Was Benny Kauff wrongly banned? Part 4

(continued from May 3)

Benny Kauff with the Brookyln Tip-Tops
of the Federal League in 1915.

Following the dissolution of the Federal League after the 1915 season, its top star, Benny Kauff, found himself in the enviable position of having 16 major league clubs bidding for his services. His most persistent suitors were Barney Dreyfuss of the Pirates and - of course - the Giants.

Dreyfuss, who had passed when Kauff was offered for $5,000 by the Hartford club in 1913, dropped out of the bidding at $25,000, and Kauff was sold to the Giants for $35,000 in late January, 1916. At that, Kauff brought less than had been expected. Harry Sinclair, former Federal League financier and oil multi-millionaire, had anticipated a price tag of $50,000 for the defunct league's star.

Sporting Life commented on the sale of Kauff and other stars at less-than-anticipated figures, "(T)he National and American League clubs are going to take advantage of the surplus talent available and will not bid in excess of what a player is really worth. If Sinclair has staked his chances of regaining a large percentage of the money he sunk in the Federal League on a price list such as prevailed during the war, he is doomed to disappointment."

Kauff played hard to get, even as spring training began. Through his Hall of Fame attorney, he declared he was a free agent -- since he had never signed a binding contract with the Brooklyn Tip Tops -- and that Sinclair could not dispose of him, and that he was entitled to the purchase price himself.

No mention can be found in contemporary press of the exact details by which Kauff was finally persuaded to sign with the Giants, but it's likely his claim for the $5,000 signing bonus was incorporated into the pact, as there is also no further mention of the disposition of that suit.

If the press introduction of Kauff to Brooklyn fandom was extravagant, the New York writers were outrageous in trying to top each other's prose portraits of the Giants' new savior. One clipping, unidentified as to source or author, in the collection of the National Baseball Library, began its description of Kauff as "(T)he most unique character in baseball. He is only a boy of 24, and is very small, but of tremendous strength," the account reads.

"He is built like a miniature Samson," said the unknown journalist. "Benny's shoulders and arms are out of proportion to his height. Despite this fact, he is not muscle-bound; can throw a ball like a shot out of a rifle, and is as fast and agile as a rabbit." His unusual strength was attributed to his youthful coal mining experience.

"Kauff is certain to be an idol here if he plays the game as he did with the Feds," the article continued. "He has a remarkable personality. He will have the crowds cheering in the stands and the kids waiting outside the players' entrance after the game.

"Benny will revel in this and in playing at the Polo Grounds with McGraw. He loves the limelight - it is joy to his soul. He is certain he will lead the National League in everything next year. In fact, he had told me often that he might hit over .400 in the older major league circuit," continued the unidentified scribe, who went on to assess Kauff's personality and baseball skills. "He is confident and arrogant, but a fine boy, nevertheless. Thus far he has always made good his boasts."

(Editor's note: The ancient floppy disc on which this article was originally written was partially corrupted at this point. The lost text would seem to have chronicled Kauff's 1916 season with the Giants. 

(Rather than trying to reconstruct the missing data, I'll just present a statistical summary of his 1916 performance. 

(Kauff appeared in 154 of the Giants' 155 games. Hit batting average of .264 was a 78 point drop from 1915 when he'd led the Federal League. He had 146 hits, third-highest on the team, with 22 doubles. His 15 triples were second-best in the National League and his nine home runs were tied for fourth. His 68 walks and 74 RBIs were fourth in the N.L. He had 40 stolen bases, second-best in the league.) 

Following the World Series, in which the Giants participated only as spectators, having finished the season in fourth place, seven games behind the pennant-winning Dodgers, Kauff gave another lengthy interview, this time to The Sporting News. The piece was headlined, "Benny Kauff has changed his tune." Subheads followed, "Talks sensibly of chances he has in baseball" and "Learned more in one season under John McGraw than he ever imagined it was possible to know."

The paper lauded Kauff for his "honest, frank statement concerning his faults" and

prefaced Benny's remarks with a commentary on his debut season in the National League, "Benny shows he has had a major league education crammed into his minor league mind, and he has profited greatly thereby. Instead of learning to despise his teachers and honest work, Benny is loud in his praise of his preceptors and what they have done for him. Benny says he aged ten years in his one year with the Giants, and learned more than he thought could be in the books. Benny is what may be called a chastened, but by no means subdued, athlete. He is better baseball prospect today than he ever was.

