From nationalpastime.com:
January 17, 1916 "The Giants buy Benny Kauff, the Federal League's best player, from the Brooklyn Tip-Tops for $35,000. The 26-year-old center fielder's first three seasons with New York are solid, but the trash-talking fly chaser will never live up to his reputation of being the 'Ty Cobb of the Feds.' "
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He said 'all pitchers will be easy.' How'd it go?
https://www.mlb.com/news/benny-kauff...y-trash-talker
Excerpts from the www.mlb.com article:
"If you didn't know it really happened, you'd assume it's fiction. It feels more like a novel or a movie, like some kind of tragicomedy from the Coen Brothers about a simple man who got in over his head and couldn't get ahead no matter what. That's how best to describe Benny Kauff's life and baseball career."
"He was known as "the Ty Cobb of the Federal League" -- at least, that's how Kauff and the many eager sportswriters who enjoyed listening would tell it. Kauff was a phenomenally gifted ballplayer, with a mouth that moved even faster than he did on the basepaths. It was enough to eventually earn him the nickname "The Shrinking Violet" for the love he had of hearing himself speak."
"..he finally got his chance with the Yankees -- but just barely. He played in only five games and received 14 at-bats. But Kauff wanted to play more and he thought he should be playing a lot more."
"When I was sent to Bridgeport last year," Kauff said in Spring Training, "I told you fellows that I would be back in the big league [sic] within a year or two." He then called out the Yankees outfielders, telling them, "I am going to give you an awful tussle for a berth in the outfield."
"...Kauff made a big decision...one of the first that would go the wrong way for him. With the birth of the upstart Federal League, he was offered double his previous salary to join the Indianapolis Hoosiers for the 1914 season. Who wouldn't do such a thing -- make more money and take on a better job? So, of course, Kauff joined up with the nascent Major League."
"For a time, it worked and Kauff was a sensation in the league. He hit .370, stole 75 bases, and fully lived up to the way he carried himself."
"“Having seen him in civilian array, we are undecided whether Benny Kauff is a better show on or off,” newspaper reporter Damon Runyan wrote. “In his working apparel he is a companion piece to Tyrus Raymond Cobb and Tris Speaker, while in his street make-up he is a sort of Diamond Jim Brady reduced to a baseball salary size.”
"When the Hoosiers moved the following year to Newark, Kauff was transferred to the Brooklyn Tip-Tops -- named after a bread manufacturer at the time -- to help pay off the Indianapolis owners' debts. Kauff thought that made him a free agent, and the New York Giants wanted his services. So, Kauff and his big mouth -- he made the superhuman claim that he would “bunt a home run into that right-field stand every day" -- signed a three-year contract."
"It would all seem like the talented center fielder was ready to make his mark. But when the Giants took the field against the Braves that April, the Braves protested. They said he was under contract from the "outlaw league" and therefore was ineligible to play. National League president John Tener agreed and voided the contract. Kauff was off the Giants and back with the Tip-Tops. (If it was any consolation, Kauff probably didn't need to move homes -- even though the two stadiums couldn't be farther apart with the Polo Grounds near the top of Manhattan and the Tip Tops playing in what is now the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn.)"
"This time around, he hit .342 and led the Federal League with 55 steals. So, when the league folded at the end of the year, he and the rest of the players who had jumped ship were forgiven. Kauff was finally able to sign with the Giants and show that he could be a star anywhere he played. Sportswriters agreed, with one saying that his name in the lineup alone could draw about 1,500 extra fans to the stadium every game. Kauff certainly didn't hurt that cause by generating headlines like "All pitchers will be easy."
"When asked if he thought he could make the Giants team that spring, Kauff snorted. "Will I make the team? Well, I'll make them forget that a guy named Ty Cobb ever pulled on a baseball shoe. I'll make them think that baseball never was played before Benny Kauff stepped into the game. I'll hit so many balls into the grandstand that the management will have to put screens up in front to protect the fans and save the money that lost balls will cost."
"Unfortunately, while Kauff may have some of the greatest quotes in big league history, his performance didn't quite back it up. He was still a solid and productive player for the Giants and was well-liked by the fans -- even getting called "one of the most likable players that ever wore a white uniform at the Polo Grounds." But he didn't make people forget Ty Cobb or wonder if baseball was even a sport before he came around."
"Soon, though, Kauff found himself in trouble again. This time, it was too much and he wound up banned from baseball."
"There were already rumors swirling regarding Kauff's association with gamblers and the possibility that he requested a bribe of $50,000 to throw a game. But it's also true that Kauff once reported an attempted bribe to his manager, John McGraw, so perhaps it was all a misunderstanding. It's murky enough at a time when lots of players were offered bribes that it's tough to be sure what exactly Kauff's role in all this was."
