Meet The Sports Writers

[Bill Burgess]

George William Daley

Born: September 14, 1875, Rensselaer, NY
Died: August 12, 1952, Rensselaer, NY, age 76,---d. at his sister's home, after a long illness.

New York sports writer / editor;
Graduated Union College (Schenectady, NY),
The Staten Islander,
New York Sun, proofreader, 1897
New York Herald, editor, (1900 and 1910 census), reporter, city editor, managing editor, ? - 1912
New York World, editor, 1912 - 1931 (September 12, 1918, WWI Civilian Draft Registration) He took up baseball writing shortly before WWI.
New York World, editor, 1920 (1920 census)
New York Times, copy editor of sports dept., October 30, 1931 - 1952
He resided at West Brighton, Staten Island for over 50 years.

Wife: Marion Rhine, born Michigan, 1875; Daughter: Alice F., born NY, 1896; Daughter: Helen A., born NY, 1898; Daughter: Marion M., born NY, 1901. Both parents born New York state.
Bowling was his lifelong hobby.

New York Times' obituary, August 13, 1952, pp. 21.

----------------------------------------------------------------Who Was Who in Journalism, 1925, pp. 70.

1923 World Series scorers: L-R: Frank O'Neil, George W. Daley, Fred Lieb

[Bill Burgess]

George Herbert Daley

Born: December 26, 1869, NYC
Died: February 8, 1938, NYC, age 68,---d. complications pneumonia, pleurisy

New York sports editor;
New York Evening Post, sports writer, 1897 - 1903
New York Tribune, sports editor, 1904 - 1916
New York World, sports editor, 1916 - 1931
New York World Telegram, (for 6 months)
New York Herald Tribune, 1931 - 1938
Introduced all-star football games to New York, started the Herald-Tribune football school. New York Press Club, Alpha Delta Phi.

New York Times obituary, February 8, 1938, pp. 22.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Who Was Who in Journalism, 1925, pp. 70.


October 3, 1926: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY: Herb Pennock receives 'The All America Team' Award, George Daley, Babe Ruth.

[Bill Burgess]

Lawrence Haughton Woltz---AKA Larry Woltz

Born: March 2, 1882, Florida
Died: December 10, 1946, Jacksonville, FL, age 64

Chicago/Jacksonville, FL sports writer;
Chicago Herald-Examiner, spedcialized in Baseball. (September, 1918 to at least 1920);
Florida Times-Union sports editor

New York Times' obituary, December 11, 1946, pp. 31, column 5.

[Bill Burgess]

William Kennedy McKay---AKA Judge McKay

Born: November 16, 1870, New Orleans, LA
Died: September 23, 1944, Oak Park, IL, age 73,---d. was ill last year of his life.

Chicago sports writer / sports editor;
(1870 census)
(1880 census)
(1900 census)
Louisville, KY, editor, (April 21, 1910 census)
(1920 census)
Oak Park, IL, newspaper, (April 18, 1930 census)
Oak Park, IL, editorial manager, newspaper, (April 5, 1940 census)

Dubuque, IA reporter, 1884 - ?
Chicago Mail, reporter, 1894 - 1895
Chicago Times-Herald, assistant city editor, 1895 - ?, city editor,
Chicago Journal, Managing Editor, 1899 - 1904
Detroit Tribune, Managing Editor,
Cleveland News, Managing Editor, 1905 - 1912
Louisville Herald, Managing Editor,
Chicago Evening-Post, Managing Editor,
Chicago Tribune, March 3, 1918 - 1919. American correspondent of the Chicago Tribune's European edition, sent to members of the American Expeditionary Forces.
Midwest correspondent for the New York Daily News, 1919 - 1944, death.

Father: born Ireland; Mother, born Ireland; Wife: Juliette Augusta Kinzie, born March 11, 1875, New Mexico, died Oak Park, IL, September 29, 1954; William married Juliette on August 30, 1899.

New York Times' Obituary---------Chicago Sunday Tribune Obituary
September 24, 1944, pp. 46.------September 24, 1944, pp. 8.

[Bill Burgess]

Abraham Yager---AKA Abe Yager

Born: July 13, 1870, Brooklyn, NY
Died: August 22, 1930, New York City, NY, age 60,--d. Jewish Hospital (New Hyde Park, Queens, NY) of cancer. Had been ill several months and hoarse in throat

Brooklyn sports writer / sports editor; Jewish
New York, NY, 1-year old, (December 20, 1870 census)
Brooklyn, NY, reporter, (Eagle), (June 13, 1900 census)
Brooklyn, NY Editor, newspaper, (April 20, 1910 census)
Brooklyn, NY, editor, Brooklyn Eagle, (January 12, 1920 census)
Brooklyn, NY, editorial, newspaper, (April 15, 1930 census)

Brooklyn Eagle, 1885 - 1930; sports editor, 1896 - 1930.
Official scorer of Brooklyn home games for 30 years.