"Before the 1916 season opened Kauff gave out interviews in which he expressed sublime confidence in his ability to whang the National League pitchers as heartily as he had done those in the Federal League. When it came to the test, Benny batted around .265.

"Why did Benjamin fall so heavily? He answers it himself with the simplest of explanations, and one that was obvious to any fan who watched him work. He tried too hard. He felt that the eyes of the world were upon him, and that he was in duty bound to knock the ball out of the lot whenever he came to bat. His principal achievement was to puncture the welkin with the million or so high flies, fouls and other unproductive, or positively disastrous, contributions. Now read what Benny has to say after a year's experience," the article continued.

When comparing these quotes with those cited back in January, one wonders today which -- if either -- of the statements was really made by Kauff, or whether the writers of the day were putting their words in his mouth. The Kauff quoted in this Oct. 9 interview comes off as much more well-spoken than the Kauff quoted in January. "I did make statements about being able to hit in the National League as well as in the Federal, and all that sort of thing, with the consequence that I finally found that I was expected to accomplish wonders in every game. The fans were looking for me to bust the ball into the next country when the bases were full or clear.

"I frankly confess that the burden of living up to my predictions made me nervous and I had a very bad year. The ball players and newspapermen accused me of hitting at bad balls, and that was true. I was over anxious to connect and show how far I could hit. I have learned my lesson.

"But what the players and critics did not notice as much as I did was that I was missing balls right in the groove. I was hitting ahead of or behind them. I am essentially a high-ball hitter, and everybody knows it, so I am disclosing no trade secret when I say so; yet over and over again National League pitchers grooved them for me, even the pinches, and I was too quick or too late with my swing. There was no way to account for missing those groovers, except on the ground that I was self-conscious and my mind was taken partly off the ball. I had a feeling of too much responsibility, and that cause my poor showing.

"In the last third of the season, playing in the National League had become a matter of routine, and I knew that I was not such a conspicuous member of the team. Then I gradually began to hit naturally and to make the pitcher work. My average gradually increased, and if the season had continued another month I would probably have batted .300."

Kauff went on at length to bemoan the fact that often when he did connect solidly, the outfielders made great plays, though critics might suggest that was the difference in defensive abilities between a true major league gardener and a Federal Leaguer.

The interview continued, "I am taking the very best care of myself this winter, and believe that I will bat well above .300 in 1917. I am confident I have the eye, and with the novelty worn off, I expect to hit naturally and deliver the goods. No man ever profited by his year in the majors more than I did.

"In the Federal League I felt like a boy, playing baseball like a boy, and enjoyed myself like a boy out of baseball hours. McGraw taught me that baseball is a serious profession, requiring the best years of a man's life, and that the man is a fool if he does not take the game seriously. It is a sport engaging some of the brightest minds in the country, and the player owes it to himself to meet those minds as far as possible on an even footing. That is something that never entered my head until I came under the discipline in the National League, and its realization has done me a world of good."

Kauff then revealed his off-season plans, which would have unforeseen ramifications in coming years. "I expect to go to work in New York as salesman for an auto company, and hope to develop myself along that line so that I will have a business to fall back upon when Old Man Time calls the third strike on me as a major league player."

The article concluded with this assessment of the "new" Benny Kauff. "As had been remarked before, Kauff is by no means on offensive braggart, as some of his rather foolish interviews in his Federal days may have led the public to believe. He is chock full of confidence, talks pleasingly and intelligently, and knows what he is about. Next year, when he will be merely a private in the ranks instead of a special attraction, he should be a much more valuable ball player than he was in the 1916 season."

Following the 1916 season, Kauff suffered another automotive mishap. He told Brooklyn baseball beat writer Thomas S. Rice in February, 1917, that his car was in a parking garage when it backfired and ignited a blaze. Kauff told the interviewer there were some 150 other autos in the garage at the time but that he didn't know how many vehicles had been destroyed. He assessed the damages at $25,000. The location of the fire was not provided.

After the close of the 1916 season, Kauff had spent a few days in Indianapolis, then returned to his home town of Middleport, Ohio, for some hunting, fishing and coal mining. Kauff tried to get the journalist to believe that he had spent four days in the mines with his father. "I don't know whether you will believe it or not," he said, "but I shoveled from 23 to 30 tons of coal a day."

