan Squares in a doubleheader. Kling participated in both. The Cubs would later claim he was free to do so to help ease his way back to the majors.
1910-11
Less than two months after Comiskey Park opens (7/1), the Logan Squares and Rogers Park clubs play the first night game at the park on August 27. A temporary Cahill electrical lightening system is wheeled into the park. Callahan’s club won 3-1.
On October 31 the Cubs defeated the Logan Squares 3-1.
Over the winter Comiskey approaches Callahan (with his promotional skills) to be come president of the White Sox. Callahan instead talks Comiskey into signing him as an outfielder. He formally signs on February 17, 1911. He plays two productive full seasons for the White Sox before leaving the active roster. Callahan managed the White Sox again from 1912-14 before joining Comiskey in the front office in 1915.
Jimmy Callahan joined the National League with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1894. He left the majors that year and didn’t reappear until 1897 with the Chicago Cubs. In 1901 he jumped to the American league Chicago White Sox with his good friend Clark Griffith.
Primarily a pitcher, Callahan often played the field between starts as hit bat was valued. He was essentially finished as a major league pitcher after 1902. The following year he manned third base for the White Sox. From then on he moved to left field.
Callahan took over the field manger position with Chicago in 1903 when Griifith departed for New York. After 42 (23-18 record) games in 1904 club owner Charles Comiskey replaced his manager with Fielder Jones; though Callahan remained with the club.
After the 1905 season at age 31 Callahan decided to purchase a local semi-pro club, the Logan Squares, and leave the White Sox to play for and manage the club. Of course, he was still bound by the reserve clause. When he did not report in 1906, Callahan was placed on the ineligible list; though, he remained on friendly terms with Comiskey.
Callahan’s desire to broaden his scope within the game was not atypical of the era. Many of his contemporaries, perhaps the smarter ones, which would include Griffith and Comiskey, moved into the promotional end of the game to gain a brighter financial future. However, Callahan would soon be known as the “anarchist of baseball.”
LOGAN SQUARE
Logan Square is a community located about 22 miles northwest of thee Loop in Chicago. It is bound to the east by the Chicago River. Milwaukee Avenue, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, bisects the community.
Logan Square throughout history has been heavily populated by immigrants. The community was, in increments, annexed by the city of Chicago between the 1860s and 1880s. The area’s population grew dramatically after the Fire of 1871. Since it lay outside the city’s fire limits, cheaper homes could be made in Logan Square which in turn attracted those who lived closer to the heart of the city.
The “L” train finally connected Logan Square to the rest of the city in 1890. This further spurned the building of new homes, paved streets and the impressive planted boulevard system.
BASEBALL IN CHICAGO AND THE LOGAN SQUARES
Chicago is and always has been one of, if not, the foremost baseball ravenous cities in the nation. Not only did the city support two major league clubs at the onset of the 20th century, but Chicago fans attended games for hundreds of local amateur and semi-pro clubs. In 1906 the Intercity Association included nearly 400 clubs. The number rose to 550 by 1909.
At the end of 1905 Callahan purchased the semi-pro Logan Squares and their ballpark at corner of Diversey and Milwaukee Avenues. Within a year he built perhaps the premier semi-pro club in the United States.
Callahan’s first order of business was to establish a league. It took some cajoling in 1905 and into 1906, but the Chicago City League was established with ten clubs. It became a model for city competition throughout the country, especially after the Logan Squares defeated both World Series opponents in late 1906.
Callahan and the Logan Squares made a lot of money playing local semi-pro, college, black, minor league and even major league clubs during Callahan’s tenure which lasted through 1910. The club only played on the weekends, usually once each day. Crowds of 5,000 were not uncommon. It was not unheard of to draw over 10,000 to Logan Squares Park for heated contests against black clubs, such as, the Chicago-based Leland Giants.
