The Associated Press (AP) reported the same day that Hall of Famer Joe McGinnity was released by the New York Giants that he, along with a partner had purchased an Eastern League franchise, the Newark Indians, for $50,000—more than $1.3 million in current dollars.
Joe McGinnity
The following month, The AP told how McGinnity and his co-owner, Chicago businessman Henry Clay Smith, came to be partners:
“There is an interesting story connected with the deal whereby Joe McGinnity and H.C. Smith of Chicago purchased the Newark club of the Eastern League, which reveals the identity of Mr. Smith and portrays the rise of a penniless man to a millionaire, who remained true to his first love in the baseball world.
“H.C. Smith is now a leading member of a Chicago manufacturing company, was station agent for the Chicago & Alton Railroad at Auburn, a little town south of Springfield, IL., working on a modest salary, with nothing better in view, 12 years ago…it was in those days that he learned to admire McGinnity as a ballplayer.
“That was the time when McGinnity earned the sobriquet of ‘Iron Man.’ He would work six days a week, pitching for country teams all over central Illinois, and on Sunday he would go to Springfield and play with the Springfield team.”
One of McGinnity’s teammates on that semi-pro team in Springfield was Dick Kinsella, who would become a minor league magnate and confidant of John McGraw:
“(Kinsella) remembers the connection between H.C. Smith and Joe McGinnity in the olden days.
“Smith was one of Joe’s staunchest and most consistent admirers, and from the time he first knew him until the present day, his admiration has not abated. In 1895 Smith left Auburn and went to Chicago, where he became engaged in the brokerage business, at which he prospered. Later he became connected with his present company, gradually working his way to the top, until he was a man of wealth.
“Learning that the New York Giants were going to release McGinnity, Smith at once arranged with Joe to get hold of some team, for which Smith would furnish the money. The result was the purchase of the Newark club, the dream of an ardent baseball fan and admirer brought to realization, and a home assured the famous Joe McGinnity, all through the regard, which a station agent in a country town felt for a ballplayer whom he considered the best he had ever known.”
McGinnity
The 38-year-old McGinnity started 46 games and posted a 29-16 record with a 1.66 ERA for the 2nd place Indians during his first season as co-owner and team president.
Harry Wolverton, who had been hired as manager by the previous ownership was retained by McGinnity and Smith.
Harry Wolverton
There are several versions of the story of how McGinnity came to replace Wolverton as manager late in the season—some say Wolverton was let go for trying to remove McGinnity from a game, others say Wolverton took another position. The real story, based on contemporaneous accounts in The Newark Evening News, was simply that Wolverton was injured before the team’s final road trip, and McGinnity took over. In the winter of 1909 Wolverton purchased his release and McGinnity became the team’s full-time manager.
McGinnity and Smith owned the Newark Tigers through the 1912 season. McGinnity managed the team to a second place finish in 1910 and a seventh place finish in 1911. The team joined the International League in 1912 and finished third.
McGinnity won 87 games and lost 64 in 151 starts during his four seasons in Newark.
He and Smith sold their shares in the club after the 1913 season.
Baseball History Daily 