Below is an excerpt from the seminal account of the tenure, trials, and tribulations of the second Commissioner of the Legacy Baseball League, Jacob Parker, from esteemed baseball historian Richard Abbott. This excerpt is published with the permission of the author in connection with the release of a new edition with an all new foreword….
After the 1904 Legacy Cup was placed in the trophy room at Boeselager Stadium, many fans wondered if the four trophies would need rearrangement. Philadelphia’s front office failed to sign significant improvements. Bradley Miller was the only free agent joining their ranks. The biggest Eastern League rivals stepped up. Many saw Brooklyn’s signing of Jackie…
July 17, 1905 – by Ronald Schmidt It is challenging to stand out in a team with stars like Leo McKenzie, Moriarty Stapleton, Stephen Millington, or Enrique Johnson. It’s easy for bystanders not to notice players at all. One severely underrated player is Lambert Holmes. When Holmes joined the Brewers for the 1900 season, he…
by Steve M. The Bakers are ‘rolling’ out their new rotation and the theme is “kiddie corps’. The senior of the group is 22 years old Caleb Cooper with one year of pro ball under his belt. Caleb was a free agent signing in 1901 and is considered a true ‘dirt dog’. One of the…
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania April 15th, 1905 Early this morning, boxcar after boxcar arrived at the elevated station at 36th and Market Street, Philadelphia, offloading droves of brown-coated Soldiers armed with rifles and bayonets. In response to the growing demonstrations among various labor organizations led by the Klu Klux Klan in protest of the Inter-Racial Championship game…
Philadelphia, PA April 10th, 1905 Boeslager Stadium became the center of a complicated controversy this week as both the Mayors Office and the Brewers General Management, in conjunction with LBL Commissioner Jacob Parker, announced an official date for the re-scheduling of the first-ever inter-racial baseball game between the Legacy Baseball League and the Legacy Negro…
The Philadelphia Brewers leadership, Karl and Walter Boeselager, and Martin Pitsch, sat in the German Corner Pub and read the telegram sent by the league’s front office. Senator Samuel Watson put the Inter-Racial Championship Game between the Philadelphia Brewers and the Chattanooga Nickajacks on ice. The delegation from Chattanooga was about to arrive in Philadelphia…
Having been unceremoniously sacked from Richmond in his golden years, (former) Rifles Scout Raymond Bridewell is happy to provide his picks and thoughts on the 1904 Legacy Baseball Academy League (LBAL) Draft Pool of 1904. Players are noted in no discernible order. Thoughts and opinions of Mr. Bridewell do not reflect the position(s) of the…
Madigan Hall, Manhattan, NYOctober 23rd, 1904 Just minutes after the election of Jacob M. Parker as Commissioner of the LBL, a petition was filed to the United States House of Representatives on behalf of several “concerned” owners and managers within the Legacy Baseball League, to include the Richmond Rifles, the New York Kings, and several…
October 23rd, 1904 Madigan Hall, Manhattan, NY In a shocking Dark Horse victory sweeping the baseball world, journalist Jacob M. Parker of Saint Louis defeated frontrunner Winfield S. Garrison for control of the Legacy Baseball League, collecting a late-hour majority in the final hours of voting at Madigan Hall. Parker, 48, is a cinderella candidate…