Father: Julias, born Germany, 1835?; Mother: Leanah, born Germany, 1837?; Wife: Esther, born New York, 1875?; Son: Julias, born New York, 1897?; Daughter: Florence, born New York, 1900?; Son: Harold, born New York, 1902?;

Sporting News' article, June 12, 1941, pp. 6, col. 2-5.
'Four Kings' Who Ruled as Rival Sports Editors,
Founded Royal Regime of Loyal Dodger Fandom

[Bill Burgess]

Guy McI. Smith

Born: December 2, 1870, Indianapolis, IN
Died: June 12, 1950, Danville, IL, age 77

Danville, IL Historian;
La Fayette, IN, 7-year old, (June 2, 1880 census)
Danville, IL, Baggageman, railroad, (1900 census)
Danville, IL, Main clerk, railroad, (April 20, 1910 census)
Danville, IL, Postal clerk, railroad, (January 14, 1920 census)
Danville, IL, Postal clerk, railway, (April 9, 1930 census)
Danville, IL, retired, (April 26, 1940 census)
Graduated Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN),
Courier cub reporter, 1889 - 1893
Indianapolis Sentinel general writing & police run, 1893 - 1895,
Nickel Plate Railroad claim department, 1895 - 1897
C. & E. I. Railroad chief clerk to the transportation supervisor, 1897 - ? Entered mail service after 1900, spent 34 yrs. there.
Was a city police official at his death.

Father: B. Wilcox, born West Virginia, 1830?; Mother: Ruth A., born Indiana, 1837?; Wife: Dora E., born Pennsylvania, March, 1877; Son: Frederic B., born Illinois, 1907?; Wife 2: Larissa A., born Ohio, 1883?; Richard N., born Ohio, 1916?;

GetImage.pdf---Sporting News article on Guy Smith, May 1, 1941.


Sporting News' obituary, June 21, 1950, pp. 38, col. 4.

[Bill Burgess]

William Aloysius Curley

Born: March 23, 1874, New York City
Died: October 24, 1955, New York City, age 81---d. heart ailment

New York sports writer;
New York, NY, 6-year old, (June 4, 1880 census)
New York, NY, Associate editor, (June 13, 1900 census)
Brooklyn, NY, reporter, newspaper, (April 16, 1910 census)
Chicago, IL, editor, Chicago American newspaper, (January 3, 1920 census)
Chicago, IL, editor, New York Journal, (April 15, 1930 census)
Brooklyn, NY, guard, bank, (1940 census)
office boy for ad agency
New York Record - wrote bicycle news
New York Journal, sports writer, later sports editor
New York American, Sunday editor, news editor, 1898 - ?
Los Angeles Herald, managing editor, 1911 - 1913
San Francisco Call, managing editor, 1913 - 1914
Chicago American, editor, 1914 - 1927
New York Journal, 1927, managing editor, editor
Hearst Consolidated Publications, assistant editor in chief.

Father: Michael, born Ireland, 1845?; Mother: Kate, born New York 1850?; Wife 1: Mary M., born Massachusetts, 1874?, died Miami Beach, FL, March 3, 1935; Son: William, born New York, 1899?; Daughter: Kathrine, born New York, 1900?; Son: Robert E., born New York, 1902?; Daughter: Miriam, born New York, 1904?; Daughter: Ethel, born 1906?; Wife 2: Mary L. Grace, born New York, 1876?;

New York Times' obituary, October 24, 1955, pp. 27.

[Bill Burgess]

Frederick Wilhelm Mosebach---AKA Fred Mosebach

Born: August 20, 1871, San Antonio, TX
Died: February 8, 1951, San Antonio, TX, age 79

San Antonio, TX sports writer;
San Antonio, TX, 8-year old, (June 16, 1880 census)(listed Fritz Mosebach)
San Antonio, TX, reporter, Daily Light, (June 4, 1900 census)(listed F. W. Mosebach)
San Antonio, TX, reporter, newspaper, (April 25, 1910 census)
Eagle Pass, TX, Secretary, Chamber of Commerce, (January 22, 1920 census)
San Antonio, TX, sports editor, newspaper,(April 11, 1930 census)
St. Mary College (San Antonio, TX),
San Antonio Express, 1892: reporter / news editor
San Antonio Light, 1894 - 1906:
Gazette, 1906 - 1908; editor
Laredo Record, 1915;
San Antonio correspondents bureau,
Austin (Tex) American, 1916; editor
Eagle Pass Guide, 1918 - 1921. W S:
recruiting service: Finance Dept. Q M D, USA. MEM: Tex Edl Assn.
San Antonio Express sports editor And later a feature writer.
San Antonio, Tex. Sports editor,
San Antonio (Tex) Express, February, 1924 - 1941.