"Kauff was sent to the Giants farm club in Toronto, with the expectation that they would bring him back in 1921, likely when everything blew over, but the case was still not solved by the end of the season.""When the case finally wrapped up in May, the jury deliberated for less than an hour before finding Kauff not guilty. Now, you would think that meant Kauff could return to the sport, but Landis disagreed. He didn't like the company that Kauff kept and thought that Kauff's presence in a big league lineup would "inevitably burden patrons of the game with grave apprehension as to its integrity.”
"That was it: Kauff and his hyperbolic quotes were banned from baseball. Kauff wanted to get back into the game, even countersuing Landis to plead his case. No amount of lawsuits or begging could get Landis to change his mind. Kauff was out at the age of 30."
"He hung around the game that didn't want him, though. Kauff remained a scout for the next 22 years before finally, and perhaps fittingly given his outlandish outfits, becoming a clothing salesman."
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From nationalpastime.com:
January 17, 1922 "In appellate court denies Benny Kauff's appeal for reinstatement as a major league player. Due to the acquittal of the auto theft charges brought against him, the former Giant outfielder believed Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis should have reversed the decision to banish him from the game."
============================================================================================================
Benny Kauff
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/benny-kauff/
Excerpts from the sabr.org article:
"A flashy dresser and world-class trash talker, Benny Kauff was the Deion Sanders of the Deadball Era. “I’ll make them all forget that a guy named Ty Cobb ever pulled on a baseball shoe,” the brash 26-year-old told reporters on his arrival with the New York Giants in 1916. Kauff’s boastfulness was not without some justification. Dubbed “The Ty Cobb of the Federal League,” Kauff was the most heralded young player of his generation, a five-tool star whose unique combination of speed and power defied his stocky 5’8″ frame. Though he performed well in the National League’s faster company, Kauff never did match the high expectations he and others had set for him, and his career ended prematurely in 1921 with his controversial banishment from the game."
"The New York Highlanders invited Kauff to spring training in 1911. Noting the lefthander’s rifle arm and brilliance with the bat, manager Hal Chase projected him as an outfielder. But he also decided Kauff was too green for the majors and sent him down to Bridgeport of the Connecticut State League, where Kauff established himself as one of the league’s most promising young players. The Highlanders looked him over again in 1912, then farmed him out after he appeared in all of five games. This time he wound up with Hartford, where he led the Eastern Association with a .345 batting average in 1913. That performance caught the attention of the St. Louis Cardinals, who planted Kauff with Indianapolis of the American Association, hoping they could hide him there until they needed his services."
"...Kauff was a hell of a lot of fun, and the New York Giants wanted him. After the 1914 season, the Federal League’s Indianapolis franchise shifted to Newark, but Kauff found himself transferred to the Brooklyn Tip Tops as repayment of the outgoing Indianapolis owner’s old debts."
"...Kauff’s own dishonesty soon began to surface. Billy Maharg, one of the conspirators who helped fix the 1919 World’s Series, later claimed that Kauff had taken part in that scheme, and Arnold Rothstein, the notorious gambler who bankrolled the operation, reportedly told American League president Ban Johnson that Kauff had asked him for $50,000 in bribe money to give to the players prior to the Series."
"Kauff died on November 17, 1961, after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage."
============================================================================================================
Brooklyn Tip-Tops
https://everipedia.org/Brooklyn_Tip-Tops
Excerpt from the sabr.org article:
"The Brooklyn Tip-Tops were a team in the short-lived Federal League of professional baseball from 1914 to 1915. The team's name came from Tip Top Bread, a product of Ward Baking Company, which was also owned by team owner Robert Ward. [1] [2] They were sometimes informally called the Brooklyn Feds or BrookFeds due to being the Brooklyn team of the Federal League. They played in Washington Park, which the Brooklyn Dodgers had abandoned after the 1912 season to move to Ebbets Field."
============================================================================================================
The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs
https://sabr.org/journal/article/the...se-ball-clubs/
Excerpts from the sabr.org article:
"In the spring of 1913, the Organized Base Ball monopoly seemed to have very successfully driven the “outlaw” organizations to cover. An eastern-based United States League was in the process of organization, but with little financial backing, and appeared— rightly—to have little future stability. In fact, no club would play more than two of the scheduled games before the league wilted into the dust This league may still be “operating”—it was never formally disbanded!"
"Appearances are often deceiving, for, on March 8, 1913, John T. Powers called a meeting of interested baseball investors in Indianapolis; a new Federal League of Base Ball Clubs was formed, with Powers as President. Powers had been the president of the 1912 Columbian League, and was said to be connected with the USL Pittsburgh franchise which was reputed to have gained a profit before the US League fell apart."
"Franchises were issued to Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis (each home of at least one major league team) and Indianapolis, which was an American Association franchise. Two more franchises were to be placed by President Powers, with Detroit the most favored location."
