PEDs, 1882 style

I’ll be spending next week at the beach, not thinking about you.  Nothing personal.  In the meantime, I’m leaving you with this utterly shameless advertisement for a Performance Enhancing Drug.  The horror!

THE BOSTONS WILL WIN. At last the mystery is cleared up! Everybody in two worlds knows that the Chicago Base Ball Club has carried the championship pennant for three years. It has puzzled the brilliant Bostons to account for the change. They were and are unwilling to admit that their loss of the bauble was due to superior playing by the Chicagos, and they were right in refusing to subscribe to that solution of the puzzle. Before the Bostons left Detroit they were given a hint of the cause of Chicago’s greatness on the diamond field. It is not batting; it is not base running; it is not fielding; it is not partial umpiring. In fact, none of the supposed causes have ever been at work in the case. Anson, during a recent visit to Detroit, dropped a hint to an old base ball friend named Joe Hull, and Joe, who believes in the Bostons, communicated the secret to Morrill, the natty captain of the latter nine. It is not likely that he will be able to avail himself of the disclose so as to make it serviceable this season, for the Chicagos have had too long a start in the race; but there is no doubt that with wise use of the Secret, which is now no longer a secret, Boston will next year once more carry home the banner of victory. Wouldst know why the Chicagos are the champion club of the league? No man belonging to it ever goes upon the field without having first consulted a bottle of Sanford’s Ginger.  Source:  Cincinnati Gazette September 6, 1882

I think we need to reassess Anson’s election in the Hall of Fame.