19 14 inside story of baseball world tour

The 20 14 baseball season will start this weekend, and the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks will play two regular-season games in Sydney, Australia, more than a week before the official matches of other teams. Of course, Major League Baseball wants to explain the popularity of American baseball in the world, but it has done bigger and better things before. A century ago, before the end of an international tour, the New York giants, the Chicago White Sox and jim thorpe, who were considered as the greatest athletes on earth, were both happy to have jobs.

Batter Kathy left many unsolved mysteries. The planner of the global series, the most successful coach in baseball, John McGraw of the Giants and Charles Comiskey, the owner of the White Sox, all took part in the game. 19 13 12 one night in Chicago, McGraw and Comiskey were drinking in the bar of "Smiling" mike coe Bate, and the idea of traveling around the world came into being. McGraw knows this business like the back of his hand-he is touring the variety theater for 16 weeks, and all he has to do is tell baseball stories at a high price of $3,000 a week. Comiskey is already rich, and McGraw has already arrived there, so making money is not the main motivation for traveling around the world. Both of them admired albert spalding's reputation in order to expand the influence of their sporting goods companies when they led their players on the tour of New Zealand, Australia, Egypt and Italy at 1889- 1990. McGraw and Comiskey hope to lead teams representing the two largest cities in the United States on bigger and better tours. The 25th anniversary of Spalding is coming, so it's time to release a new edition.

This is a trip envisioned by McGraw and Comiskey, which will start as a national hiking trip after the 19 13 World Series. After arriving at the west coast, the two teams and others (especially journalists) who are allowed to follow will board the ship and take them across the Pacific Ocean. The first stop of the tour group in a foreign country is Tokyo, from east to west, and the last stop is London. During this period, tourists from China, the Philippines, Egypt, Ceylon, France and other countries with at least one basic stadium will touch the ground.

McGraw and Comiskey have filled most of the existing giants' lists, while the White Sox are playing, but they have cast a wider net for some famous and more colorful players. On board were future Hall of Famer Christie Mathewson, Speaker Terry, City Farber and Sam Warhol Crawford. Among them are James "Death Valley Jim" Scott, George "Hawkes" Wilt, "Rabbit" Hearn, "Turkey" Mike Tang Lin and other nicknames suitable for their personalities.

The most famous is jim thorpe. He is considered to be the greatest athlete in the Stockholm Summer Olympic Games in 19 12 and the most notorious athlete in the world in 19 13. In June+10 of that year, the Worcester Telegraph reported that Thorpe played professional baseball in the East Carolina League a few years ago and earned $2 per game. Subsequent headlines prompted amateur sports federations to start disciplinary action, which would lead to Thorpe being deprived of medals. Thorpe just got married and needs to make a living. He gladly accepted a three-year contract with the New York Giants, with an annual salary of 6,000 Australian dollars, 19 13 years, and most of the players were paid less than 2,000 Australian dollars. At the end of the season, the Giants topped the national league with a record of 10 1 5 1, and played against the Philadelphia track and field team in the world series of 19 13. As a world champion coach, McGraw has a dream of traveling around the world in his mind, but the track and field team won the championship in five games. The last 3-/kloc-0-0 defeat was particularly exciting for McGraw, because according to * * *, McGraw's team made a "stupid mistake" and was ordered to suspend by 40-year-old pitcher plank.

However, the Giants are still the biggest names in baseball. (White Sox t 78-74, ranked fifth in the American League) This highly anticipated tour finally started on June 10, and 18 defeated Cincinnati, just one week after the end of the World Series.

What profit can players get from it? No, according to James E. Elvers, the author's final account tour ended all tours, and players actually had to pay to participate. Elvas wrote:

They have to spend hundreds of dollars to book their tourist attractions. When they boarded the Japanese Queen, the crew got their reserve fund, plus a matching tour fee-they had to pay $250 and then get $500. The money earned by traveling around the world this time-and it is considerable-is divided into three parts after paying the expenses. Comiskey, McGraw and [Comiskey's confidant and promoter Jimmy "Xie Ni"] Callahan got all the profits. I'm sure that the players think that travel itself is a bonus, but in the annual series of Chicago City, the losing part, including some players on the tour, earns more money than they risk their lives all over the world. They stopped in Peoria, Springfield, Tulsa, Sioux City and El Paso to watch the game, and then went to the West Coast, where they walked from San Diego to Seattle. Considering that the farthest Western Major League team at that time was the St. Louis Cardinals (19 13 lost 99 games), the audience on the coast was particularly happy. The Los Angeles Times reported the match of165438+10.8. "Many people were found struggling continuously, trying to separate themselves from money. The game goes on until everyone succeeds in doing this, and probably no one will be disappointed. On February 9th, 65438, the giant boarded the Japanese Empress and set sail to visit 13 countries, with a journey of more than 30,000 miles, mainly through waterways and railways. Decades later, wealthy owners flocked to private jets. The notorious thrifty Komsky provided most of the $90,000 for chartering ships, and brought a letter of credit of $65,438+026,5438+00,000 to pay for additional travel expenses. Komsky is also a well-known shrewd businessman, and his return on investment will be high. For them, many players who have never left the United States before know that this is their only chance to see the world. Why not make it with a dime in Comiskey when new york and Chicago miss winter?

