Kid Baldwin
Encyclopedia
Clarence Geoghan "Kid" Baldwin (October 01, 1864 – ) was a Major League Baseball
catcher
. He played seven seasons at the Major League level. In addition to playing catcher, Baldwin also played outfield
, third base
, second base and first base. He also pitched
two games in the season.
, where he attracted attention catching for a local baseball club called the Stars.
St. Louis journalist Al Spink discovered Baldwin and a pitcher
named Oberbeck on a North St. Louis lot one Sunday to fill in when a visiting team of semiprofessionals called the Eckfords who came in from Chicago, Illinois without a pitcher and catcher. Spink would later recall that Baldwin and Oberbeck were the best on the Eckfords roster.
team of the Northwestern League
in , one of the first Minor League circuits
. With Springfield he used his strong throwing arm as a pitcher rather than his traditional position, catcher. His stay in Springfield was so short that his statistics for the club were not listed in the Northwestern League's official records and not much is known of his first season in professional play. The Sporting News
years later told a story of the cocky young Kid opening what he expected to be a note from a female admirer, only to find that it actually contained his release notice. Another, more hostile source said in that Baldwin had proven himself "a fair player in the Springfield Club" but that "with his mouth he came very near breaking up the nine. Then he was bounced."
After his release from Springfield in , Baldwin joined the Quincy, Illinois
ball club, which was a lackluster team on its way to a distant last-place finish in the Northwestern League. He soon took his revenge by pitching his new team to a victory over Springfield. At Quincy, however, he returned to the position that was to become his own, playing 53 of his 73 games as a catcher. He batted
.237, a respectable number compared to the league average. Baldwin finished third at his position in fielding percentage
and began to show a formidable natural talent at catching and throwing, making him one of the brighter lights on a team that finished last in the league both in batting and fielding.
, was challenging the established National League
and American Association
, refusing to accept the validity the reserve rule in those leagues. The head of the new organization was in St. Louis, where Henry Lucas, president of the St. Louis Maroons as well as the entire Union Association, was building his Maroons into the new league's powerhouse. In February of that year, Baldwin was reported on one page of the Sporting Life as having signed his Quincy contract, while a note on another page said that he had written Lucas denying he had signed with any club but the Maroons' reserve team, that he would get his release from Quincy as soon as possible and that if he liked, he would play for St. Louis in 1884. He was intended for the reserve team Lucas was organizing to play in his ballpark while the Maroons were on the road and serve as a kind of farm club for the big team.
The Quincy ball club was still confident of holding him and refused Baldwin's offer to pay for his own release. In March the St. Louis Globe-Democrat
reported that he was in Quincy and "some say he is enamored of a young lady there and cannot be driven from that city," but Baldwin himself was still writing that he would report for duty with St. Louis. He was said to have offered Quincy $500 for his release. This was the first in a long line of incidences. At this time, it was clear that he would not be able to play for the Maroons and assured Lucas that he would be able to repay the $200 salary advance he received from the Maroons only when he began drawing his Quincy pay. At the end of July it would still be said that the debt to Lucas had not yet been repaid.
As Quincy started the Northwestern League season strong, running near the top of the league standings, Baldwin's talents began to form. Through the first three months of the season he caught nearly every game and when he didn't catch he was in the lineup at third base
or the outfield
, even pitching a few games in relief
. Despite the success of Quincy, the rest of the Northwestern League was in trouble, however. In a year when competition from the Union Association drove player salaries upward, the Northwestern's officials decided to add teams from smaller markets, possibly one of the reasons for its demise. In late July, teams began to collapse and there were rumors that Quincy was one of the teams that would not survive. On July 25 Baldwin made his last appearance in a Quincy lineup. The local media was not happy with Baldwin's decision to leave the team at a time of crisis.
His luggage was reportedly held in Quincy against an unpaid board bill. Yet there are reasons to believe Baldwin may have had legitimate reasons to feel disgruntled with his treatment by a financially challenged ball club that collapsed within two weeks of Baldwin's departure. As a result of breaking his contract, Baldwin was blacklisted by the Arbitration Committee later in .
of the Union Association
in . With the Cowboys, Baldwin batted
.198 with six doubles
and three triples
. More controversy followed about the same time when Kansas City manager Ted Sullivan
accused Billy Barnie
, the manager of the Baltimore Orioles
of the American Association
, with having reportedly made a large but unsuccessful offer to Baldwin to switch teams again and finish the season with the Orioles. The claim was shortly debunked.
He also played one game with the Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies
where in one at bat
Baldwin got one hit
.
to ask the committee for reinstatement. The Committee took this application as an opportunity to declare, "This committee will never consent to the reinstatement of any player who has deserted, or may hereafter desert, any club identified with the National Agreement."
Baldwin signed with the Milwaukee, Wisconsin
club, the Milwaukee Brewers
, another Union Association club. Baldwin then headed south to New Orleans, Louisiana
, a popular place for baseball players from the north where they would wait out the cold weather and make some money playing against local players and each other. Among the northerners in the New Orleans were several players from the Cincinnati Red Stockings
and what they saw of Baldwin's play behind the bat left them impressed and regretful that he would be unable to play with a National Agreement club.
, a journalist and club secretary who fulfilled the role of a modern general manager for the Red Stockings, later gave outfielder Charley Jones
the largest share of the credit for pressing him to find a way to sign Baldwin. Caylor was previously one of the strongest opponents of Baldwin's and any other Union Association player's reinstatement under the National Agreement.
In the Spring of the Brewers changed leagues, one under the National Agreement unlike the Union Association. Baldwin, who was still blacklisted, would be unable to play for the Brewers in the coming season. However, O. P. Caylor learned that the former Quincy stockholders would be willing to help get him off the blacklist if they got money they claimed Baldwin owed his old club. Cincinnati gave them this money, counting it as an advance against Baldwin's salary with the Red Stockings.
Word of Baldwin being reinstated caught the eyes of many ball clubs, including the Chicago White Stockings
. Knowing Baldwin's past of contract breaking, Charley Jones took suggested he take Baldwin on a trip to a remote location where even the Chicago club's exceptionally aggressive agents would not find him. When he was reinstated by the Arbitration Committee, O. J. Caylor, who was attending a meeting, instructed Jones by telegraph to sign Baldwin immediately to a Cincinnati contract. National League
president Nick Young also left the meeting room, to telegraph Chicago's club president Albert Spalding
, as Caylor suspected, but long before Chicago's agents could locate Baldwin he was signed by Cincinnati.