Mother: Emma, born Prussia, March, 1850?; Wife: Louise, born Germany, 1878?; Son: Harwell C., born Texas, 1904?; Son: Callan H., born Texas, 1904?;

Sporting News' item, April 23, 1936.--------------------------------------------------Who Was Who in Journalism

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sporting News' obituary, February 21, 1951, pp. 18, column 4.

[Bill Burgess]

Frederick Hammond Van Ness---AKA Fred Van Ness

Born: December 28, 1880, Ellenville, NY
Died: June 6, 1959, Jamaica (Queens), NY, age 74---d. in his sleep at the Whitman Hotel.

San Francisco/New York sports writer;
Avon, New York, 3-year old, (June 21,1880 census)
Leyden, IL, stage mechanic, theater, (April 17, 1930 census)
Chicago, IL, Proprietor, recreation dealer, (April 16, 1940 census)

San Francisco Chronicle, 1916-46
New York Mail, 1911;
New York Times, 1919-20, 1935-40
self-employed operator of billiard parlor, (5721 West Division St., Chicago, IL), April 28, 1942

Father: Moses, born Canada, 1811?; Mother: Sarah, born New York, 1845?; Wife: May J., born Michigan, 1882?;
New York Times' obituary, June 7, 1959, pp. 86.

[Bill Burgess]

Jacob Charles Morse---AKA Jake Morse

Born: June 7, 1860, Concord, NH
Died: April 12, 1937, Brookline, MA, age 76,---d. heart attack at home, cremated.

Boston sports writer;
Boston, MA, 10-year old, attending school, (June 24, 1870 census)
Boston, MA, 20-year old, at Harvard College, (June 5, 1880 census)
Brookline, MA, Sporting Editor, (June 23, 1900 census)
Brookline, MA, Bank clerk, Bank, (May 6, 1910 census)
Brookline, MA, President, Massachusetts Motors, (January 13, 1920 census)
Brookline, MA, salesman, Life insurance, (April 23,1930 census)
Graduated Roxbury Latin School (Boston, MA), 1877
Harvard College (Cambridge, MA), 1881, Boston University Law School, 1884
Boston Globe, 1883
Boston Herald, 1885 - March, 1907, sports editor, 1884 - 1901
Secretary of New England Baseball League, 1892 - 1912
Left baseball writing after the 1913 season.
became insurance man, 1921 (J.D.E. Jones general agency)
Wrote a history of Baseball, (Sphere & Ash, 1888)
Helped launch Baseball Magazine, May, 1908 & was one of its' Presidents & editors until 1912. Was replaced as President in late, 1910 by Joseph Potts.
Boston Traveler, ? - 1937, death.
Managed Boston Nationals, University, 1884

Father: Charles, born Bavaria (Baden)(Germany), 1833?; Mother: Sara (Straus), born Bavaria (Baden)(Germany), 1837?; Wife: Josephine, born New York, 1876?; Son: Charles, born Massachusetts, 1894?; Son: Reginnald, born Massachusetts, 1898?;

Bioproj.SABR:
Jake Morse
by Charlie Bevis

An influential sportswriter in Boston, Jake Morse helped to shape the public's perception of baseball during the game's accelerated growth stage from the 1880s to the beginning of World War I. Morse wrote for the Boston Herald and contributed articles to Sporting Life. He also served as secretary of the New England League, a minor league circuit. One of Morse's most notable accomplishments was the founding in 1908 of Baseball Magazine, the first monthly periodical devoted to baseball.

Jacob Charles Morse was born on June 7, 1860, in Concord, New Hampshire. He was the oldest child of Charles and Sara (Straus) Morse, both immigrants born in Bavaria, who raised a family of ten children after coming to the United States around 1850. Morse had three brothers and six sisters, the youngest being Matilda, who was born in 1879. The family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1866 when Morse was six years old. In Boston, they united with his father's family, which had established itself in the clothing business and became prominent members of the Jewish community.

His uncle Leopold was a highly successful clothing merchant in Boston, operating the clothing store Leopold Morse & Co. He was also elected five times to the U.S. Congress on the Democratic ticket, one of the first Jewish citizens elected to Congress. In 1889, he established the Leopold Morse Home as a haven for orphans as well as aged and infirm Jewish people.

His uncle Godrey, a lawyer by training, was a renowned public servant. After graduating from Harvard College, he was elected to the Boston School Committee in 1875 and later served as a member of the Boston Common Council. He was president of the Leopold Morse Home for many years and served as an officer for several charitable organizations.

Morse's father operated a wholesale boys clothing business in Boston, first known as Philips, Morse & Co. and later Morse, Johnson & Co. After the Great Boston Fire in 1872, he conducted the business by himself before leaving for Colorado with a lung illness (probably tuberculosis).