The cash inflow and Callahan’s connections led to the hiring of and competing against some of the top talent in the country, professional or otherwise. It really established the Logan Squares in a special category hovering between semi-pro and professional (like many of the black clubs of the pre-Negro league era). This set Callahan on a collision course with organized baseball, a course that at various times would work to the benefit and/or detriment of each.
Team photo:
http://books.google.com/books?id=74Gb4JYii_8C&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=%22logan+squares%22+callahan&source=web&ots=vwZEdVmDg1&sig=JrA939FzucnGBUx-QO6It3VXjws&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result
FAMILIAR NAMES TO PLAY FOR THE LOGAN SQUARES
Artie Bell, 1907
Ossie Bluege, after Callahan owned the club
Jimmy Callahan, 1906-10
Mike Donlin, 1907
Phil Douglas, after Callahan owned the club
Frank Erickson, minor league catcher
Lou Fiene, 1906
Tom Hughes, 1906
Burt Keeley, 1908, under contract to Logan Squares but did not play
Vive Lindaman, 1906
Joe Magero, mascot in 1906, joined the Cubs in 1907 through death in 1912
Moose McCormick, 1907
Bill McGill, 1907
Frank McNichols, minor league third baseman
Bob Meinke, 1908
Johnny Rigney, after Callahan owned the club
Percy Skillen, Dartmouth pitcher and captain, 1907
Jake Stahl, 1907
Hippo Vaughn, after Callahan owned the club
Buck Weaver, after Callahan owned the club
Jimmy Wiggs, minor league pitcher, 1908
Many other professionals played either under their own name or an assumed name for the Logan Squares. Ty Cobb and Tommy Leach also contacted Callahan to potentially join the club in 1908 if their contract negotiations fell through with their major league clubs.
1906
Comiskey still attempted to re-sign Callahan; he needed an outfielder. A Roger Clemens-type offer was even made for Callahan to play for the Sox when he wanted – during games that didn’t interfere with his Logan Squares’ commitment. Callahan would relent near the end of the year and sign with Comiskey which itself would cause significant problems.
On September 10, 1906 Lou Fiene was fined by the National Commission for playing with the Logan Squares.
On Saturday October 20 Callahan pitched the Logan Squares to a 2-1 victory over the newly-crowned World Champion Chicago White Sox in front of 5,000 fans at Logan Squares Park. Nick Altrock was on the mound for the White Sox.
The following day Tom Hughes pitched the Logan Squares to a 1-0 victory over Miner Brown and the National League champion Chicago Cubs. Brown threw a wild pitch in the tenth inning which allowed the game’s only run. The Cubs roster though was filled out with an all-star squad. Nevertheless, the 8,000 in attendance stormed the field in enthusiasm. Callahan, disheveled and with a torn jersey, barely made it out alive in all the excitement; a police escort was required to rush him to safety.
Hughes had recently joined the Logan Squares after being suspended at the end of the season by Washington manager Jake Stahl for excessive drinking.
Six days later, after seeing the success Callahan was having with his semi-pro club, his good friend Cap Anson announced his intention to field a club in the Chicago City League in 1907. He teamed with wealthy local gambler Mont Tennes in doing so.
As a magnate, Callahan made particular effort to intercede on behalf of his players. He negotiated for the re-admittance of Hughes with the National Commission, organized baseball’s governing body. He won such with a $100 fine on March 30, 1907.
On November 2, 1906 the National Commission fined Vive Lindaman $100 of the Braves for playing with the Logan Squares.
On November 3 Callahan filed a $3,000-lawsuit against the Chicago White Sox for breach of contract. Comiskey had re-signed Callahan on August 31 and intended to use him for the rest of the season; however, American League president Ban Johnson refused to reinstate Callahan. Callahan was suing for six weeks pay and a World Series share. The lawsuit was directed at Johnson and his heavy-handed tactics but of course it had to be filed against the White Sox, the party to the contract.