Milwaukee, which still held a contract with Baldwin but could not enforce it effectively because Baldwin had signed before the team brought itself under the protection of the National Agreement. To add financial loss to injury, Milwaukee then had difficulties getting the always improvident Baldwin to repay a $300 salary advance given him when he signed his contract. In late-April it was reported that he had returned the money, but almost a month later another source said the club had not yet gotten it back. Milwaukee's Media was furious about the entire situation, blaming Baldwin for the financial weakening of the ball club.
, who had set many rules for players when they were on the road. Baldwin suggested it was jealousy from Snyder reportedly saying:
After another altercation between Baldwin and pitcher Will White
where White attempted to give Baldwin advise on how to catch him, team captain Snyder decided to make Baldwin deputy captain because of the way he asserted himself. Due to Cincinnati's strong backstop position, Baldwin and fellow catcher Jimmy Peoples
were forced to try their hand at another position, pitcher.
Soon after that Baldwin was put to work practicing with Tony Mullane
, one of the American Association's best players, who had been suspended for a year over irregularities in his signing with the Reds the previous fall. By Fall Baldwin was beginning to play more frequently, and in the postseason he caught Mullane several times in the pitcher's first appearances for Cincinnati. At the end of his first season, , Baldwin hit .135 with 17 hits, one double, one home run
and eight RBIs
in 34 games.
With the addition of Tony Mullane it was generally predicted that the next season would see Cincinnati present a stiff challenge to the St. Louis Browns
, which had run away with the American Association pennant. As Mullane's batterymate, the '85 benchwarmer Baldwin was expected to be an important part of the team, sharing most of the catching duties with Jim Keenan
while the veteran Pop Snyder concentrated on leading the team as its captain. But the expectations soon turned to failure starting with the release of Larry McKeon, one of the most promising pitchers Cincinnati had. With early season losses came accusations that Tony Mullane was purposefully throwing games. soon seemed to prove it was all down hill from there.
O. P. Caylor's relationship with Baldwin started to sour. Baldwin and Caylor began the season with the agreement that Baldwin would turn his actions around, but that agreement soon fell by the wayside. Baldwin's love for the high-life and alcohol started to consume him. He was soon spending more money that he was making. As the season went on, Baldwin became an informer for the Cincinnati Enquirer, a fact of which Caylor was well aware of. This fueled a feud that Caylor and the Enquirer had for quite a while. Craylor soon used other media outlets to slam Baldwin. One instance was on June 13 at Louisville, where Baldwin was pressed into service at third base due to an injury to Hick Carpenter
. When his two errors
in three chances cost Cincinnati the game, the next day's Commercial Gazette headlined its game account, "Inexcusable Throws by Baldwin the Cause of the Defeat," which seemed like harsh treatment for a player who had been filling in at an unaccustomed position. As the season went on Caylor was replaced by Aaron Stern, former team president. This was good for Baldwin, thought the feud soon spilled over to Caylor's new ball club, the New York Metropolitans
.
The new manager Aaron Stern would soon take Baldwin under his wing. In December, reportedly on his own initiative, Baldwin took a pledge not to drink until the end of the following season and Stern then declared his intention would give him an extra $100 if he carried through on his promise. Soon Baldwin found himself with little competition for the catching duties. The veteran Snyder was sold to the Cleveland Spiders
and Jack Boyle
, another backstop with potential, was packaged with cash in order to acquire outfielder Hugh Nicol
from St. Louis in the first trade ever made between two major league teams. Only Keenan was left to share the catching with Baldwin. Baldwin did however have an early season slip up as he was caught in a raid of hundreds in a cock fighting ring. His punishment would be a $47 fine.
was the best in Baldwin's career. Baldwin hit .253 with 15 doubles, 10 triples, one home run, 57 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. Baldwin set career highs in plate appearances with 398, at bats with 388, runs with 46, hits with 98, doubles, triples, RBIs, stolen bases, batting average and slugging percentage with a .351 clip. He also limited the off-field issues that plagued him in seasons past.
The next three seasons were a disappointment compared to the last season. In February he assaulted an umpire
while playing winter ball in New Orleans, again showing his immaturity. Once the regular season began he started drinking and keeping late hours and his play failed to match the conduct of the previous year. Fines were reported and in early September when he was left home during a road trip. While teams in the 1880s routinely left a few benchwarmers at home to cut traveling expenses, this had never happened to Baldwin, and by mid-September Cincinnati media was speculating he might not return for the team in .
The speculation of Baldwin not returning was just that, speculation. Cincinnati gave Baldwin better pay than he had expected but required him to live at the same hotel as manager Gus Schmelz
. Two-thirds of the catcher's money was held out each pay day, with the agreement that he would get it back at season's end with six percent interest. The reason for this was because of Baldwin's struggles with finances. Baldwin arrived in Cincinnati in March promising to take care of himself and "try the temperance plank one season at least." But his play was again disappointing, and he found himself in the middle of controversy when the Red Stockings were said to have considered selling him to the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. According to one later account the owner Stern had turned down an offer by the Bridegrooms of $2,000; another said that Cincinnati offered Baldwin to Brooklyn but was turned down.
When the Cincinnati Red Stockings switched to the National League
and changed their name to the Cincinnati Reds
in , they replaced manager Gus Schmelz with Tom Loftus
. In what may have been an effort by the club to help keep an eye on Baldwin, the new manager moved into a house in Cincinnati's West End with the Kid as a neighbor. His conduct, like seasons past, was immature and disruptive to the team. He was connected to the usual rumors of drinking and late-night carousing, this time with the heavyweight boxer Peter Jackson
. In his final in season with Cincinnati, Baldwin hit .153 with 11 hits and 10 RBIs. He was released on July 28. In six seasons in Cincinnati Baldwin hit .224 with 312 hits, 49 doubles, 22 triples, seven home runs and 166 RBIs.
of the American Association
. The A's offered him $400 a month, $50 more than he had been getting in Cincinnati and just $100 more for the remainder of the season than an offer from Brooklyn. Baldwin started well for the Athletics but his play soon deteriorated. The Athletics, early leaders in the Association pennant race, fell apart late in the season. During this time Baldwin himself later admitted that he was drinking heavily. In his final season at the Major League level Baldwin hit .233 with 21 hits, one double, two triples and 21 RBIs. He had a combined average of .198 on the season.
