Community Relations in Rochester, 1896
The 1896 Rochester Blackbirds battled the Providence Grays for the Eastern League championship all season—Providence ended up winning the pennant—but four Rochester players apparently found time for off-field activities as well.
The following spring The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle said:
“Joseph Smith is suing his wife for divorce and has named these ballplayers as co-respondents: Willie Calihan, Charlie Dooley, Tommy Gillen and ‘Sun’ Daly.”
By the time Mr. Smith filed for divorce, Gillen and Daly were with the Scranton Red Sox.
Sun Daly
Baseball’s Biggest Fan, 1899
Joseph Allen Southwick might have invented baseball tourism. The Associated Press told his story in 1899:
“Southwick, who is a merchant, probably holds the record for traveling the most miles each year to enjoy the game of baseball. He usually travels 5,000 each baseball season to see the great American game, but this year he will close with some miles over 6,000.”
Southwick, who was in his 60s, “acquired his fondness for the game when the old Athletic Club men were the heroes of the diamond.”
He “(H)as gone as far west as Pittsburgh…as far south as Baltimore and Washington, as far east as Boston, and has made many trips to New York, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn.”
Southwick
“He has a wonderful memory for baseball facts and can describe with considerable gusto celebrated plays and games which were made a quarter of a century ago. He has no other hobby than going to see a baseball match, which is his only recreation.”
But, The AP said he was not a stereotypical 19th Century “Crank;”
“Mr. Southwick does not ride on a free pass, never ‘roots’ nor bets on the game. He has only a limited acquaintance with baseball players and, as a rule, goes to the baseball game and leaves the grounds without exchanging conversation with anybody.”
The story concluded:
“When the items of railroad fare, meals, and hotel fares are considered in connection with Mr. Southwick’s baseball enthusiasm, it gives him the distinction of spending more money than any other enthusiast in the country.”
Southwick, who owned three dry goods stores in Trenton—The Southwick Combination Stores–lived for another decade. His obituary in The Trenton Times failed to mention his interest in baseball.
Caylor on Welch, 1893
In a column in September of 1893, in The New York Herald, OP Caylor shared a warning for players:
O.P. Caylor
“Among the announcements recently made in the news columns of trade depression was one that the pottery hands in an East Liverpool (OH) yard had their wages reduced to $1.25 for a day of 10 hours. Among these laborers who thus suffered was Curtis Welch, the once famous outfielder of the equally famous St. Louis Browns. Only a few years ago he was acknowledged to be the greatest outfielder playing ball, and he held his club to his own terms every year. The St. Louis officials were glad to pay him as much an hour for his work then as he earns now in a week.
Curt Welch
“But like many other brilliant players who have wrecked their own lives, Welch took to drink and his downfall was rapid. Now he is laboring for the means to keep life in his body.”
Welch was released by the Louisville Colonels in May and returned home to East Liverpool to work as a potter. He returned to professional baseball in 1894 and 1895 in the Eastern and Pennsylvania State Leagues, but became ill and died of Tuberculosis in 1896.
Frank Hough of The Philadelphia Inquirer said of news of Welch’s death:
“(W)as sad but not unexpected…Poor Curt! He had the besetting weakness of many another gifted ballplayer, and to that unfortunate weakness his untimely death may be attributed.”
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