e the discontented players had appointed a committee to
present their grievances to the League, and President Young appointed a
League committee to hear the players, of which committee A. G. Spalding
was chairman, but when an immediate hearing was asked for by Mr. Ward,
Mr. Spalding declined to meet the Brotherhood players until fall. This,
according to the players' story, was the last straw that broke the
camel's back, and from that time on they began, but with the greatest
secrecy, to arrange their plans for secession.

Having ascertained what was going on in the meantime, I used what
influence I possessed in trying to dissuade such of my players as was
possible from taking what I then regarded as a foolish step, and though
I managed to find some of them that would listen to me there were others
who would not, Pfeffer, Tener and Williamson being among the number,
though they made no move openly looking toward desertion until after the
playing season was over.

On the fourth day of November, 1899, the Brotherhood met at the Fifth
Avenue Hotel and threw off the mask, issuing the following address to
the public:

"At last the Brotherhood of base-ball players feels at liberty to make
known its intentions and defend itself against the aspersions and
misrepresentations which for weeks it has been forced to suffer in
silence. It is no longer a secret that the players of the League have
determined to play next season under different management, but for
reasons which will, we think, be understood, it was deemed advisable to
make no announcement of this intention until the close of the present
season. But now that the struggle for the various pennants is over, and
the terms of our contracts expired, there is no longer reason for
withholding it. In taking this step we feel that we owe it to the public
and to ourselves to explain briefly some of the reasons by which we have
been moved. There was a time when the League stood for integrity and
fair dealing; to-day it stands for dollars and cents. Once it looked to
the elevation of the game and an honest exhibition of the sport. To-day
its eyes are upon the turnstile. Men have come into the business for no
other motive than to exploit it for every dollar in sight. Measures
originally intended for the good of the game have been turned into
instruments for wrong. The reserve rule and the provisions of the
national agreement gave the managers unlimited power, and they have not
hesit