A few days after the meeting, manager Billy Sharsig was to take the Athletics on a long western trip, supplementing his remaining players with new men picked up from disbanded Minor League teams
. Just before the train pulled out of the station, Sharsig handed Baldwin his unconditional release. He had learned that Baldwin had been telling people he intended to revenge himself for the Athletics' broken promises and missed paydays by staying with the team until it reached his home town of St. Louis and then leaving the team. Instead, he now found himself hundreds of miles from home, without money to get back. A furious Baldwin denounced the Athletics' action to Philadelphia reporters and then, with the help of contributions from players of the Columbus Solons
and the Baltimore Orioles
he was able to rejoin his wife in Quincy, Illinois
.
. The Players' League had folded, leaving eight fewer major league teams and tougher competition for roster spots in the Major Leagues. In early March Baldwin wrote from Quincy to Harry Weldon of the Cincinnati Enquirer, saying he was done drinking for good.
He joined St. Paul in the spring, but endured a rough season along with the rest of the Western Association, which was caught in the middle of a trade war between the National League
and American Association
. In June the St. Paul team was transferred to Duluth, Minnesota
, and by late-August Duluth, too, was on its last legs and Baldwin moved farther west to Spokane, Washington
.
, the mercurial owner of the St. Louis Browns
, to tell him that he wanted to play for the Browns as a catcher and to play in his home town. He told Von der Ahe he had stopped drinking and would put up better ball than he ever had in Cincinnati. "To show you that I am in earnest," he told Von der Ahe, "I will come to St. Louis for a very reasonable salary and if you think I am as good as I represent you can raise my pay." Von der Ahe showed no interest in Baldwin.
Baldwin soon signed with the Portland Webfeet
of the Pacific Northwest League
. He played well until the mid-August collapse of the Pacific Northwest League.
ball club, picking through the wreckage of the Pacific Northwest League for a pitcher and catcher to aid its pennant race, telegraphed offers to Baldwin and pitcher Pete McNabb as well as two stars of the Seattle team. The Seattle players priced themselves out of the market, according to the Los Angeles Times
, leaving Baldwin and McNabb to sign at reasonable terms. Having already caught more than seventy games for Portland through August 21, he joined Los Angeles in September but still caught 67 during the latter stages of the long California League
season and nine more in the playoffs.
Including the playoffs and exhibitions, he caught about 152 games. Staying that busy indicated that Baldwin had kept sober and maintained good hours; and in fact, he seems to have stopped drinking in January, 1891 according to his own claim. And as always when he behaved himself, he played well, too.
in , a team that ran at about .500 for much of the season, then started losing and fell to tenth place in the twelve-team Southern League
. Troubled by injuries and dissension, the Pelicans were losing money and unable to sign a reliable second catcher to share the workload with Baldwin.
Baldwin had reportedly started drinking again. When the New Orleans club and the Southern League collapsed soon thereafter, Baldwin was not among the players picked up by National League
clubs. In April he had been quoted as saying that he regretted his past conduct and wanted to go back up to the big time. He caught 78 games, another impressive total in a season that ended in early-August, but his offensive production was modest: a .232 batting average. Baldwin sat out the rest of the season.
ball club of the Pennsylvania State League
, a Class-B circuit that was not granted the protection of the National Agreement until April . Baldwin split the catching with one "Fat" Bill Smink. When spring came Baldwin received good notices for his catching during preseason exhibitions but then was benched due to eye problems. Late in May his play began to fall off and the Harrisburg club, losing and financially troubled, due to rainouts, quickly released him.
After his release by Harrisburg, even his own family in St. Louis lost touch with him, so that the following March it was reported that his father had died and they wanted to get in touch with him but did not know how.
Baldwin was still in Harrisburg in 1895 and his problems with his eyesight were now so severe that he was threatened with blindness. Members of the Philadelphia Phillies
had raised money to send him to a hospital in New York
and then to Philadelphia, where he underwent an operation. At the beginning of July he was reportedly recovered from surgery and on his way to join his family in St. Louis.
His eyesight had been saved, but the damage had been such that Baldwin could not hope to resume his playing career. He also continued his drinking and he soon left St. Louis and went on the road, living most of the time as a homeless man.
During that off-season of he was given a lift by Tom Loftus
, the manager who had had released him from Cincinnati. Loftus was now in Columbus, Ohio
, organizing a new franchise in the Western League, the strongest minor league in the country at the time, and it was reported that he had signed Baldwin as a groundskeeper for his new team. The job reportedly fell through for because Baldwin could not keep sober enough to retain it. By late-May, within a few weeks of the date he had been reported about to leave for Columbus, he turned up back in Cincinnati. Old friends and former admirers began to think of ways to help him; there was talk of a benefit game, but the fear was that he would just drink up the money.
Lew Wachenheim, who ran a saloon on Sixth Street in downtown Cincinnati, took on the task of straightening him out. He told Baldwin to get himself sober and if he was to stay that way for a while, and he would give him a job running his "whiskey house." By June 1 Baldwin turned up at a Reds game, looking dapper and prosperous in a new suit. Again in mid July he showed up to watch the Reds, telling reporters that he had turned his life around.
Baldwin soon fell back into his old habits, alcoholism. His final years were spent drinking up the money his friends would loan him. In February, 1897, Baldwin was reportedly beaten by a night watchman while trying to steal a ride in the railroad yards near Quincy. He was again seen in Cincinnati in the early-summer reportedly being lower than he had ever been.
In the early-summer of 1897 Mary Baldwin, Kid's wife, appeared before a judge in Quincy, Illinois, to request a divorce on grounds of desertion. She told the judge that she had seen nothing of her husband for four years.
Baldwin had been taken to the City Hospital about the beginning of June, 1897. Loftus and Wachenheim were not heard of now, and Baldwin told authorities his best friend was George Witte, a Sixth Street grocer who befriended him when he needed money or a place to sleep. He was described as a physical wreck and was not expected to recover. At the beginning of June, the Enquirer reported that in recent days he had been unable to sleep, until finally his mind gave way and he became violent. On July 3, 1897 Clarence Baldwin appeared in Probate Court to be examined by a judge to see if Baldwin should be sent to a mental hospital.
Though the cause of Baldwin's death was not well documented, he was committed to the Longview Insane Asylum. He died on in Cincinnati, Ohio
. He was laid to rest in Longview Asylum Cemetery in Cincinnati.
In seven season, to , Baldwin batted .221 with 371 hits, 56 doubles, 27 triples, seven home runs, 178 RBIs, 36 base on balls and 40 steals in 441 games.
, on the south bank of the Ohio River
across from the city of Cincinnati. Born to Robert and Harriet Baldwin on November 1, 1864, he was the seventh of at least eight children. A few years after his birth, the family was living in St. Louis, Missouri
, a move from one river town to another probably prompted by the Robert Baldwin's profession as a steamboat
pilot.