It was later learned that Johnson never even put the request for reinstatement to a vote by the National Commission; he merely tabled it himself. The inference here was that Johnson was acting willfully to the detriment of Comiskey (and his White Sox) whom he had been having a personal feud with. For weeks, Callahan and Johnson traded barbs in the press.
1907
In January 1907 Callahan with Lou Criger began coaching the Norte Dame University baseball squad.
After a holdout from the New York Giants for all of 1906, Mike Donlin joined the Logan Squares in April 1907. Callahan had to first gain a waiver by the local Artesian club whom Donlin had also signed with. Jake Stahl also joined the club. They were both fined $100 and reinstated by organized baseball in 1908. The Giants would later claim that they gave Donlin permission to play in Chicago in order to smoothly gain his re-admittance.
On October 19 the Logan Squares fought the American League champion Detroit Tigers to an 11 inning tie at Logan Squares Park. They played again the following day. Cy Falkenberg, property of the Washington Senators, pitched the Tiger squad to a 4-0 victory over the Logan Squares and Logan Squares Park.
In December Callahan entered into negotiations with the American Association to purchase the St. Paul club and move it to Chicago. The plan was for him to become president and field manager. Cubs’ owner Charles Murphy had a strong reaction to this possibility. The plan fell through though. (The idea would be raised again at the end of 1909 but with Johnny Kling taking the place of Callahan)
1908
In March 1908 Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers and Tommy Leach of the Pittsburgh Pirates remit letter to Callahan inquiring of the possibility of playing with the Logan Squares in 1908. They both are using Callahan’s club as a bargaining chip in contract negations with their teams. Cobb had already rejected a $3,000 offer by Tigers owner Frank Navin; he wanted a three-year deal for $5,000 per.
Callahan accompanied Washington Senators’ manager Joe Cantillon and his brother Mike Cantillon’s Minneapolis Millers to spring training in Texas in March. There, Callahan played a few games with the Millers which prompted a terse telegram from ban Johnson decrying Callahan’s ineligibility. Actually, there were no rules at the time to cover the situation; though the National Commission acted quickly to close the loophole (the soon-to-be Rule 47).
Joe Cantillon was interested in signing his good friend Callahan for the Senators but he backed off with Johnson involved (Cantillon had played with Clark Griffith in California in the early 1890s which in turn led to the friendship with Callahan).
Cantillon though did make a move that irked Johnson. He paid Callahan for pitcher Burt Keeley. Keeley was a bank clerk in Chicago making $25 a week. Callahan signed him in early 1908 to play on the weekends for $35 a week. During camp, he sold the pitcher to the Senators which upset Johnson because MLB did not recognize the contracts of semi-pro clubs; thus, Johnson fully expected Cantillon just to raid Callahan’s roster.
Initially, Callahan wanted Keeley to pitch a few games for the Logan Squares before joining the Senators; however, as not to cause the young pitcher any trouble with the National Commission Callahan backed off that agreement. Keeley made his major league debut on April 18 without any minor league experience (which wasn’t that atypical in baseball’s early decades). Callahan has also been acting as an agent for Cantillon, Comiskey, Griffith and others in signing talent for their clubs.
The Leland Giants with their powerful pitcher Rube Foster defeated the Logan Squares eight out of nine games in 1908.
On June 2 Callahan was denied reinstatement by the National Commission.
In October 1908 Comiskey gave Callahan his unconditional release in order to pave way for his reinstatement by the National Commission.
As usual, major and minor league clubs (more aptly, clubs made of an all-star squad with a good amount of players representing one team) began barnstorming after the season in 1908. The Washington Senators, Chicago White Sox, Minneapolis Millers and a smattering of other minor league players played the Logan Squares at their park in October. The Detroit Tigers were also set to do so before being warned by the National Commission.
On October 17 National League president Harry Pulliam, Johnson and a representative of commission chairman Garry Herrmann met and decided to tighten the grip on Callahan and other semi-pro clubs that utilized professionals from organized baseball.