In assessing the young Giants outfielder on the eve of spring training in 1917, Rice perceived a change in the ballplayer's demeanor from his debut season. He wrote, "Benny Kauff, star outfielder of the New York Giants, and one of the most picturesque players in big league baseball, has been in the big city for six days, and the first that was known of it was two days ago! The people of Gotham were all ready for Benny's big entrance, and the little fellow fooled 'em.

"Benny is here all right," Rice continued, "but what a changed young man he is from the one that New Yorkers were introduced to last year. Then he was a blustering, strutting youngster, proud of his accomplishments in the Federal League, which, after all, proved an exalted minor organization. He did not hesitate to talk of his achievements and what he would do in the future. In fact, he built up for himself a reputation that took many nights of sleeplessness and many heart pangs to knock down, and altogether, as he now admits, made himself look foolish in the light of subsequent happenings.

"Now . . .  well now, he is different. Not in clothes, for Benny was always particular with his outfitting. Not in looks, for the same intelligent young face confronts one, and the same honest gleam shows out of his eyes. But he no longer blusters; he no longer struts, and he no longer brags of what he will do next season."

Rice did press Kauff for his prediction on the coming season. "Candidly," Kauff responded, "I think we have the best ball club in the world and I am going to get in there this year and give John McGraw the best there is in me. I am doing road work and gymnasium work and I am only about ten pounds overweight right now. I feel so good I could start the season tomorrow. I am not saying anything about how I'll bat this season because I don't know, but I do know one thing and that is I'll be a lot better off this year than I was last because I am now used to National League ways."

Kauff had been indulging in another hobby in the off-season, jock-sniffing around prize fighters. While at Indianapolis he had become friendly with light heavyweight Jack Dillon, and had bet hundreds of dollars at ringside each time Dillon fought. In New York, he spent considerable time in training with Bob Devere, a heavyweight contender. Evidently Kauff thought he had learned a thing or two about the manly art, but it nearly got him seriously hurt during spring training. Traveling North from spring training the Giants were playing a series with the Detroit Tigers when bad blood erupted at a game in Dallas. Ty Cobb slid spikes-up into Buck Herzog at second base and an on-field melee ensued. Unsatisfied with the outcome on the diamond, Herzog arranged to meet Cobb later that night in his hotel room. Herzog was roundly thumped by Cobb in a bare-knuckles encounter, but the two shook hands at the conclusion. Upon learning of Herzog's defeat, Kauff volunteered to take up the gauntlet in defense of the team's honor and offered to bet $1,500 he could lick the Georgia Peach. Luckily for Benny, Cobb ignored the challenge, probably figuring Kauff had been taking a little too seriously the press' nomination of Benny as the "Ty Cobb of the Federal League."

When the 1917 season opened, Kauff showed marked improvement, offensively and defensively. He raised his batting average by 44 points from the previous year, to .308, which was the fourth-best in the National League. He was third in the senior circuit with 89 runs scored and 30 stolen bases. His glove average was also much improved in 1917, and he fielded a major league career-high .976. Kauff earned the admiration of teammates and rivals alike early in the season when he ripped the fingernail off the middle finger of his left (throwing) hand, but continued to play every day despite "seeing stars" each time he threw or hit a ball.

Just two seasons out of the N.L. cellar, McGraw had rebuilt his infield and starting rotation and by the end of June, the Giants were in first place to stay, finishing 10 games ahead of the Phillies in winning the pennant.  

In the World Series, the Giants faced a Chicago White Sox team that was virtually identical to that which would throw down the World Series in 1919. It would be Benny Kauff's only World Series. It was a dream come true, literally, if the press of the day can be believed.

Following a semi-pro game which he had broken up with a long home run at the age of 16, Kauff is said to have dreamed of being in the big leagues and beating the Chicago Cubs in a big game with a home run.

In the M101-6 "Sporting News"
set, Kauff is pictured in his
Brooklyn Federal League uniform
but his team is designated as
the N.Y. Giants.

While Kauff's World Series opponents were the junior league's Chicago entry, he still had the opportunity to be the hero of the Fall Classic.