On a number of occasions Baldwin had been reportedly been engaged. He finally got married in November, 1889, to Mary Killiger of Quincy, Illinois
.
During the off-season after the season Baldwin made an unsuccessful try at sheep raising in the state of Washington.
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
catcher
Catcher
Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...
. He played seven seasons at the Major League level. In addition to playing catcher, Baldwin also played outfield
Outfield
The outfield is a sporting term used in cricket and baseball to refer to the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield...
, third base
Third Base
is a 1978 Japanese film directed by Yōichi Higashi.-External links:...
, second base and first base. He also pitched
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
two games in the season.
Early life
Baldwin began to play baseball after his family moved to St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, where he attracted attention catching for a local baseball club called the Stars.
St. Louis journalist Al Spink discovered Baldwin and a pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
named Oberbeck on a North St. Louis lot one Sunday to fill in when a visiting team of semiprofessionals called the Eckfords who came in from Chicago, Illinois without a pitcher and catcher. Spink would later recall that Baldwin and Oberbeck were the best on the Eckfords roster.
Northwestern League
A year or two after Baldwin was introduced to team baseball he entered the professional ranks playing for the Springfield, IllinoisSpringfield, Illinois
Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...
team of the Northwestern League
Northwestern League
The Northwestern League was a minor league baseball league that operated from 1883–1884, and again from 1886-1887. It was founded by Elias Matter in 1883.-1883-1884:...
in , one of the first Minor League circuits
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
. With Springfield he used his strong throwing arm as a pitcher rather than his traditional position, catcher. His stay in Springfield was so short that his statistics for the club were not listed in the Northwestern League's official records and not much is known of his first season in professional play. The Sporting News
The Sporting News
Sporting News is an American-based sports magazine. It was established in 1886, and it became the dominant American publication covering baseball — so much so that it acquired the nickname "The Bible of Baseball"...
years later told a story of the cocky young Kid opening what he expected to be a note from a female admirer, only to find that it actually contained his release notice. Another, more hostile source said in that Baldwin had proven himself "a fair player in the Springfield Club" but that "with his mouth he came very near breaking up the nine. Then he was bounced."
After his release from Springfield in , Baldwin joined the Quincy, Illinois
Quincy, Illinois
Quincy, known as Illinois' "Gem City," is a river city along the Mississippi River and the county seat of Adams County. As of the 2010 census the city held a population of 40,633. The city anchors its own micropolitan area and is the economic and regional hub of West-central Illinois, catering a...
ball club, which was a lackluster team on its way to a distant last-place finish in the Northwestern League. He soon took his revenge by pitching his new team to a victory over Springfield. At Quincy, however, he returned to the position that was to become his own, playing 53 of his 73 games as a catcher. He batted
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
.237, a respectable number compared to the league average. Baldwin finished third at his position in fielding percentage
Fielding percentage
In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball...
and began to show a formidable natural talent at catching and throwing, making him one of the brighter lights on a team that finished last in the league both in batting and fielding.
"Jump ship" incident
Quincy reserved Baldwin for the season, but a new professional league, the Union AssociationUnion Association
The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for only one season in 1884. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season...
, was challenging the established National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
and American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
, refusing to accept the validity the reserve rule in those leagues. The head of the new organization was in St. Louis, where Henry Lucas, president of the St. Louis Maroons as well as the entire Union Association, was building his Maroons into the new league's powerhouse. In February of that year, Baldwin was reported on one page of the Sporting Life as having signed his Quincy contract, while a note on another page said that he had written Lucas denying he had signed with any club but the Maroons' reserve team, that he would get his release from Quincy as soon as possible and that if he liked, he would play for St. Louis in 1884. He was intended for the reserve team Lucas was organizing to play in his ballpark while the Maroons were on the road and serve as a kind of farm club for the big team.
The Quincy ball club was still confident of holding him and refused Baldwin's offer to pay for his own release. In March the St. Louis Globe-Democrat
St. Louis Globe-Democrat
The St. Louis Globe-Democrat was originally a daily print newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri from 1852 until 1986...
reported that he was in Quincy and "some say he is enamored of a young lady there and cannot be driven from that city," but Baldwin himself was still writing that he would report for duty with St. Louis. He was said to have offered Quincy $500 for his release. This was the first in a long line of incidences. At this time, it was clear that he would not be able to play for the Maroons and assured Lucas that he would be able to repay the $200 salary advance he received from the Maroons only when he began drawing his Quincy pay. At the end of July it would still be said that the debt to Lucas had not yet been repaid.
As Quincy started the Northwestern League season strong, running near the top of the league standings, Baldwin's talents began to form. Through the first three months of the season he caught nearly every game and when he didn't catch he was in the lineup at third base
Third Base
is a 1978 Japanese film directed by Yōichi Higashi.-External links:...
or the outfield
Outfield
The outfield is a sporting term used in cricket and baseball to refer to the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield...
, even pitching a few games in relief
Relief pitcher
A relief pitcher or reliever is a baseball or softball pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed due to injury, ineffectiveness, fatigue, ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as being substituted by a pinch hitter...
. Despite the success of Quincy, the rest of the Northwestern League was in trouble, however. In a year when competition from the Union Association drove player salaries upward, the Northwestern's officials decided to add teams from smaller markets, possibly one of the reasons for its demise. In late July, teams began to collapse and there were rumors that Quincy was one of the teams that would not survive. On July 25 Baldwin made his last appearance in a Quincy lineup. The local media was not happy with Baldwin's decision to leave the team at a time of crisis.
His luggage was reportedly held in Quincy against an unpaid board bill. Yet there are reasons to believe Baldwin may have had legitimate reasons to feel disgruntled with his treatment by a financially challenged ball club that collapsed within two weeks of Baldwin's departure. As a result of breaking his contract, Baldwin was blacklisted by the Arbitration Committee later in .
Kansas City Cowboys
Baldwin joined the Kansas City CowboysKansas City Cowboys (Union Association)
The Kansas City Cowboys were a team in the Union Association during its only season, . Referred to as the "Cowboys" mostly by historians, they had no official nickname during their short life and were most frequently referred to by local press of the day as the "Unions" and by the press of other...
of the Union Association
Union Association
The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for only one season in 1884. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season...
in . With the Cowboys, Baldwin batted
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
.198 with six doubles
Double (baseball)
In baseball, a double is the act of a batter striking the pitched ball and safely reaching second base without being called out by the umpire, without the benefit of a fielder's misplay or another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....
and three triples
Triple (baseball)
In baseball, a triple is the act of a batter safely reaching third base after hitting the ball, with neither the benefit of a fielder's misplay nor another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....