The move was retaliation by Johnson for a bar fight at Joe Cantillon’s saloon on October 12 after the third game of the World Series. As the Washington Post stated, Callahan “whaled the tar out of Ban Johnson.”
The National Commission decided to suspend (make ineligible) members of the Senators, White Sox and Millers for playing against the Logan Squares. The also threaten the White Sox and Tigers not to participate in upcoming scheduled games with the semi-pro club.
Each player was fined $200 according to Rule 47 (adopted 5/6/1908) of the National Commission. The rule read:
No National Agreement player will be permitted at any time, either during the regular playing season or after or before the commencement thereof, to participate in any game or games with or against clubs harboring ineligible players or whose owners or manager are ineligible players. Every National Agreement player who hereafter violates this rule will be fines not less than $200 for the first offense.
Under this ruling the clubs were directed not to come to contractual terms with:
Ed Hughes, Boston Red Sox
Hub Hart, Chicago White Sox
Jesse Tannehill, Washington Senators
Jerry Freeman, Washington Senators
Jim Delahanty, Washington Senators
George McBride, Washington Senators
Bill Shipke, Washington Senators
Mike Kahoe, Washington Senators
Burt Keeley, Washington Senators
Walter Johnson, Washington Senators
Doc White, Chicago White Sox
Jake Atz, Chicago White Sox
Jiggs Donohue, Chicago White Sox
Lou Fiene, Chicago White Sox
Frank Smith, Chicago White Sox
Nick Altrock, Chicago White Sox
Billy Purtell, Chicago White Sox
Frank Owen, Chicago White Sox
Frank Roth, Chicago White Sox
Minneapolis and Milwaukee of the American Association were also directed similar with players: O’Neill, Robinson, Wheeler, Kerwin, Dougherty, Smith, Clarke, Olmstead, Hecklinger and Block. A few others were also declared ineligible from other minor league clubs.
For his part, Walter Johnson claimed he was unaware of breaking any MLB rules (Ban Johnson would return Walter’s $50 fine six years later). Eventually, the fine was lowered to $50 for each. The players began paying in January; all were reinstated prior to the 1909 season.
Callahan claims that he is being persecuted by Johnson and the baseball monopoly for merely running his business. He also makes the salient point that he has done nothing remotely as damaging to organized baseball than Johnson had asked him to do during the war between the American and National Leagues from 1900-02.
1909
In February 1909 Callahan suggested that major league baseball enter into a working agreement with his club. He was finally reinstated on March 26 with a $100 fine.
In the spring Callahan is promoting the business end of a marathon (foot race). He also manages boxing champion Jim Jefferies’ U.S. tour. Over the winters, he performs on the vaudeville circuit telling baseball stories.
In May Callahan turned down offers from Callahan (Senators) and Griffith (Reds) to join their clubs.
In July 1909 MLB formally recognizes player contracts with semi-pro clubs.
A big to-do takes place in November involving player W.A. Torrey. A dispute arose over the player between the Logan Squares, Springfield of the Three-I League, New York Giants and Cincinnati Reds. No surprise, National Commission chairman and Reds’ president Herrmann awarded the player to Cincinnati.
Johnny Kling ran into some trouble on September 7 for bringing his Kansas City club to Chicago to face the Logan Squares in a doubleheader. Kling participated in both. The Cubs would later claim he was free to do so to help ease his way back to the majors.
1910-11
Less than two months after Comiskey Park opens (7/1), the Logan Squares and Rogers Park clubs play the first night game at the park on August 27. A temporary Cahill electrical lightening system is wheeled into the park. Callahan’s club won 3-1.
On October 31 the Cubs defeated the Logan Squares 3-1.
Over the winter Comiskey approaches Callahan (with his promotional skills) to be come president of the White Sox. Callahan instead talks Comiskey into signing him as an outfielder. He formally signs on February 17, 1911. He plays two productive full seasons for the White Sox before leaving the active roster. Callahan managed the White Sox again from 1912-14 before joining Comiskey in the front office in 1915.