Written by Brendan H.
Bread and circuses? The pursuit of great wealth at all costs, unscrupulous though the methods may have been had been a successful one for Alexander Bingley. The son of an Episcopalian clergyman, the native New Yorker had treated the accumulation of vast sums of capital as his divine right throughout his lifetime. He started his impressive career in the backbone of the American capital markets—serving as an errand boy at the age of 14 before becoming a member of the New York Stock Exchange in his late teens. He would later use the wealth earned on Wall Street by acquiring, rehabilitating, and then selling flagging railroad lines—always at considerable profit.
Throughout his journey to the peak of capitalism—a journey aided by price-fixing, stock manipulation, collusion, bribery, and blackmail—one thing had become clear about the native-born Midas, Mr. Bingley: he was not to be trifled with and knew no boundaries in his pursuit of profit.
When the man who’s name had become synonymous with the phrase “robber baron” acquired a New York baseball organization of affiliated ball clubs in order to form a national caliber team to compete in Michael Monroe’s new baseball venture, those that had done business with Mr. Bingley in the past rightly assumed that he had done so in further pursuit of making money. Others assumed that he had done so to help rehabilitate his public image and to associate his name with America’s beloved sport in order to whitewash his own sullied reputation. While Bingley’s true motivations cannot be known, his actions suggest that both theories may ultimately be true.
Prior to the inaugural 1895 LBL season, Bingley acquired the plot of land for, and constructed, Kings Park using the proceeds of an insurance policy purchased on a dilapidated railyard that had burned under mysterious circumstances. Using his virtual monopoly on local New York talent to exact concessions from the new league, Bingley has been able to secure a larger percentage of the gate than his league rivals for games played in his ostentatious park.
Naming his New York club the “Kings,” a choice that would not have even been of interest in the burgeoning field of psychoanalysis given its obvious roots in his ego, Mr. Bingley has encouraged his players to pursue fame and celebrity and, most crucially, to reference Mr. Bingley’s largesse frequently. Conversely, the Kings are the only LBL ballclub known to include non-disparagement clauses regarding club ownership in their contracts. Breach of these clauses is thought to carry with them significant penalties, although no reporter can get any current or former players to comment on the nuances of the contract in any detail.