. More controversy followed about the same time when Kansas City manager Ted Sullivan
Ted Sullivan (baseball)
Timothy Paul "Ted" Sullivan was an Irish-American manager and player in Major League Baseball who was born in County Clare, Ireland.-Career:...
accused Billy Barnie
Billy Barnie
William Harrison Barnie , nicknamed "Bald Billy," was an American manager and catcher in Major League Baseball. Born in New York City, he played as a right fielder in the National Association in 1874-1875...
, the manager of the Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
of the American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
, with having reportedly made a large but unsuccessful offer to Baldwin to switch teams again and finish the season with the Orioles. The claim was shortly debunked.
He also played one game with the Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies
Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies
The Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies were a short-lived professional baseball team in the Union Association of 1884. They were to battle the Chicago White Stockings, of the National League, for the Chicago baseball market, however the Browns lost that battle to the White Stockings...
where in one at bat
At bat
In baseball, an at bat or time at bat is used to calculate certain statistics, including batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. It is a more restricted definition of a plate appearance...
Baldwin got one hit
Hit (baseball)
In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice....
.
Milwaukee Brewers
With the fall of the Union Association looming Baldwin appeared in a meeting of the Arbitration Committee that oversaw the organized leagues' National AgreementMajor League Baseball Constitution
The Major League Baseball Constitution is a document under which the day-to-day operation of Major League Baseball are conducted. It was originally drafted in 1903 as the Constitution of the National League and has since been amended several times, most recently in June 2005.-1876 National League...
to ask the committee for reinstatement. The Committee took this application as an opportunity to declare, "This committee will never consent to the reinstatement of any player who has deserted, or may hereafter desert, any club identified with the National Agreement."
Baldwin signed with the Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
club, the Milwaukee Brewers
Milwaukee Brewers (UA)
The Milwaukee Brewers served as a replacement team late in the 1884 Union Association season. Called the Cream Citys by both local papers, they had a record of 8-4. The team came to the UA from the Northwestern League, as did the St. Paul Saints, and were managed by Tom Loftus...
, another Union Association club. Baldwin then headed south to New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, a popular place for baseball players from the north where they would wait out the cold weather and make some money playing against local players and each other. Among the northerners in the New Orleans were several players from the Cincinnati Red Stockings
Cincinnati Red Stockings
The Cincinnati Red Stockings of were baseball's first fully professional team, with ten salaried players. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club formed in 1866 and fielded competitive teams in the National Association of Base Ball Players 1867–1870, a time of a transition that ambitious Cincinnati,...
and what they saw of Baldwin's play behind the bat left them impressed and regretful that he would be unable to play with a National Agreement club.
Reinstatement
O. P. CaylorO. P. Caylor
Oliver Perry Caylor was a baseball newspaper columnist for The Cincinnati Enquirer and the Cincinnati Commercial before becoming one of the principal figures in the founding of the American Association in 1881 as well as the catalyst in the formation of the modern-day Cincinnati Reds.Caylor was...
, a journalist and club secretary who fulfilled the role of a modern general manager for the Red Stockings, later gave outfielder Charley Jones
Charley Jones
Charles Wesley Jones was an American left fielder in the National Association and Major League Baseball who hit 56 home runs and batted .298 during his twelve-year career...
the largest share of the credit for pressing him to find a way to sign Baldwin. Caylor was previously one of the strongest opponents of Baldwin's and any other Union Association player's reinstatement under the National Agreement.
In the Spring of the Brewers changed leagues, one under the National Agreement unlike the Union Association. Baldwin, who was still blacklisted, would be unable to play for the Brewers in the coming season. However, O. P. Caylor learned that the former Quincy stockholders would be willing to help get him off the blacklist if they got money they claimed Baldwin owed his old club. Cincinnati gave them this money, counting it as an advance against Baldwin's salary with the Red Stockings.
Word of Baldwin being reinstated caught the eyes of many ball clubs, including the Chicago White Stockings
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
. Knowing Baldwin's past of contract breaking, Charley Jones took suggested he take Baldwin on a trip to a remote location where even the Chicago club's exceptionally aggressive agents would not find him. When he was reinstated by the Arbitration Committee, O. J. Caylor, who was attending a meeting, instructed Jones by telegraph to sign Baldwin immediately to a Cincinnati contract. National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
president Nick Young also left the meeting room, to telegraph Chicago's club president Albert Spalding
Albert Spalding
Albert Goodwill Spalding was a professional baseball player, manager and co-founder of A.G. Spalding sporting goods company.-Biography:...
, as Caylor suspected, but long before Chicago's agents could locate Baldwin he was signed by Cincinnati.
Milwaukee, which still held a contract with Baldwin but could not enforce it effectively because Baldwin had signed before the team brought itself under the protection of the National Agreement. To add financial loss to injury, Milwaukee then had difficulties getting the always improvident Baldwin to repay a $300 salary advance given him when he signed his contract. In late-April it was reported that he had returned the money, but almost a month later another source said the club had not yet gotten it back. Milwaukee's Media was furious about the entire situation, blaming Baldwin for the financial weakening of the ball club.
Cincinnati Red Stockings/Cincinnati Reds
On arrival to Cincinnati, Baldwin was pegged as "tricky and deceitful" by the Cincinnati Enquirer because of his multiple issues including jumping three contacts in a year and being blacklisted. Baldwin soon found himself in trouble with team captain Pop SnyderPop Snyder
Charles N. "Pop" Snyder was an American catcher, manager, and umpire in Major League Baseball. His 18 season playing career began in 1873 for the Washington Blue Legs of the National Association, and ended with the 1891 Washington Statesmen...
, who had set many rules for players when they were on the road. Baldwin suggested it was jealousy from Snyder reportedly saying:
After another altercation between Baldwin and pitcher Will White
Will White
William Henry "Whoop-La" White was an American Major League Baseball pitcher.White made his debut on July 20, 1877 with the Boston Red Caps at the age of 23...
where White attempted to give Baldwin advise on how to catch him, team captain Snyder decided to make Baldwin deputy captain because of the way he asserted himself. Due to Cincinnati's strong backstop position, Baldwin and fellow catcher Jimmy Peoples
Jimmy Peoples
James Elsworth Peoples was a catcher and shortstop in Major League Baseball in the 19th century. He played from 1884-1889 in the majors and through 1894 in the minors....
were forced to try their hand at another position, pitcher.
