1928: A New Team, A New Owner and the Promise of a New Stadium Spark a Rebirth of Baseball in Rochester
by Brian A. Bennett
A shorter version of this article appeared in the SABR publication “The National Pastime: A Review of Baseball History,” 1997 (Vol. 17).As fans drained from Baseball Park for the final time in 1927, the future of the International League’s Rochester franchise was clouded.
The season’s results of the Rochester Tribe were mixed both on and off the field. After a August run which placed the club over the .500 mark, the team lost 10 of its last 14 games (including both ends of a doubleheader on the final day) to finish in sixth place at 81-86, 30 1/2 games from the top. Nor did prospects look good for 1928—most of the regulars were aging former major league journeymen on the down side of their baseball careers. Late season match-ups with the circuit’s top two teams, the Syracuse Stars and Buffalo Bisons, served as painful reminders of the large gap between the Tribe and the league’s elite. On Sept. 8 the Bisons, who captured the pennant by 10 games, swept a double header from the Tribe by scores of 12-1 and 8-0; a week later the Buffalo squad took consecutive games by scores of 15-3 and 12-3, the latter contest clinching first place.
Of greater worry, however, was the unstable front office situation. The previous off-season had seen four different interests lay claim to the franchise. John Hicks and William Gilbert prevailed and became the eighth set of owners since 1921. The shaky ownership status and resulting lack of working capital put plans on hold for a new stadium to replace the 19-year-old ballpark on Bay Street.
The same lack of stability was exhibited in the team’s personnel. George T. Stallings, manager since 1921, gave up his post at mid-season, and was replaced by major league veteran and native Rochesterian George Mogridge. (One can understand Stallings’ frustration. He had managed the team to three straight 100-win seasons in 1921-23, only to finish second each time to the Baltimore Orioles, who were in the middle of run of seven straight pennants. By the time the Oriole dynasty receded, Stallings, who also managed the 1914 “Miracle Braves” of Boston to the National League flag, was saddled with .500 clubs.)
Career minor leaguers Eddie Onslow and Eddie Murphy both jumped the club during the season. Their replacements, with the exception of two youngsters from Savannah, one an outfielder named Jim “Ripper” Collins, showed little potential. One veteran who played well (when he remembered to make it to the ballpark) was shortstop and future Hall of Famer Rabbit Maranville. His late season play captured the attention of the St. Louis Cardinals, who, after playing a Sept. 1 exhibition game in Rochester, left with Rabbit in tow. (The Cards, who at the time were only two games behind the front-running Pirates, won the contest 8-1. It was noted that all the Cardinal regulars started and played the entire game, except for second baseman Frankie Frisch, who was replaced by back-up George “Specs” Toporcer in the seventh inning).
Looming ahead during the off-season were talks for a new working agreement between the major and the minors leagues, and there were signs the negotiations would be acrimonious. Independent franchises like Rochester stood to suffer the worst in any new agreement; some of their IL competitors were already owned by or affiliated with major league teams. Attendance was down—no specific figures were given—but it was noted that it fell short of the 281,270 drawn in 1910, which was done in a 140-game season. (The average in ’10—4,327 for the 65 home dates—compared favorably to the majors, as the average major league attendance for the decade of 1900-1909 was 4,058 per game). The Tribe also had to compete with the numerous local and city leagues; indeed some 3,500 had come out to Baseball Park to see LeRoy capture the Western New York baseball championship.
All things considered, in 1927 professional baseball in Rochester was not on stable footing.
In late August, however, surfaced rumors of potential buyers for the franchise. Four days after the end of the season hearsay became fact. A group of investors, headed by former Rochester manager John Ganzel and golf star and city native Walter Hagen, had purchased the team. Ganzel, who had managed the Rochester team to three consecutive pennants (1909-11) in his five-year stint with the club, was also tabbed to manage the 1929 Tribe. “Big Jawn” was still a popular figure in Rochester (his flag-winning squads—the last Rochester teams to capture the IL flag—had been dubbed “Ganzel’s Hustlers”) and one of the first questions asked of him was about plans for a new stadium. Ganzel replied that he had not had much time to think on it, but assured the city that “plans will be made that will satisfy, in every respect, any hopes of the fans along that line.”
Ganzel and Hagen hit the ground running, naming Bob Harlow, Hagen’s business manager, as the team’s business secretary. Kissimmee, Florida was selected as the team’s spring training site, and Ganzel set to work acquiring players for the next season. On Nov. 29 the International League approved the sale of the Rochester franchise to Hagen and Ganzel.
