Happy Birthday, Major League Baseball; William Hulbert, In Memorium

You won’t find his name on MLB.com in a blustery article, and you won’t find today’s date mentioned in any major baseball article today.  Bud Selig won’t designate a day to honor his memory.  He was overlooked for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame until an act of the veteran’s committee in 1995 recognized him, ignored by Cooperstown for 113 years even though he was born two miles away in Burlington Flats, NY.  “Major League Baseball” would not exist in its current form without his contribution.  On February 2nd, 1876, in New York City, William Hulbert, of what would become the Chicago Cubs, called together the principle owners of the seminal baseball clubs in order to form what would become the National League.

Hulbert established the central authority of the league to enforce schedules, hire umpires, ensure compliance both by the owners and by the players (who, until then, habitually “jumped” contracts), and promote the integrity of the sport in the practice of the clubs and in the eyes of the buying public.  One of his early steps was to banish clubs from the two most popular baseball towns – Philadelphia and New York City – for not submitting their schedules in a timely matter.  There was to be no drinking, no gambling, and no games on Sunday.  Players would be bound to team for their entire careers, a novel concept surprisingly accepted broadly by fan, owner, and player alike, as it lent a continuity to the game never before realized.  Four men on the Louisville squad were banned for life after it was revealed they tried to throw the 1877 championship series.

“The man who saved baseball” “ruled with an iron fist“, was a “pitiless coal baron” and a “pirater of players“, and is buried beneath a baseball.  No, really.

By far the best chain of events to be found lays out the progression of reserve clauses and contracts and unions and minors, and is a great read to put the current chaos of baseball in its proper perspective.

Please enjoy, and remember, the way things are are because someone made them that way.