In 1877, Morse graduated from Boston Latin School, the oldest public high school in the country. He then followed his uncle Godfrey's footsteps by attending Harvard College as a member of the Class of 1881. Although he is often referred to as having graduated from Harvard in 1881, Morse actually left school in January of his senior year due to health reasons; he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1906. Morse attended law school at Boston University, graduated in 1884, and was admitted to the bar as a lawyer in 1885.

Morse, though, was not destined for a life as an attorney, but rather as a journalist. During his three years at Boston University, Morse wrote articles for several Boston newspapers, including the Globe, Herald, and Post. When the Union Association was organized in 1884 as a third major league to compete with the National League and American Association, Morse edited the Union Association Guide published by Wright and Ditson, a sporting goods manufacturer.
With his family's strong ties to the Democratic Party and the welfare of common people, Morse was naturally a follower of the Union Association. The league was established as a player's league, in protest of the reserve clause being enforced by owners in the other two major leagues. Morse likely contributed reports to the Boston newspapers about the games played by the Union Association team in Boston, where he struck up a friendship with its first baseman Tim Murnane, who doubled as the team's field manager. While Murnane is now recognized as being the manager of the Boston Unions for the entire 1884 season, earlier editions of baseball encyclopedias had credited Morse with managing the team for seventy-five games during the latter part of the season.

When the Union Association folded after its one and only season, Morse took a full-time job in 1885 as sports editor for the Boston Herald, a position he held for twenty years. Morse provided baseball coverage of the Boston team in the National League and the various Massachusetts teams in the New England League, along with game accounts of local colleges and amateur teams.

Morse wrote a book, Sphere and Ash: History of Baseball, published in 1888, the same year his father died. Morse's father, who suffered from a lung disease, died in Denver, Colorado, where he had moved hoping the climate there would cure his illness. Upon his father's death, Morse became head of the household for his younger siblings.

Looking to supplement his income from sports writing for the Herald, Morse started to contribute articles to Sporting Life. In 1892, Morse joined up with Murnane, now working as sports editor of the Boston Globe, to be the administrative staff for the New England League. With Morse as secretary and Murnane as president, the two men tried to keep the club owners afloat financially, after a number of league failures the previous several years, and to provide opportunity for local ball players.

Feeling comfortable enough financially to settle down and raise a family, Morse married Josephine Gans on March 15, 1893. Josephine was the daughter of well-known Jewish philanthropist Louis Gans, who had made his money in the cigar business. Wedding presents included "a magnificent banquet lamp of hammered brass" from the owners of the Boston National League team and "the Century dictionary in half a dozen volumes" from his associates at the Herald. Residing in his father-in-law's house in Brookline, Morse and his wife raised two sons, Charles and Reginald.

Following his uncles' lead, Morse devoted a great of his time to charitable and civic affairs. He was a trustee of the Leopold Morse Home and organized many fund-raising events, including several under the auspices of the Boston Press Club. He was also involved in local governmental affairs in Brookline.

After three years as secretary of the New England League, Morse struck out on his own to become president of the New England Association, another minor league in the region. The New England Association operated on a small scale centering on cities in the Merrimack River valley of Massachusetts, in contrast to the New England League that at the time had a broader geographic focus, with half its teams in Maine and the other half in southern Massachusetts.

When the New England Association lasted less than three months, Morse returned to the New England League as secretary for the 1896 season. Trying to keep the league in business wasn't easy. There was a disputed pennant in 1897 between the Brockton and Newport teams, a war-shortened 1898 season, and a chaotic final day of the 1899 season when Manchester played a sextuple-header, six games in one day, in a quest for a first place finish (while two other teams played only a tripleheader). The league went into abeyance for the 1900 season.

In his primary job at the Boston Herald, Morse was at the forefront of change in the sports world, covering the increasing popularity of college football in the fall and the rise of a new winter sport, basketball. As the New England Basketball League organized in the fall of 1900 to play over the winter of 1901, another development would completely change the Boston sporting landscape--the upstart American League putting a franchise in Boston. The Boston Americans, challenger for spectator support to the established Boston team in the National League, quickly captured the attention of sports writers and the citizenry of Boston by winning pennants in 1903 and 1904.

The New England League revived in 1901 and entered a period of stability under the leadership of Murnane and Morse, as "President Murnane's tact and Secretary Morse's executive ability proved a double asset to the New England organization."

In 1907, management changes at the Boston Herald resulted in the ouster of Morse from the paper. In October 1906, William Haskell had acquired a controlling interest in the paper's stock, which had once been the exclusive domain of his father Edwin Haskell, who as editor had hired Morse back in 1885. Once the elder Haskell died in March 1907, Morse was asked to leave the newspaper.