January 17, 1916 "The Giants buy Benny Kauff, the Federal League's best player, from the Brooklyn Tip-Tops for $35,000. The 26-year-old center fielder's first three seasons with New York are solid, but the trash-talking fly chaser will never live up to his reputation of being the 'Ty Cobb of the Feds.' "
============================================================================================================
He said 'all pitchers will be easy.' How'd it go?
https://www.mlb.com/news/benny-kauff...y-trash-talker
Excerpts from the www.mlb.com article:
"If you didn't know it really happened, you'd assume it's fiction. It feels more like a novel or a movie, like some kind of tragicomedy from the Coen Brothers about a simple man who got in over his head and couldn't get ahead no matter what. That's how best to describe Benny Kauff's life and baseball career."
"He was known as "the Ty Cobb of the Federal League" -- at least, that's how Kauff and the many eager sportswriters who enjoyed listening would tell it. Kauff was a phenomenally gifted ballplayer, with a mouth that moved even faster than he did on the basepaths. It was enough to eventually earn him the nickname "The Shrinking Violet" for the love he had of hearing himself speak."
"..he finally got his chance with the Yankees -- but just barely. He played in only five games and received 14 at-bats. But Kauff wanted to play more and he thought he should be playing a lot more."
"When I was sent to Bridgeport last year," Kauff said in Spring Training, "I told you fellows that I would be back in the big league [sic] within a year or two." He then called out the Yankees outfielders, telling them, "I am going to give you an awful tussle for a berth in the outfield."
"...Kauff made a big decision...one of the first that would go the wrong way for him. With the birth of the upstart Federal League, he was offered double his previous salary to join the Indianapolis Hoosiers for the 1914 season. Who wouldn't do such a thing -- make more money and take on a better job? So, of course, Kauff joined up with the nascent Major League."
"For a time, it worked and Kauff was a sensation in the league. He hit .370, stole 75 bases, and fully lived up to the way he carried himself."
"“Having seen him in civilian array, we are undecided whether Benny Kauff is a better show on or off,” newspaper reporter Damon Runyan wrote. “In his working apparel he is a companion piece to Tyrus Raymond Cobb and Tris Speaker, while in his street make-up he is a sort of Diamond Jim Brady reduced to a baseball salary size.”
"When the Hoosiers moved the following year to Newark, Kauff was transferred to the Brooklyn Tip-Tops -- named after a bread manufacturer at the time -- to help pay off the Indianapolis owners' debts. Kauff thought that made him a free agent, and the New York Giants wanted his services. So, Kauff and his big mouth -- he made the superhuman claim that he would “bunt a home run into that right-field stand every day" -- signed a three-year contract."
"It would all seem like the talented center fielder was ready to make his mark. But when the Giants took the field against the Braves that April, the Braves protested. They said he was under contract from the "outlaw league" and therefore was ineligible to play. National League president John Tener agreed and voided the contract. Kauff was off the Giants and back with the Tip-Tops. (If it was any consolation, Kauff probably didn't need to move homes -- even though the two stadiums couldn't be farther apart with the Polo Grounds near the top of Manhattan and the Tip Tops playing in what is now the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn.)"
"This time around, he hit .342 and led the Federal League with 55 steals. So, when the league folded at the end of the year, he and the rest of the players who had jumped ship were forgiven. Kauff was finally able to sign with the Giants and show that he could be a star anywhere he played. Sportswriters agreed, with one saying that his name in the lineup alone could draw about 1,500 extra fans to the stadium every game. Kauff certainly didn't hurt that cause by generating headlines like "All pitchers will be easy."
"When asked if he thought he could make the Giants team that spring, Kauff snorted. "Will I make the team? Well, I'll make them forget that a guy named Ty Cobb ever pulled on a baseball shoe. I'll make them think that baseball never was played before Benny Kauff stepped into the game. I'll hit so many balls into the grandstand that the management will have to put screens up in front to protect the fans and save the money that lost balls will cost."
"Unfortunately, while Kauff may have some of the greatest quotes in big league history, his performance didn't quite back it up. He was still a solid and productive player for the Giants and was well-liked by the fans -- even getting called "one of the most likable players that ever wore a white uniform at the Polo Grounds." But he didn't make people forget Ty Cobb or wonder if baseball was even a sport before he came around."
"Soon, though, Kauff found himself in trouble again. This time, it was too much and he wound up banned from baseball."
"There were already rumors swirling regarding Kauff's association with gamblers and the possibility that he requested a bribe of $50,000 to throw a game. But it's also true that Kauff once reported an attempted bribe to his manager, John McGraw, so perhaps it was all a misunderstanding. It's murky enough at a time when lots of players were offered bribes that it's tough to be sure what exactly Kauff's role in all this was."