But in Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka) (the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library in Kuypus, new york), group portraits were taken in the western Pacific and subcontinent countries. Players from these countries were fascinated as soon as they got there. On their way to Japan, they met a typhoon at the end of the season, which set off a 60-foot-high wave on the ship. They were very happy when they arrived in Tokyo. The first game was attended by 5,000 Japanese fans, and the second game was held by 7,000 people, all in a small stadium. Elvas wrote: "The space is so superior that many fans sit on bamboo mats and squeeze into any open space." . "For Americans, all this is very exciting and overwhelming." And then for China,

Thorpe proved to be a special attraction in front of the gate. For foreign fans, he is still the greatest athlete in the world. He was touted by advertisements and newspapers as the greatest athlete in the world. Few people know that in the 19 13 season, he only participated in the 19 giant game and played very weakly. More romantic lovers are excited to say that this is also a honeymoon trip, because Ina Thorpe traveled with her husband. When two ships approached the Shanghai dock, the waiting crowd shouted, "Thorpe! Thorpe! Thorpe! " The great baseball player with him is considered to be only a member of the king's court. After KDSP "KDSP" docked in Hong Kong-where doctors had to prove that no tourists were infected with smallpox-the tourists arrived in Manila. In a ghost article published by * * *, John McGraw experienced many exciting events when I didn't have a B-ball, which gave me a real * * *, but I never felt so excited as when the world tourists came here yesterday. "They were welcomed by enthusiastic cheering people. Many Filipinos have never seen a baseball game before. Maybe they don't know why they cheered, but there were also many American soldiers present, and then they were at the baseball field.

The team was discovered in Brisbane, Australia in the New Year. Sam Crawford, who got lost, was used to the cold weather in January. He said, "This is a beautiful city, but it snows occasionally." There was a game there, and then the trouble of traveling got them into trouble: after two games in Sydney, on June 9, 65438/kloc-0, the Morning Post reported, "If the audience expected by more than 10,000 people in Sydney cricket field is not worth mentioning, tourists don't have to worry about whether their colorful adventures will succeed." Even McGraw was moved and shouted at the audience, "I love Australians!

Starting from Sydney, the team boarded the train to Adelaide in Melbourne, but due to the delay, the journey became 18 hours. The match had to be cancelled so that the team could attack the Royal Mounted Police or India, which prompted Adelaide advertisers to title an article as "Bad tourists; Local baseball players are excluded. "

A long voyage, including 65438+1October 20th, took the team to Ceylon, where the tea tycoon Sir Thomas Lipton met them. The race was held at Victoria Garden Racecourse. The puzzled audience wondered why they didn't watch the cricket match. 65438+1On October 23rd, the troupe went to the Middle East.

The two Olympic Games opened in Cairo in February. For players, what is more exciting than the game itself is to visit the pyramids, especially the sphinx. For the latter, the uniqueness of this visit is to watch the Giants catcher Ivy Wingo throw a baseball at the Sphinx from 65,438+000 yards away, and then the Red Sox outfielder Steve Evans catches it on the other side. Afterwards, the tourists boarded the German liner Prinz Heinrich bound for Naples. After staying in Rome for three days, the travelers met Pope Pius X there. They went to Nice and then to Paris. The heavy rain washed away the game there, but McGraw, Comiskey and the players went to watch the game without fear.

In Rome, the players went to see the Pope. (Kuijpers National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, new york) England is the last stop. In front of 20,000 spectators, including King George V, Britain beat the Giants 5-4 in the game 1 1. When McGraw and Comiskey were introduced to the king who wore a black derby and a dark suit and had never participated in a sports event at Chelsea Stadium, they cheered him three times, then accepted one of his goals and started the game. After the game, King George sent a message: "Tell Mr. McGraw and Mr. Comiskey that I enjoyed the game very much."

Finally, on February 28th, the tired traveler should go home. They did it in a very fashionable way-they boarded the Lusitania, which will be sunk by a German torpedo the next year, and 1 198 passengers will be killed. On March 7th, a banquet was held in new york to welcome travelers home. Three days later, Comiskey held a second banquet in Chicago.

Did the players finally go home? No, because spring training has already started. Undoubtedly, in this successful and exhausting tour, the New York Giants ended their 10.5 season with 19 14. The performance of the White Sox was even worse. The newly named new york Yankees tied for sixth place with a score of 70-84, 30 games behind the track and field team. However, as McGraw wrote after the last London game, "this game is very suitable for the great tour, and it has been a success in every game." In my opinion, the most noteworthy thing about this trip is that all the scenic spots we visited expressed the beautiful feelings of the nation.