"After a connection of twenty-three years with the Boston Herald, I naturally expected to die in the harness in that institution, but one can never tell," Morse reported to his Harvard classmates in 1931 upon the fiftieth anniversary of the Class of 1881. "The unexpected will happen every now and then, and changes in management bring about changes in personnel; so it was a case of pull up your stakes and go [at] it."

Morse's misfortune at losing his job turned out to be a fortunate turn of events for baseball fans (and present-day historians). Needing to augment his small stipends as New England League secretary and Sporting Life contributor, Morse once again struck out on his own, this time to start up a new publication called Baseball Magazine. The inaugural issue was dated May 1908, edited by Morse in the magazine's Boston office, and reached newsstands in time for the start of the 1908 baseball season.

A monthly baseball publication was unique for the times. The monthly format permitted lengthy examination of baseball issues which the weekly Sporting Life and its competitor The Sporting News didn't often pursue with their focus on on-the-field results. "Baseball has never had a magazine of its own, while almost every other sport has a high class publication," Morse wrote in the first issue. "So, the Baseball Magazine is supplying a long-felt need; in substance, the need of a monthly organ filled with the highest thought surrounding the game, well edited, well printed, and filled with first-class illustrations."

Morse had a distinct editorial focus on the Sunday baseball issue, something then prohibited in all East Coast cities such as Boston and New York but permitted in western cities such as Chicago and St. Louis. The lack of Sunday baseball in the East denied working people an opportunity to watch baseball games, since the six-day work week was still in vogue. On the one day off from work that most people had--Sunday--the law precluded ball games played by professionals. Morse published numerous essays supporting acceptance of Sunday baseball, including one by his rabbi, Charles Fleischer.

While Baseball Magazine was a literary hit, it wasn't overly profitable, lacking a wide audience for Morse's upscale editorial agenda. Morse's income from the Baseball Magazine venture must have been thin. Morse took a job in 1910 as a clerk at the Field and Fay brokerage, ostensibly to pay the bills while he labored on Baseball Magazine during the evening hours.

In late 1910, less than three years after the founding of the magazine, Joseph Potts replaced Morse as president of Baseball Magazine. Morse remained as editor for a time, but the December 1911 issue was the last one he edited. F.C. Lane, who had joined the publication as associate editor for the July 1911 issue, became the editor of Baseball Magazine effective with the January 1912 issue. Lane relocated the magazine's office to New York City and expanded the editorial content to "outdoor sports" such as football and ice hockey, and published more mainstream articles that appealed to a broader readership.

The 1912 season was Morse's last year as secretary of the New England League. In late 1912, he tried to organize a new minor league, the Northeastern League, becoming its president, but the league never got off the ground. Morse then resigned as secretary of the New England League in March 1913, under the guise of "demands of his private business." It was later revealed that he hadn't been paid for his services in more than a year.

It was a sour ending for Morse to an illustrious baseball writing career. After he dropped from the baseball scene in 1913, Morse tried to enter public service by attempting an election run in 1915 as state auditor on the Democratic ticket. He also dabbled in several ways to make a living outside of baseball. He ran a car dealership for a while before embarking on a career as an insurance salesman around 1921.

"I had nearly attained the sixtieth milestone before I was thrown into the insurance plan," Morse wrote of his insurance career. "A friend of mine, who had met with plenty of reverses in business, urged me to follow his example and make the plunge. It took me a year to make up my mind it was the psychological thing to do, but better late than sorry. So I joined the J.D.E. Jones general agency of The Equitable Life Society of the United States."

In the last years of his life, Morse returned once again to sports writing, working for the Boston Traveler newspaper. Morse died on April 12, 1937 at age 76, at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, having suffered a heart attack a few weeks earlier. He was buried in Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"To the generation of today, the name of Jacob C. Morse meant little," the Traveler wrote in its obituary of Morse. "His name is not inscribed in baseball's record book nor is there any tangible monument to him in the pastime. Only in the record-book of the heart is he inscribed, in the hearts of baseball's old timers and those young men who had the fortune to know him."

Now, the SABR BioProject has finally inscribed the name of Jacob C. Morse in baseball history, through the Internet.

Sources:
Baseball Magazine, 1908-1912
Boston Globe. "Morse--Gans; Marriage of Popular Newspaper Man to the Daughter of a Well-Known Merchant," March 16, 1893.
Boston Herald. "Rites Tomorrow for Jacob Morse," April 13, 1937.
Harvard University Archives. Alumni biographical file of Jacob Morse and Class of 1881 anniversary reports published in 1906 and 1931.
Lowell Courier-Citizen. "Jake Morse Resigns Secretaryship of the New England League," March 8, 1913.
Sporting Life. "Jacob C. Morse, Boston Correspondent of 'Sporting Life' For 15 Years," March 14, 1908.
U.S. census records, 1870, 1880, 1910, 1920.