"Kauff was sent to the Giants farm club in Toronto, with the expectation that they would bring him back in 1921, likely when everything blew over, but the case was still not solved by the end of the season.""When the case finally wrapped up in May, the jury deliberated for less than an hour before finding Kauff not guilty. Now, you would think that meant Kauff could return to the sport, but Landis disagreed. He didn't like the company that Kauff kept and thought that Kauff's presence in a big league lineup would "inevitably burden patrons of the game with grave apprehension as to its integrity.”
"That was it: Kauff and his hyperbolic quotes were banned from baseball. Kauff wanted to get back into the game, even countersuing Landis to plead his case. No amount of lawsuits or begging could get Landis to change his mind. Kauff was out at the age of 30."
"He hung around the game that didn't want him, though. Kauff remained a scout for the next 22 years before finally, and perhaps fittingly given his outlandish outfits, becoming a clothing salesman."
============================================================================================================
============================================================================================================
From nationalpastime.com:
January 17, 1922 "In appellate court denies Benny Kauff's appeal for reinstatement as a major league player. Due to the acquittal of the auto theft charges brought against him, the former Giant outfielder believed Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis should have reversed the decision to banish him from the game."
============================================================================================================
Benny Kauff
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/benny-kauff/
Excerpts from the sabr.org article:
"A flashy dresser and world-class trash talker, Benny Kauff was the Deion Sanders of the Deadball Era. “I’ll make them all forget that a guy named Ty Cobb ever pulled on a baseball shoe,” the brash 26-year-old told reporters on his arrival with the New York Giants in 1916. Kauff’s boastfulness was not without some justification. Dubbed “The Ty Cobb of the Federal League,” Kauff was the most heralded young player of his generation, a five-tool star whose unique combination of speed and power defied his stocky 5’8″ frame. Though he performed well in the National League’s faster company, Kauff never did match the high expectations he and others had set for him, and his career ended prematurely in 1921 with his controversial banishment from the game."
"The New York Highlanders invited Kauff to spring training in 1911. Noting the lefthander’s rifle arm and brilliance with the bat, manager Hal Chase projected him as an outfielder. But he also decided Kauff was too green for the majors and sent him down to Bridgeport of the Connecticut State League, where Kauff established himself as one of the league’s most promising young players. The Highlanders looked him over again in 1912, then farmed him out after he appeared in all of five games. This time he wound up with Hartford, where he led the Eastern Association with a .345 batting average in 1913. That performance caught the attention of the St. Louis Cardinals, who planted Kauff with Indianapolis of the American Association, hoping they could hide him there until they needed his services."
"...Kauff was a hell of a lot of fun, and the New York Giants wanted him. After the 1914 season, the Federal League’s Indianapolis franchise shifted to Newark, but Kauff found himself transferred to the Brooklyn Tip Tops as repayment of the outgoing Indianapolis owner’s old debts."
"...Kauff’s own dishonesty soon began to surface. Billy Maharg, one of the conspirators who helped fix the 1919 World’s Series, later claimed that Kauff had taken part in that scheme, and Arnold Rothstein, the notorious gambler who bankrolled the operation, reportedly told American League president Ban Johnson that Kauff had asked him for $50,000 in bribe money to give to the players prior to the Series."
"Kauff died on November 17, 1961, after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage."
============================================================================================================
Brooklyn Tip-Tops
https://everipedia.org/Brooklyn_Tip-Tops
Excerpt from the sabr.org article:
"The Brooklyn Tip-Tops were a team in the short-lived Federal League of professional baseball from 1914 to 1915. The team's name came from Tip Top Bread, a product of Ward Baking Company, which was also owned by team owner Robert Ward. [1] [2] They were sometimes informally called the Brooklyn Feds or BrookFeds due to being the Brooklyn team of the Federal League. They played in Washington Park, which the Brooklyn Dodgers had abandoned after the 1912 season to move to Ebbets Field."
============================================================================================================
The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs
https://sabr.org/journal/article/the...se-ball-clubs/
Excerpts from the sabr.org article:
"In the spring of 1913, the Organized Base Ball monopoly seemed to have very successfully driven the “outlaw” organizations to cover. An eastern-based United States League was in the process of organization, but with little financial backing, and appeared— rightly—to have little future stability. In fact, no club would play more than two of the scheduled games before the league wilted into the dust This league may still be “operating”—it was never formally disbanded!"
"Appearances are often deceiving, for, on March 8, 1913, John T. Powers called a meeting of interested baseball investors in Indianapolis; a new Federal League of Base Ball Clubs was formed, with Powers as President. Powers had been the president of the 1912 Columbian League, and was said to be connected with the USL Pittsburgh franchise which was reputed to have gained a profit before the US League fell apart."
"Franchises were issued to Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis (each home of at least one major league team) and Indianapolis, which was an American Association franchise. Two more franchises were to be placed by President Powers, with Detroit the most favored location."
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