Soon after that Baldwin was put to work practicing with Tony Mullane
Tony Mullane
Anthony John "Tony" Mullane , nickamed "Count" and "The Apollo of the Box", was an Irish Major League Baseball player who pitched for seven teams during his 13-season career...
, one of the American Association's best players, who had been suspended for a year over irregularities in his signing with the Reds the previous fall. By Fall Baldwin was beginning to play more frequently, and in the postseason he caught Mullane several times in the pitcher's first appearances for Cincinnati. At the end of his first season, , Baldwin hit .135 with 17 hits, one double, one home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
and eight RBIs
Run batted in
Runs batted in or RBIs is a statistic used in baseball and softball to credit a batter when the outcome of his at-bat results in a run being scored, except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play. The first team to track RBI was the Buffalo Bisons.Common nicknames for an RBI...
in 34 games.
With the addition of Tony Mullane it was generally predicted that the next season would see Cincinnati present a stiff challenge to the St. Louis Browns
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
, which had run away with the American Association pennant. As Mullane's batterymate, the '85 benchwarmer Baldwin was expected to be an important part of the team, sharing most of the catching duties with Jim Keenan
Jim Keenan
James William Keenan was a Major League Baseball catcher. He played all or part of eleven seasons in the majors, between and . He played most of his major league career with the Cincinnati Red Stockings of the American Association and later National League, after they became the Cincinnati...
while the veteran Pop Snyder concentrated on leading the team as its captain. But the expectations soon turned to failure starting with the release of Larry McKeon, one of the most promising pitchers Cincinnati had. With early season losses came accusations that Tony Mullane was purposefully throwing games. soon seemed to prove it was all down hill from there.
O. P. Caylor's relationship with Baldwin started to sour. Baldwin and Caylor began the season with the agreement that Baldwin would turn his actions around, but that agreement soon fell by the wayside. Baldwin's love for the high-life and alcohol started to consume him. He was soon spending more money that he was making. As the season went on, Baldwin became an informer for the Cincinnati Enquirer, a fact of which Caylor was well aware of. This fueled a feud that Caylor and the Enquirer had for quite a while. Craylor soon used other media outlets to slam Baldwin. One instance was on June 13 at Louisville, where Baldwin was pressed into service at third base due to an injury to Hick Carpenter
Hick Carpenter
Warren William "Hick" Carpenter was an American Major League Baseball third baseman from Grafton, Massachusetts. He travelled around the National League with several clubs before getting the starting third base job with the Cincinnati Red Stockings of the American Association...
. When his two errors
Error (baseball)
In baseball statistics, an error is the act, in the judgment of the official scorer, of a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to reach one or more additional bases, when such an advance would have been prevented given ordinary effort by the fielder.The term ...
in three chances cost Cincinnati the game, the next day's Commercial Gazette headlined its game account, "Inexcusable Throws by Baldwin the Cause of the Defeat," which seemed like harsh treatment for a player who had been filling in at an unaccustomed position. As the season went on Caylor was replaced by Aaron Stern, former team president. This was good for Baldwin, thought the feud soon spilled over to Caylor's new ball club, the New York Metropolitans
New York Metropolitans
The Metropolitan Club was a 19th-century professional baseball team that played in New York City from 1880 to 1887...
.
The new manager Aaron Stern would soon take Baldwin under his wing. In December, reportedly on his own initiative, Baldwin took a pledge not to drink until the end of the following season and Stern then declared his intention would give him an extra $100 if he carried through on his promise. Soon Baldwin found himself with little competition for the catching duties. The veteran Snyder was sold to the Cleveland Spiders
Cleveland Spiders
The Cleveland Spiders were a Major League Baseball team which played between 1887 and 1899 in Cleveland, Ohio. The team played at National League Park from 1889 to 1890 and at League Park from 1891 to 1899.- 1887-1891 :...
and Jack Boyle
Jack Boyle
John Anthony Boyle , nicknamed "Honest Jack", was an American catcher and first baseman in Major League Baseball...
, another backstop with potential, was packaged with cash in order to acquire outfielder Hugh Nicol
Hugh Nicol
Hugh N. Nicol was an American outfielder in Major League Baseball. His debut game took place on May 3, 1881. His final game took place on August 2, 1890. During his career, he played for Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Stockings of the National League and St. Louis Browns of the American...
from St. Louis in the first trade ever made between two major league teams. Only Keenan was left to share the catching with Baldwin. Baldwin did however have an early season slip up as he was caught in a raid of hundreds in a cock fighting ring. His punishment would be a $47 fine.
was the best in Baldwin's career. Baldwin hit .253 with 15 doubles, 10 triples, one home run, 57 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. Baldwin set career highs in plate appearances with 398, at bats with 388, runs with 46, hits with 98, doubles, triples, RBIs, stolen bases, batting average and slugging percentage with a .351 clip. He also limited the off-field issues that plagued him in seasons past.
The next three seasons were a disappointment compared to the last season. In February he assaulted an umpire
Umpire (baseball)
In baseball, the umpire is the person charged with officiating the game, including beginning and ending the game, enforcing the rules of the game and the grounds, making judgment calls on plays, and handling the disciplinary actions. The term is often shortened to the colloquial form ump...
while playing winter ball in New Orleans, again showing his immaturity. Once the regular season began he started drinking and keeping late hours and his play failed to match the conduct of the previous year. Fines were reported and in early September when he was left home during a road trip. While teams in the 1880s routinely left a few benchwarmers at home to cut traveling expenses, this had never happened to Baldwin, and by mid-September Cincinnati media was speculating he might not return for the team in .
The speculation of Baldwin not returning was just that, speculation. Cincinnati gave Baldwin better pay than he had expected but required him to live at the same hotel as manager Gus Schmelz
Gus Schmelz
Gustavus Heinrich Schmelz was an American manager in Major League Baseball for the Columbus Buckeyes , Cincinnati Red Stockings , and Columbus Solons of the American Association, and for the St. Louis Maroons , Cleveland Spiders and Washington Senators of the National League...
. Two-thirds of the catcher's money was held out each pay day, with the agreement that he would get it back at season's end with six percent interest. The reason for this was because of Baldwin's struggles with finances. Baldwin arrived in Cincinnati in March promising to take care of himself and "try the temperance plank one season at least." But his play was again disappointing, and he found himself in the middle of controversy when the Red Stockings were said to have considered selling him to the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. According to one later account the owner Stern had turned down an offer by the Bridegrooms of $2,000; another said that Cincinnati offered Baldwin to Brooklyn but was turned down.