Authored:
Sphere and Ash, 1888

New York Times' obituary,-------------Sporting News' obituary----------------------Baseball Magazine, November, 1909
April 13, 1937, pp. 8.---------------------April 22, 1937, pp. 25.

----------------------------------------------------------------Spalding Official Base Ball Guide, 1938

[Bill Burgess]

Charles Henry Zuber

Born: November 15, 1872, Newport, KY
Died: October 15, 1938, Newport, KY, age 65

Cincinnati sports writer;
Newport, KY, 7-year old, (June 12, 1880 census)
Cincinnati, OH, news-dealer, Railroad, (April 16, 1910 census)
Cincinnati, OH, advertising, general PR, (January 15, 1920 census)
Newport, KY, Publicity Director, Theaters, (April 10, 1930 census)

Father: John A., born (Baden) Germany, 1837?; Mother: Katherina E., born (Bavaria) Germany, 1839?; Wife: Florence, born Missouri, 1874?; Son: Lytle, born Ohio, 1901?; Daughter: Natalie, born Ohio, 1904?;

Cincinnati Times-Star sports editor (started as general utility boy, moved up to stock market reporter, then regular reporter in September, 1892 - March, 1910.

Left to become theater press agent, advance agent for George Thatcher. Returned to Times-Star in January, 1894, was made sports editor, in March, 1895, succeeding Ren J. Mulford, Jr.
Shortly before the WW, he left the newspaper field & PR for Chamber of Commerce, Cincinnati Reds, & several theaters. After Charles was dismissed by Cincinnati owner Taft in March, 1910, he worked as press agent for the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, Cincinnati Reds, & some theaters. Did publicity for Orphanance Corps during war. His last few years, he conducted a column, "Curtains Down," in the Cincinnati Enquirer, where he traced the history of the early theater in Cincinnati. Baseball club, theaters and other institutions, off & on until his death. Never wrote baseball again.

Sporting News' obituary, October 27, 1938, pp. 3.

[Bill Burgess]

Robert W. Curtis

Born: August 15, 1866, Owego, NY
Died: February 21, 1939, Little Neck (Queens), NY, age 72,---d. following a stroke.

New York sports writer;
Owego, NY, 4-year old, (June 25, 1870 census)
Owego, NY, 13-year old, (June 21, 1880 census)
Bronx, NY, salesman, shoes, (June 8, 1900 census)
Bronx, NY, journalist, newspaper, (April 25, 1910 census)
Bronx, NY, editor, (January 2, 1920 census)
Bronx, NY, editor, newspaper, (1930 census)
Arrived New York, 1889
New York Sun, 1889 - 1895
New York Recorder, 1895 - 1901
New York Herald associate sports editor, 1901 - 1920
New York Times' day assistant to sports editor, March 5, 1922 - 1939

Father: Allen, born Massachusetts, 1815?; Mother: Mary C., born New York, 1836?; Wife: Bertha D., born Pennsylvania, February, 1874;

-------------------------------------------------------------------1940 Baseball Guide

New York Herald-Tribune obituary, February 22, 1939, -----------------------------------------Sporting News' obituary,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------March 2, 1939, pp. 2, column 2.

[Bill Burgess]

Julius Edgar Grillo---AKA J. Ed Grillo

Born: July, 1873, Germany
Died: May 26, 1920, Washington DC, age 49,---d. St. Elizabeth's Hospital, (Washington, DC), after 4 years battle against softening of the brain.

Cincinnati / Washington sports writer;
Dtroit, MI, 6-year old, (June 2, 1880 census)
Norwood, OH, editor, (June 13, 1900 census)
Washington, DC, Sporting Editor, Newspaper, (April 19, 1910 census)
District of Columbia, patient, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, (January 20, 1920 census)
Cincinnati Commercial Gazette sports writer, 1890's
President of American Association, (Western League, January 1, 1904 - March, 1905)
President Toledo Baseball club, 1905 - 1906
Washington Post,
Washington Star, 1910? - 1917
Naturalized in 1878

Father: Friedrich Ferdinand Ernst Emil Grillo, born Germany, 1842?; Mother: Aurelia Strunk, born Germany, 1849?; Wife: Blache F., born Ohio, February, 1875; Julius married around 1896; Daughter: Adelaide A., born Ohio, June, 1898; Son: Jack J., born Ohio, 1903?; Son: Maurice William, born District of Columbia, 1910?;

Sporting News' obituary,
J. Ed Grillo, for many years actively connected with Organized Baseball as organizer, magnate and writer, died last week in Washington, D. C. after a long illness. He became interested in Baseball as sporting editor of a Cincinnati newspaper in the '90's. In 1904, when the American Association was reorganized after the general baseball war, he was selected as its president and did much to assist in getting the game on its feet again. For the next two years he was president of the Toledo Club of the association. Then he returned to the writing game, from which he retired three years ago because of ill health.

