Ballplayers go drinking!
“It is reported that, at the next meeting of the League, the Worcester management will report an “outbreak” in which Goldsmith and Williamson of the Chicagos participated last Wednesday night. It appears that on the night in question the two players mentioned went to a house of ill-fame in the outskirts of Worcester, where Goldsmith got drunk and knocked down two or three fellows, not of his party, who came to the house in a hack. Willilamson was not drunk, but did not turn up for duty until the next afternoon. Several of the Chicagoes had a similar “racket” last year, but it was hushed up. In the affair of last Wednesday night Hayes of the Worcester team was also mixed up, though he did not drunk.” Source: The (Philadelphia) Sunday Item September 3, 1882
My favorite part is that a bunch of ballplayers go whoring and brawling, and what people really care about is which ones were drinking. That is a fascinating snapshot of the era. This also is an interesting transitional phase. A few decades later the press would routinely suppress this sort of thing. Here we have a stage where ballplayers are prominent enough that their misdeeds are of interest, but not yet quite so important that their misdeeds cannot be reported.
Were ballplayers thought of as men of poor repute? The sort of men of whom frequenting homes of the ladies of the evening was simply to be expected? Seems so. Seems odd, though, that service of alcoholic beverages as refreshments in this sort of establishment would not also have been simply assumed to be part of the milieu.Report
“Were ballplayers thought of as men of poor repute?”
Absolutely! This would carry over well into the 20th century. There are innumerable examples of collegiate players who wouldn’t go pro because their parents insisted they not, and other cases where they used pseudonyms so as not to bring shame onto their families. There was a steady trickle of exceptions, but it was unusual to find college graduates in the professional ranks until mid-20th century. Most professional ballplayers were working class, and well paid compared to manual labor rates. Financial self-discipline was not a hallmark of the profession. The high flying ballplayer, and the bankrupt former ballplayer, were well established tropes by this time.
My take on the emphasis on who was and was not drunk is that alcohol was the hot button culture war battlefield of the day. People tend to lose sight of priorities in culture wars. It is like the old joke about the Baptist opposed to sex for fear that it might lead to dancing.Report