Just another day at the ballpark

One of the goals of my soon to be published biography of longtime Brooklyn Dodger owner Charles Ebbets is to explore what it was like to own a baseball team in the first part of the 20th century.  The next few posts at A Manly Pastime will anticipate publication with brief looks at some of the challenges and issues faced by Ebbets and his peers.  Although being a baseball owner a century ago was a very different from today, there are some similarities beginning with the club owner's two primary responsibilities - providing an attractive venue and putting together competitive, if not championship teams.  Much, however, was different a hundred years ago beginning with the very nature of the baseball business. Professional baseball teams in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were very small businesses even within the context of the time.  In 1869, some seven years before the founding of the National League, railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt called the Harlem Railroad "a small thing" with "a little capital" of only $6 million.  Maybe so, but compared to the Brooklyn baseball club established 14 years later with capital of just $20,000, it was big enough.  Major league baseball teams were a mere drop of water on the vast ocean of American commerce.

National League Magnates - 1913 - Ebbets is in the second row sixth from the left

Small businesses owners typically have frequent contact with their customers and such was the case in major league baseball.  That was due not just to the relative small size of the business, but also because of the importance of the ticket buying patron.  Unlike today, there was no television or radio revenue so that the club's financial well being was almost entirely dependent on those who might or might not pay a few quarters to buy a ticket to a baseball game.  This greater degree of personal contact between owners and the fan base led to one very interesting experience for Mr. Ebbets late in his career.  Although Brooklyn's 1916 National League championship season was followed by three straight second division finishes, hopes were high for the 1920 season with Ebbets himself predicting a possible championship run.  And the Dodgers didn't disappoint getting off to a good start that had them in first place heading into a long home stand in late July. Hopes were so high, that Tom Rice of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, in what might have been a scripted interview, asked Ebbets his plans for World Series tickets.  It was an important question because Ebbets's handling of ticket prices for the 1916 Fall Classic had brought down the wrath of both the Brooklyn fans and the New York media on the Dodgers owner.

The Sun and New York Herald - August 8, 1920

Acknowledging past mistakes which he claimed had been a learning experience, Ebbets said he was planning on giving loyal fans the highest priority.  In practical terms that meant the prudent fan would be well advised to start saving ticket stubs from the upcoming home stand because the more ticket stubs, the greater the opportunity for World Series tickets.  Needless to say Ebbets knew full well the added incentive wouldn't hurt regular season gate receipts in the least, World Series or no World Series.   Unfortunately, the home stand didn't go well with the Dodgers doing no better than 5 - 7 for the first 12 games and an August 7th loss to Pittsburgh, a 7-0 whitewashing, was the last straw for some increasingly impatient fans.  It wasn't just the loss, but the nature of it that had the fans blood boiling.  Pittsburgh first five runs were not only unearned, they all scored due to Dodger errors on Pirate double steal attempts, twice with two out.  Offensively, Brooklyn suffered the ignominy of being shut out by 38 year old Babe Adams, the hero of the 1909 World Series.

Babe Adams

Today similarly disgusted fans would have been limited to using talk radio and social media to blast everyone from the owner on down.  The 1920 Dodger fan, however, had another alternative and, according to Charles Mathison in the New York Herald several hundred frustrated fans cornered Ebbets near the grandstand and peppered him "with pointed questions" for a half an hour, queries like:

"Why don't you get a catcher?"

"Why don't you hire a shortstop?"

And inevitably - "What's the use of us hoarding rain checks for a world's series?"

Somewhat surprisingly the sometimes short tempered Ebbets was more than equal to the occasion, answering each question to the best of his ability including offering fans a financial reward if they could tell him where to get a good catcher.  While the answers may not have been totally satisfactory, just paying attention clearly earned the Brooklyn magnate some credit with the fans.  Fortunately Ebbets was helped out at the end of the session by the "squeaky voice of a small boy" who wanted to know if he could ask a question.  Probably sensing what was coming Ebbets told the youngster to go ahead.  Predictably, the boy politely said he "would like to know if you will give me a pass for tomorrow."  Ebbets loathed giving out free passes (part of his somewhat undeserved reputation for cheapness), but he was also no fool so he joined in the laughter and granted the youngster's request.  Although doubtless still disappointed with their club's performance, the fans left in a better frame of mind and fortunately for everyone a 23-6 September spurt gave the Ebbets and his customers/fans the 1920 National League pennant.  On that August day, however,it was just one more, perhaps exaggerated example, of how hard Ebbets and his peers worked at keeping fans coming through the turnstiles.