------------------------------------------------------------------1921 Baseball Guide

[Bill Burgess]

Elmer Ellsworth Bates

Born: May 22, 1860, Madison, OH
Died: February 18, 1930, Madison, OH, age 69,---d. at home.

Cleveland sports writer;
Madison, OH, 10-year old, (June 3, 1870 census)
Madison, OH, 20-year old, (June 3, 1880 census)
Cleveland, OH, Sporting editor, Press, (June 5, 1900 census)
Cleveland, OH, Sporting editor, newspaper, (April 23, 1910 census)

Started on Painesville Telegraph, 1880 - ?
Sporting Life correspondent, 1897
Cleveland Press sports editor, (20 years)
also wrote column "Little Old Man", loved for it's intimate feel.
Also Cleveland Leader, 1910? -1911?
Cleveland World,
Cleveland Herald,
Cleveland News.
Founded Madison News, 1918 - 1927
Lake County Republican Herald associate editor, 1927 - 1930, death
He espoused writing brevity, accuracy and warmth. He called many famous people friend.
Graduated Madison Seminary, Madison Kiwanis secretary many yrs.

Father: John D., born New York, 1833?; Mother: Mary J., born New York, 1832?; Wife: Laura M., born Illinois, 1874?;

Painesville Telegraph Obituary-------------------------------------------------------------Painesville Telegraph Obituary
Wednesday, February 19, 1930, pp. 1------------------------------------------------------Thursday, February 20, 1930, pp. 4.

[Bill Burgess]

Harold Simmons---AKA Harry Simmons

Born: September 29, 1907, NYC
Died: January 14, 1998, New Canaan, CT, age 90

Baseball writer / executive;
International League, 1945 - 1966, (New York, 1945 - 1952), (Montreal, 1952 - 1966)
Commissioner's Office, 1966 - 1982

HARRY SIMMONS: Article by David Simmons.
Harry Simmons (September 29, 1907, New York, New York - January 14, 1998, New Canaan, Connecticut) was a Baseball executive, writer, and historian. His early interest in baseball derived from the Sunday afternoon games he attended with his father. After graduating from Morris High School in the Bronx, he worked in several jobs while developing a deep interest in baseball history, rules, and statistics. By the 1930s he was spending a lot of his free time in the New York Public Library researching old newspapers about the early accounts of matches. At that time, he developed a friendship with Ernest Lanigan, a baseball historian and Information Director of the International League.

Simmons worked for the International League from 1945 until 1966, first in New York then in Montreal. He then worked in the Baseball Commissioner's office until his retirement in 1982. He developed the playing schedules for the Majors and various minor leagues for over 20 years. Well known as a historian and writer, he did much original research into 19th Century baseball. He developed and wrote the weekly feature "So You Think You Know Baseball" which ran in the Saturday Evening Post from 1949 to 1961. His book of the same name was a best-seller. For many years he wrote the entry for baseball in the Encyclopedia Britannica. In 1951, Simmons testified as an expert witness to the Celler Committee hearings on the history of the reserve clause. At the 1979 baseball winter meeting in Toronto, he was honored as "King of Baseball". In 1990, his contributions to the game were recognized when he received the SABR Salute. In 2002, he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, and in 2007, he was elected to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in Israel.

Historian, author
During the 1930s, Simmons developed a deep interest in baseball statistics and history. He was the first to compile 19th Century National League won-lost records for pitchers. The guides of that period had not published this information. He carefully checked each box score of each game listed in the newspapers of that era: Sporting Life and The Sporting News. The results were published over several issues of Baseball Magazine.

From 1940 to 1942, Simmons selected the top baseball performer of the day for the popular radio show "Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians." While in the army he continued his research and while at Camp Pickett, Virginia, was able to work at the Library of Congress in Washington, where he compiled records from 1876, debuts of prominent players, batting records of pitchers, rare fielding gems and items for the Sporting News record book. He contributed original work to the top baseball writers of the day: J.G. Taylor Spink, Leonard Gettlson, Hy Turkin, S. C. Thompson, and Lee Allen.

In 1951, Simmons was called as an expert witness to testify before a congressional committee on the history of the reserve clause. The Celler House Judiciary committee probed monopoly influences in organized baseball.
In 1968 Simmons contributed a 26,710 word essay on the topic of Baseball which was printed in the Encyclopedia Britannica for many years.

International League (1946 - 1966)
Simmons joined the International League during the 1946 season. On his first day on the job, Frank Shaughnessy asked him to go to Baltimore to present an award to Sherm Lollar for leading the league in hitting in 1945 with a .364 average. Simmons hopped on a train and in front of 45,000 fans made the presentation that afternoon. He indicated that he was extremely nervous speaking in front of a crowd that size.