When the Cincinnati Red Stockings switched to the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
and changed their name to the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
in , they replaced manager Gus Schmelz with Tom Loftus
Tom Loftus
Thomas Joseph Loftus is a former manager in the American Association, the National League, and the American League. His playing career began in 1877 with the St. Louis Brown Stockings of the National League, but he only played in nine career games in 1877 and 1883 as an outfielder...
. In what may have been an effort by the club to help keep an eye on Baldwin, the new manager moved into a house in Cincinnati's West End with the Kid as a neighbor. His conduct, like seasons past, was immature and disruptive to the team. He was connected to the usual rumors of drinking and late-night carousing, this time with the heavyweight boxer Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson (boxer)
Peter "Black Prince" Jackson was a heavyweight boxer from Australia who had a significant international career.-Biography:...
. In his final in season with Cincinnati, Baldwin hit .153 with 11 hits and 10 RBIs. He was released on July 28. In six seasons in Cincinnati Baldwin hit .224 with 312 hits, 49 doubles, 22 triples, seven home runs and 166 RBIs.
Philadelphia Athletics
On August 6, Baldwin was signed by the Philadelphia AthleticsPhiladelphia Athletics (American Association)
The Philadelphia Athletics were a professional baseball team, one of six charter members of the American Association, a 19th-century major league, which began play in 1882 as a rival to the National League. The other teams were the Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Red Stockings, Eclipse of...
of the American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
. The A's offered him $400 a month, $50 more than he had been getting in Cincinnati and just $100 more for the remainder of the season than an offer from Brooklyn. Baldwin started well for the Athletics but his play soon deteriorated. The Athletics, early leaders in the Association pennant race, fell apart late in the season. During this time Baldwin himself later admitted that he was drinking heavily. In his final season at the Major League level Baldwin hit .233 with 21 hits, one double, two triples and 21 RBIs. He had a combined average of .198 on the season.
Payment controversy
On the evening of September 16, the Athletics roster stood outside of the office where the club's stockholders met. The A's owners were late on payments in since mid-July and no payments were made in September. The players were called in and told they could either stay with the ball club and take their chances on getting paid or accept their releases. Most of them, said they would leave, leaving only a few holdovers, Baldwin among them, who signed new one-month contracts to finish out the season.A few days after the meeting, manager Billy Sharsig was to take the Athletics on a long western trip, supplementing his remaining players with new men picked up from disbanded Minor League teams
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
. Just before the train pulled out of the station, Sharsig handed Baldwin his unconditional release. He had learned that Baldwin had been telling people he intended to revenge himself for the Athletics' broken promises and missed paydays by staying with the team until it reached his home town of St. Louis and then leaving the team. Instead, he now found himself hundreds of miles from home, without money to get back. A furious Baldwin denounced the Athletics' action to Philadelphia reporters and then, with the help of contributions from players of the Columbus Solons
Columbus Solons
The Columbus Solons were a baseball team in the American Association from 1889 to 1891. In three seasons, they won 200 games and lost 209 for a winning percentage of .489. Their home games were played at Recreation Park in Columbus, Ohio....
and the Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles (19th century)
The Baltimore Orioles were a 19th-century American Association and National League team from 1882 to 1899. The club, which featured numerous future Hall of Famers, finished in first place three consecutive years and won the Temple Cup championship in 1896 and 1897...
he was able to rejoin his wife in Quincy, Illinois
Quincy, Illinois
Quincy, known as Illinois' "Gem City," is a river city along the Mississippi River and the county seat of Adams County. As of the 2010 census the city held a population of 40,633. The city anchors its own micropolitan area and is the economic and regional hub of West-central Illinois, catering a...
.
Western Association
Early in Baldwin signed with the St. Paul, Minnesota ball club in the newly organized Western AssociationWestern Association
The Western Association was the name of five different leagues in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries.The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Western Association on October 28, 1887...
. The Players' League had folded, leaving eight fewer major league teams and tougher competition for roster spots in the Major Leagues. In early March Baldwin wrote from Quincy to Harry Weldon of the Cincinnati Enquirer, saying he was done drinking for good.
He joined St. Paul in the spring, but endured a rough season along with the rest of the Western Association, which was caught in the middle of a trade war between the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
and American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
. In June the St. Paul team was transferred to Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
, and by late-August Duluth, too, was on its last legs and Baldwin moved farther west to Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
.
Portland Webfeet
Early in Baldwin wrote Chris Von der AheChris von der Ahe
Christian Friedrich Wilhelm von der Ahe was a German-American entrepreneur, best known as the owner of the St. Louis Brown Stockings of the American Association, now known as the St. Louis Cardinals....
, the mercurial owner of the St. Louis Browns
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
, to tell him that he wanted to play for the Browns as a catcher and to play in his home town. He told Von der Ahe he had stopped drinking and would put up better ball than he ever had in Cincinnati. "To show you that I am in earnest," he told Von der Ahe, "I will come to St. Louis for a very reasonable salary and if you think I am as good as I represent you can raise my pay." Von der Ahe showed no interest in Baldwin.
Baldwin soon signed with the Portland Webfeet
Portland Webfeet
The Portland Webfeet were a Minor League Baseball team in the Pacific Northwest League. They were located in Portland, Oregon and played at Columbia Park. They were active from to ....
of the Pacific Northwest League
Pacific Northwest League
The Pacific Northwest League was a professional Minor League Baseball league based in the Pacific Northwest. It was the first professional baseball league ever in the region.-Founding:...
. He played well until the mid-August collapse of the Pacific Northwest League.
Los Angeles Seraphs
The Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
ball club, picking through the wreckage of the Pacific Northwest League for a pitcher and catcher to aid its pennant race, telegraphed offers to Baldwin and pitcher Pete McNabb as well as two stars of the Seattle team. The Seattle players priced themselves out of the market, according to the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, leaving Baldwin and McNabb to sign at reasonable terms. Having already caught more than seventy games for Portland through August 21, he joined Los Angeles in September but still caught 67 during the latter stages of the long California League
California League
The California League is a Class A Advanced minor league baseball league which operates throughout the state of California. Before 2002, it was classified as a "High-A" league, indicating its status as a Class A league with the highest level of competition within that classification, and the fifth...
season and nine more in the playoffs.
Including the playoffs and exhibitions, he caught about 152 games. Staying that busy indicated that Baldwin had kept sober and maintained good hours; and in fact, he seems to have stopped drinking in January, 1891 according to his own claim. And as always when he behaved himself, he played well, too.
