The Inside Story of the 1914 Baseball World Tour

The 2014 baseball season will kick off this weekend. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks will play two regular season games in Sydney, Australia, more than a week before other teams officially take the field. Of course, Major League Baseball hopes to illustrate the global popularity of American baseball, but it has done it bigger and better before. A century ago, an international tour wasn't over yet, the New York Giants, the Chicago White Sox, and Jim Thorpe, considered the greatest athlete on earth, was happy to have a job. RELATED CONTENT "Casey at the Bat" leaves a lot of unanswered questions

is the mastermind behind the Global Series baseball's most successful coach, John McGraw of the Giants and White Sox owner Charles Comiskey was in attendance. McGraw and Comiskey came up with the idea of ??traveling the world while drinking one night in December 1913 at "Smiling" Mike Corbett's bar on Chicago's East Side. McGraw knew the business inside and out—he was on a 16-week vaudeville theater tour, and all he had to do was tell baseball stories for $3,000 a week. Comiskey was already wealthy and McGraw was already there, so making money wasn't the primary motivation for traveling around the world. Both men envied Albert Spalding, who in 1889-1990 took his players on tours in countries including New Zealand, Australia, Egypt and Italy in order to expand the influence of his sporting goods company. And gained the reputation. McGraw and Comiskey wanted to go on a bigger, better tour with a team representing two of America's largest cities. The 25th anniversary of Spalding Adventures is coming up, so it's time for a new version.

This was the trip that McGraw and Comiskey envisioned, starting as a nationwide walking tour after the 1913 World Series. Once on the West Coast, the two teams and others allowed to follow (especially journalists) would board a ship to take them across the Pacific. The first stop of the tour group in a foreign country is Tokyo, and from east to west, the last stop is London. In between, travelers from China, the Philippines, Egypt, Ceylon, France and other countries with at least a rudimentary pitch will hit the ground running.

McGraw and Comiskey filled out most of the existing Giants roster, and the White Sox were playing, but they cast a wider slate for some notable, more colorful players. net. On board were future Hall of Famers Christy Mathewson, Speaker Terry, City Farber and Sam "Warhol" Crawford. These included James "Death Valley Jim" Scott, George "Hawkes" Wiltz, "Rabbit" Hearn, "Turkey" Mike Donlin, and other nicknames that suited their personalities.

The most famous are Jim Thorpe. He was considered the greatest athlete at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, and by 1913 he was also the most notorious athlete in the world. In January of that year, the Worcester Dispatch reported that several years earlier, Thorpe had made $2 a game playing professional baseball in the East Carolina League. The subsequent headlines prompted the Amateur Sports Federation to initiate disciplinary proceedings, which would result in Thorpe being stripped of his medals. Thorpe, newly married and needing to make a living, readily accepted a three-year contract offered by the New York Giants, paying him A$6,000 a year. In 1913, most players received salaries of A$2,000 or less. At season's end, the Giants were atop the National League with a 101-51 record, facing the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1913 World Series. As a world championship coach, McGraw had dreams of traveling the world in his head, but the track and field team won in five games. The last 3-1 loss was particularly galling for McGraw because, according to the ***, McGraw's team made "stupid mistakes" and was beaten by the 40-year-old pitcher. Plank ordered a suspension.

However, the Giants remain the biggest name in baseball. (The White Sox finished 78-74, fifth in the American League.) The much-anticipated tourney finally got underway on October 18, with an 11-2 win over Cincinnati, just a week after the World Series.

What profit do players get from this? No. According to James E. Elfers, author of The Final Account of Tours, the end of all tours is that players actually have to pay to participate. Elfers writes: They had to cough up hundreds of dollars to book their tourist spots. When they boarded the Japanese Empress, the players were given their reserve money, plus a matching tour fee—they had to take out $250 and then got $500. The money made from the trip around the world - and it was substantial - was split three ways after expenses were paid. Comiskey, McGraw and [Comiskey's crony and promoter Jimmy "Nixie"] Callahan received all the profits.

I'm sure the players consider the trip itself a bonus, but the losing portion of the Chicago City Annual Series, which includes some of the tour's players, is worth more than what they get for risking their lives across the world. More, stopping for games in places like Peoria, Springfield, Tulsa, Sioux City and El Paso before heading to the West Coast, where they traveled all the way from San Diego to Seattle. Coastside crowds were especially pleased considering the furthest Big West team at the time was the St. Louis Cardinals (who lost 99 games during the 1913 season). The Los Angeles Times reported on the November 8 game, “Many people were found standing in a line struggling desperately to separate themselves from their money. The game continued until all had succeeded in doing so, and no one could possibly Disappointed.