That year, Jackie Robinson joined the Montreal Royals, and Simmons became quite involved in handling the press in its hunger for stories about the great player.

Over the years he gained more responsibility in handling player trades, dealing with the press, scheduling the games, the hiring, firing and movement of the umpires, settling disputes among the clubs, handling the financial side of league operations, and staffing the office. During the late 1950s Shaughnessy became frequently ill, and Simmons was essentially running the league by himself.

In 1952, the league office was moved to Shaughnessy's home town of Montreal. Simmons quickly became a popular figure in Montreal baseball circles and gave many speeches to local community groups. He made many close friends among the sports writers and sport figures in both Montreal and Toronto. He moved his family north in 1954 to settle in the suburb of Cartierville, Quebec. The family retained this residence until 1995.
When the Montreal Royals folded in 1960, the league office moved back to New York City, but Simmons decided to keep his residence in Montreal. He would regularly spend 3 days a week in Montreal until his retirement from the Commissioners office in 1981.

Commissioner's Office
His official duties in the Commissioner's office included supervision of club player contracts, co-ordination of National League and American League retirement plans, player service and pension records. He frequently was called upon for advice from the Commissioner and wrote speeches for the many functions attended by Commissioners William Eckert and Bowie Kuhn. He acted as a general consultant to club owners and general managers who needed advice.

As Jim Fanning, former General Manager of the Expos, wrote: "During Mr. Simmons time as a baseball executive every Major League owner and executive knew him on a first name basis. He not only was a keen advisor to the commissioners he worked for, but was a counsel and advisor to Major League Executives as well. Mr. Simmons was unheralded - his picture never made the cover of The Sporting News - but I had an office next to his when I started the Major League Scouting Bureau, and I witnessed this man's contribution day after day. His contributions were an equal to any who graced the cover of a sports magazine."

"So You Think You Know Baseball"
When Simmons started at the International League, he held conferences for the umpires of the league to discuss the rules and review calls which had been made. He soon realized that some of the umpires were of the opinion that they "don't have to know the right answer unless the managers do". He started to compile some of these odd plays which the umpires would ask him about, and in 1949, he submitted "a pack of these nutcrackers" to the Saturday Evening Post under the title "So You Think You Know Baseball". The series became very popular; one of the solutions brought 7,000 letters of protest to the magazine. Nearly all were actually plays, "though a few were the results of bad dreams". The series ran until 1961, and later was published in Baseball Digest. In 1962, the series was published in book form and sold 500,000 copies in many editions.

Scheduling
One of Simmons' tasks at the International League was to develop the league schedule. In March 1953, when the Braves moved from Boston to Milwaukee, Warren Giles called on Simmons for some quick schedule changes. The next year found him developing both the American and National League schedules. He was the major league schedule maker from that date until 1982, when the required travel started to take its toll.
He also completed the schedules for numerous minor leagues, the Canadian Football League, soccer leagues, and international hockey tournaments.

Role in organizing the Montreal Expos
Since Simmons had many friends in the baseball circles in Montreal, and knew everyone of importance in the game, it was only natural that he was called upon for assistance when Montreal was ready for a major league franchise. He directed Gerry Snyder of the mayor's office on how to go about getting the franchise and recommended the hiring of Jim Fanning and John McHale to run the club.

Other functions and accomplishments
For many years, Simmons served on the Major League Rules Committee, where he suggested changes and wrote new rules.
In 1965, he appeared in the CBS Television show To Tell The Truth and managed to receive no votes when asked, "Will the real Mr. Simmons please stand up".

In 1979, Simmons was awarded the "King Of Baseball" title at the annual Baseball winter meeting held in Toronto. This prestigious award is given annually to an individual who has made a major contribution to Major League baseball. It was generally felt that it was appropriately given to Simmons in Canada.

In 1990, he was awarded the SABR Salute which is given to a member whose research has contributed significantly to baseball knowledge.
He was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002, and in 2007, was elected to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in Israel.

The Harry Simmons Collection at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
In the more than 50 years that he was involved in baseball, Harry Simmons collected thousands of items related to the development of the game from earliest times. These included his correspondence with people involved in every level of the game; memos, letters, and speeches from the commissioners office from the 1920s to the 1980s; notes and memos from his days as the major league schedule maker, letters from fans of his "So You Think You Know Baseball" series; articles from the International League; a significant collection of baseball memorabilia, and a major collection of baseball publications and books.

The collection was donated in 1998 to the CBHF&M by his son, David Simmons, who is a resident of Toronto. It has been called one of baseball's most eclectic, exciting and diverse collections. It will serve as a component of a future library and research facility which has been proposed for the CBHF&M.