The first hint of difficulties surfaced on Dec. 14, when the Rochester Chamber of Commerce and 18 other civic organizations met and named a special committee to see that the club was placed on sound financial footing. The group did give a vote of confidence to the new ownership. A day later, at a special league meeting in New York City, Ganzel and Hagen were given an extra week to consummate the sale, “the extension made necessary by [their] failure to get together necessary money.” In an effort to assure the league, over 30 different civic groups and businesses sent telegrams of support for the pair to league officials.
On Dec. 20 the city committee met again to discuss how to raise the additional capital needed to keep the team in Rochester. “Sentiment of all at the meeting favored the retention of the franchise, all claiming or admitting that representation in organized baseball is an asset to the city,” reported the Democrat & Chronicle. Definite plans were not developed, but it was decided that the group would attempt to underwrite the balance needed. At that point, Hagen and Ganzel had only actually invested $20,000, with another $140,000 needed to “clear up the debts, build up a small working capital and satisfy the league officials.” Of that amount, the investors had only raised $80,000, leaving the shortage of $60,000.
That shortage, demanded league officials, needed to paid by Friday, Dec. 23. President John Conway Toole (a native of Geneseo and an 1888 graduate of that town’s State Teachers College) made a special “flying trip” to the city to confer with the civic leaders. Toole met with the committee on the day before Christmas, and impressed with its resolve, assured the citizens of Rochester that they would have baseball in 1928. He also announced that the financial underwriting would be “left for a later date.”
There was little new news until January 5, when another bombshell dropped. The Hagen offer fell through—and owners John Hicks and William Gilbert were given a Jan. 16 deadline to place the team on firm financial ground or the International League would forfeit the franchise. Since the Jersey City franchise had been moved to Montreal there was an eager group of Jersey City investors ready to purchase the franchise and immediately move it. All trades made by the Hagen/Ganzel group were declared null and void; furthermore any financial claims or outstanding debts against the Rochester team would remain as obligations against the Rochester territory and would have to be settled for any other team, regardless of league or classification, to move into Rochester.
Hagen had put $28,000 into the team, but proved unable to muster any additional investors. He did, however, pledge his support to Hicks and Gilbert. The pair—the former an “automobile man,” the latter a “former hotel operator”—were anxious to get out of baseball ownership, “but rather than let the club go to outside interests” set about to meet the league requirements. Gilbert gave the league a $3,500 check for dues and requested an extension until Feb. 1 in order to clear up the financial problems. He was turned down.
On January 6 stockholders of the corporation set up to finance (some $45,000 had been raised) and build a proposed Norton Street ball park met. It was hoped that the investors would take stock in the ball club instead of a straight cash repayment. Also for the first time surfaced a rumor that the St. Louis Cardinals had an interest in running the team.
The next day’s sports page headline read “Hicks and Gilbert to Guarantee Baseball Here, if Stadium if Built.” The pair pledged an initial 10-year lease on a new ball park, with all insurance, repairs and upkeep to be paid by the ball club. Furthermore the duo promised to buy the stadium after the 10 years if that was a necessary provision for the ball park to be constructed.
With their position made clear, Hicks and Gilbert—still operating under the Jan. 16 deadline—set about listing claims against the club and making arrangements for their payment. The largest problem was the buyout of the stadium investors; their proposal of a 75 percent pay off was met with some opposition. Meanwhile local sports writers were trying to ascertain the identity of a supposed “third party” involved with Hicks and Gilbert. Some claimed the mystery man to be “Rochester sportsmen,” while others figured on an “outside baseball man.” A third theory held the Cardinals to still be interested—a belief which led Warren Giles, president of the Syracuse Stars, the Cardinal-owned International League club, to make a lengthy statement which read in part “Upon inquiry we found it [the Rochester franchise] was for sale, and upon further inquiry and investigation we found the business affairs of that club in such condition as to cause us to be definitely and positively uninterested in the purchase of that club as long as those conditions existed.” However, Giles clarified: “Since Rochester is a larger city we believe that the purchase of that club under satisfactory conditions would benefit us.”
That point was apparently made moot on Jan. 11, five days before the deadline, when Hicks and Gilbert announced that they were putting $55,000 into the team. Their proclamation included the statement that no outside interests were buying in, that John Ganzel would be business manager, George Mogridge field manager, and Walter Hagen was out after a “satisfactory financial settlement.” The stadium stockholders were to be repaid between 40 and 75 cents on the dollar. (At the same time however, the president of the Chamber of Commerce announced that he would go to work seeking stadium funds and one local “capitalist” offered to underwrite $150,000 of a new stadium.)
With the situation seemingly stabilized, it was no doubt unsettling to see the scuttlebutt concerning the St. Louis Cardinals gain new life. On. Jan. 13 came reports from Syracuse that the Stars would be sold to Jersey City and the Cards would purchase the Rochester club. League President Toole would not confirm or deny the rumors.