New Orleans Pelicans
Baldwin signed with the New Orleans PelicansNew Orleans Pelicans
The New Orleans Pelicans were a Minor league professional baseball team based in New Orleans, Louisiana.-Team history:Founded in 1887, the Pelicans became part of the Southern Association in 1901...
in , a team that ran at about .500 for much of the season, then started losing and fell to tenth place in the twelve-team Southern League
Southern League (baseball)
The Southern League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the Southern United States. It is classified a Double-A league. The original league was formed in , and shut down in . A new league, the Southern Association, was formed in , consisting of twelve teams...
. Troubled by injuries and dissension, the Pelicans were losing money and unable to sign a reliable second catcher to share the workload with Baldwin.
Baldwin had reportedly started drinking again. When the New Orleans club and the Southern League collapsed soon thereafter, Baldwin was not among the players picked up by National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
clubs. In April he had been quoted as saying that he regretted his past conduct and wanted to go back up to the big time. He caught 78 games, another impressive total in a season that ended in early-August, but his offensive production was modest: a .232 batting average. Baldwin sat out the rest of the season.
Pennsylvania State League
After spending most of the ensuing off-season without a contract he finally signed with the Harrisburg, PennsylvaniaHarrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...
ball club of the Pennsylvania State League
Pennsylvania State League
The Pennsylvania State League played from 1892-1895, then changed into the first Atlantic League.-Cities represented:*Allentown, PA: Allentown Colts 1892-1893; Allentown Kelly's Killers 1894; Allentown Goobers 1895; Allentown 1895...
, a Class-B circuit that was not granted the protection of the National Agreement until April . Baldwin split the catching with one "Fat" Bill Smink. When spring came Baldwin received good notices for his catching during preseason exhibitions but then was benched due to eye problems. Late in May his play began to fall off and the Harrisburg club, losing and financially troubled, due to rainouts, quickly released him.
Legacy
For the next years after he played in the Pennsylvania State League, he remained in Pennsylvania, probably alone and without a playing berth, quite possibly drinking heavily, and he began to have more problems with his eyesight. Even before this time he may already have become estranged from his wife and on her accounts she said she had not seen her husband in four years.After his release by Harrisburg, even his own family in St. Louis lost touch with him, so that the following March it was reported that his father had died and they wanted to get in touch with him but did not know how.
Baldwin was still in Harrisburg in 1895 and his problems with his eyesight were now so severe that he was threatened with blindness. Members of the Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
had raised money to send him to a hospital in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and then to Philadelphia, where he underwent an operation. At the beginning of July he was reportedly recovered from surgery and on his way to join his family in St. Louis.
His eyesight had been saved, but the damage had been such that Baldwin could not hope to resume his playing career. He also continued his drinking and he soon left St. Louis and went on the road, living most of the time as a homeless man.
During that off-season of he was given a lift by Tom Loftus
Tom Loftus
Thomas Joseph Loftus is a former manager in the American Association, the National League, and the American League. His playing career began in 1877 with the St. Louis Brown Stockings of the National League, but he only played in nine career games in 1877 and 1883 as an outfielder...
, the manager who had had released him from Cincinnati. Loftus was now in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
, organizing a new franchise in the Western League, the strongest minor league in the country at the time, and it was reported that he had signed Baldwin as a groundskeeper for his new team. The job reportedly fell through for because Baldwin could not keep sober enough to retain it. By late-May, within a few weeks of the date he had been reported about to leave for Columbus, he turned up back in Cincinnati. Old friends and former admirers began to think of ways to help him; there was talk of a benefit game, but the fear was that he would just drink up the money.
Lew Wachenheim, who ran a saloon on Sixth Street in downtown Cincinnati, took on the task of straightening him out. He told Baldwin to get himself sober and if he was to stay that way for a while, and he would give him a job running his "whiskey house." By June 1 Baldwin turned up at a Reds game, looking dapper and prosperous in a new suit. Again in mid July he showed up to watch the Reds, telling reporters that he had turned his life around.
Baldwin soon fell back into his old habits, alcoholism. His final years were spent drinking up the money his friends would loan him. In February, 1897, Baldwin was reportedly beaten by a night watchman while trying to steal a ride in the railroad yards near Quincy. He was again seen in Cincinnati in the early-summer reportedly being lower than he had ever been.
In the early-summer of 1897 Mary Baldwin, Kid's wife, appeared before a judge in Quincy, Illinois, to request a divorce on grounds of desertion. She told the judge that she had seen nothing of her husband for four years.
Baldwin had been taken to the City Hospital about the beginning of June, 1897. Loftus and Wachenheim were not heard of now, and Baldwin told authorities his best friend was George Witte, a Sixth Street grocer who befriended him when he needed money or a place to sleep. He was described as a physical wreck and was not expected to recover. At the beginning of June, the Enquirer reported that in recent days he had been unable to sleep, until finally his mind gave way and he became violent. On July 3, 1897 Clarence Baldwin appeared in Probate Court to be examined by a judge to see if Baldwin should be sent to a mental hospital.
Though the cause of Baldwin's death was not well documented, he was committed to the Longview Insane Asylum. He died on in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
. He was laid to rest in Longview Asylum Cemetery in Cincinnati.
In seven season, to , Baldwin batted .221 with 371 hits, 56 doubles, 27 triples, seven home runs, 178 RBIs, 36 base on balls and 40 steals in 441 games.
Personal life
Baldwin was born in Newport, KentuckyNewport, Kentucky
Newport is a city in Campbell County, Kentucky, United States, at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking rivers. The population was 15,273 at the 2010 census. Historically, it was one of four county seats of Campbell County. Newport is part of the Greater Cincinnati, Ohio Metro Area which...
, on the south bank of the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
across from the city of Cincinnati. Born to Robert and Harriet Baldwin on November 1, 1864, he was the seventh of at least eight children. A few years after his birth, the family was living in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, a move from one river town to another probably prompted by the Robert Baldwin's profession as a steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
pilot.
On a number of occasions Baldwin had been reportedly been engaged. He finally got married in November, 1889, to Mary Killiger of Quincy, Illinois
Quincy, Illinois
Quincy, known as Illinois' "Gem City," is a river city along the Mississippi River and the county seat of Adams County. As of the 2010 census the city held a population of 40,633. The city anchors its own micropolitan area and is the economic and regional hub of West-central Illinois, catering a...
.
During the off-season after the season Baldwin made an unsuccessful try at sheep raising in the state of Washington.