On December 9, the Giant boarded the Japanese Empress and set sail to visit 13 countries, traveling more than 30,000 miles, mainly by water and rail. Decades later, the wealthy owners There was a rush for private jets. The notoriously frugal Komsky provided most of the $90,000 to charter the ship and brought in a $121,000 letter of credit to cover additional travel expenses. Muskey is also known as a shrewd businessman and the return on his investment will be high) For them, many players who have never left the United States before know that this is their only chance to see the world, so why not. While Missing the New York and Chicago Winters, Do It on Comiskey's Dime Was in Ceylon (Modern Sri Lanka) (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, NY)

A collective portrait of the Western Pacific and subcontinental countries whose players were captivated upon arrival. En route to Japan, they encountered a late-season typhoon that sent 60-foot waves crashing onto the ship. They were particularly delighted to arrive in Tokyo, where 5,000 Japanese fans attended the first game and 7,000 for the second, both in small stadiums. "The space was so superior," Elvers wrote. Many fans sat on bamboo mats and crowded into any open space. ". "For Americans, this is all very exciting and overwhelming. "And then for the Chinese team,

Thorpe proved a special attraction in front of the gate. For foreign fans, he remains the greatest athlete in the world, and he is featured in advertisements and newspapers Touted as the greatest athlete in the world, few knew that he played in just 19 games for the Giants during the 1913 season and played ineffectively. More romantic fans were thrilled that this was also a honeymoon. , because Ina Thorpe was traveling with her husband. When the two ships approached the dock in Shanghai, the waiting crowd shouted: "Thorpe!" Thorpe! Thorpe! “The great baseball players with whom he was associated were considered mere members of the king’s court.” KDSPE “KDSPs” After a stop in Hong Kong—where doctors had to certify that no visitors had smallpox—the travelers arrived in Manila. In a ghost article published in ***, John McGraw During my b-ball-free days, I experienced many exciting events that gave me a real ***, but I Never have I been so excited as when the gathering of world travelers arrived yesterday. "They were welcomed by people who cheered enthusiastically. Many Filipinos had never seen a baseball game before and perhaps didn't know why they were cheering, but there were also many American military personnel present and later at the baseball stadium.

New Year in Australia Brisbane found the team. A disoriented Sam Crawford, used to the cold weather in January, said: "It's a beautiful city and it would be nice if it snowed occasionally. "A match was played there, and then travel troubles caught them up: after two games in Sydney, on January 9, the Morning Post reported, "If the expected crowd of more than 10,000 at the Sydney Cricket Ground was as enthusiastic as the visitors And thankfully, visitors don't have to worry about the success of their colorful adventure. Even McGraw was moved and shouted to the audience: "I love Australians!"

Departing from Sydney, the team boarded a train bound for Adelaide in Melbourne, but due to delays, the journey turned into an 18-hour journey. The match had to be canceled so that the team could jump on Mount Orientes for India, prompting the Adelaide Advertiser to headline an article, "Impolite tourists; local baseball player snubbed."

A long voyage, which included crossing the equator on January 20, brought the team to Ceylon, where they were greeted by tea magnate Sir Thomas Lipton, and the match was played at Victoria Gardens Racecourse, to a bewildered spectator Wonder why they don't watch cricket. On January 23, the troupe traveled to the Middle East,

Two games opened in Cairo in February. Even more exciting for the players than the game itself is visiting the pyramids, especially the Great Sphinx. For the latter, what made the visit special was watching Giants catcher Ivy Wingo throw a baseball from 100 yards out to the Sphinx and then be tackled on the other side Knicks outfielder Steve Evans caught it. The tourists then boarded the German liner Prinz Heinrich bound for Naples.

After three days in Rome, where the travelers met Pope Pius X, they went to Nice and then to Paris. Rain washed away the action there, but undaunted, McGraw, Comiskey, and the players went to watch. In Rome, the players went to meet the Pope. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, New York)

England was the final stop, defeating the Giants 5-4 in 11 innings in front of 20,000 spectators, including King George V. Team. When McGraw and Comiskey were introduced to King, who was wearing a black derby and dark suit and had never attended a sporting event at Chelsea Stadium, they gave him three cheers before accepting one of his The ball started the game. After the game, King George sent a message: "Tell Mr. McGraw and Mr. Comiskey that I enjoyed this game very much."

Finally on February 28, it was a tiring trip It's time to go home. They did so in style—they boarded the Lusitania, a luxury liner that would be sunk by a German torpedo the following year, killing 1,198 passengers. On March 7, a banquet was held in New York to welcome the House of Travels, and three days later Comiskey held a second banquet in Chicago.

Have the players finally gone home? No, because spring training has already begun. Undoubtedly a successful yet exhausting tour, the New York Giants ended the 1914 season in season 10.5. The White Sox performed even worse. The newly named New York Yankees tied 70-84 and finished sixth, 30 games behind the Athletics. Still, as McGraw wrote after the last race in London, “This race is a perfect match for a great tour that succeeds in every race.

In my opinion, the most noteworthy thing about this trip is that the beautiful national sentiments are expressed in various scenic spots we visited