Unfortunately, in the opening pair of games at Chicago, Kauff was 0-for-8 at the plate, and made crucial misplays in the field and on the basepaths. In Game 1, John Collins was on second when Kauff inadvisedly attempted to make a shoestring catch which got by him and allowed Collins to score the Series' first run. In the eighth, with the Giants down by a run, Kauff reached first on an error, representing the tying run, but was picked off by Ed Cicotte.

The Series moved to the Polo Grounds with the Giants down two games to none. Kauff once again took the collar in Game 3, in four at-bats, but twice reached second base as John Collins, playing left field, muffed Kauff's fly balls. He was left stranded each time, however. Kauff's teammates managed two runs, though, and Rube Benton scattered just five hits among the White Sox, shutting them out.

Kauff made up for his earlier Series failures when, in Game 4, he became only the second player to homer twice in one game of the World Series (this was in the dead ball-spitball era, remember).

There were two out in the bottom of the fourth, a scoreless tie, when Kauff bounded a long drive into center field. Happy Felsch lost the ball against a field sign, then lost his grip on the ball when he tried to gun down Kauff, who circled the bases with an inside-the-park home run. All but the most rabid Giants rooters would have been happy if the scorer had ruled a four-base error. There was no question about Kauff's homer in the eighth inning, however, as he drove the pill into the right field stands. Critics pointed out, however, that Polo Grounds' abnormally short right field fence (some 257 feet down the foul line, 310 feet to the "power alley") gave Kauff a round-tripper that would have been an easy fly out in most other ballparks. Nonetheless, Kauff's blows went into the record books as home runs and the Giants once again shut out the Sox to even the Series.

Back in Chicago, the Giants threw away a 5-2 lead in the seventh inning to take an 8-5 loss. Kauff doubled in the first inning, driving in the Giants' first run. He was thrown out at the plate for the inning's second out. In the third inning. Kauff reached first on an error as another Giants' run crossed the plate. He was stranded there, and once again in the fifth inning, after singling. In the bottom of the eighth, Kauff was responsible for the White Sox taking the lead when he juggled a ground ball up the middle while John Collins scored from second.

Under the rules then in effect, the Series returned to New York for the sixth game. The White Sox took the game and the World's Championship with a 4-2 victory. They didn't so much win the game as the Giants lost it; all four Chicago runs came on errors, of which New York was charged with three  and Kauff with one. To be fair, Kauff's miscue, in the top of the ninth, did no damage. In attempting a shoestring catch of a Texas Leaguer behind second base, he bobbled the ball and allowed Buck Weaver to score from second with a superfluous run. In that crucial game, Kauff once again was 0-for-4 at the plate, including a rally-killing at-bat in the fifth. Kauff came to the plate that inning with two runs already in and Buck Herzog standing at second with the tying run. A weak foul pop to Chick Gandil behind first base ended the Giants' threat in the inning.

Despite the pair of tainted home runs, Kauff's "dream" World Series was a personal nightmare. He batted just .160, second-worst among non-pitching Giants. Francis Richter, editor of the 1918 Reach Base Ball Guide, said Kauff benefited from "lenient" scorers and "had not handled cleanly one of the several hits sent to his territory in the series."

While only six games went into the record book for the 1917 World Series, there was a seventh game between the Giants and White Sox. The day after the Chicago victory, the teams met on Long Island for the benefit of soldiers stationed at nearby Camp Mills. The White Sox won the contest 6-4. Kauff batted a lusty .800 in the exhibition, going 4-for-5  all of his hits being doubles.

The benefit game was the only post-season exhibition allowed the World Series participants under order of the ruling National Commission in those days, but Kauff was able to use his fame to his benefit by donning the zebra stripes of a football official back in Ohio during the off-season.

Neither was Benny able to avoid automotive problems in the 1917 post-season. In mid-November a car in which he was riding smashed into a bridge, location and details not provided, and Kauff was counted lucky in what was called a "narrow escape."

There was considerable speculation as the new year of 1918 rolled around as to whether or not there would be a baseball season. The United States was moving inexorably toward full-scale participation in the European conflict which would come to be known as World War I. Ballplayers, like all other draft-age American males, would soon come under a "work or fight" order from Washington, compelling all men who were not in Uncle Sam's uniform to take war-related jobs in farming, shipbuilding or munitions production.

In early January, Kauff learned that the Middleport draft board had classified him as 1-A, indicating he would be among the early call-ups. Kauff told the New York reporters that he had expected such a classification and that he did not intend to seek exemption by claiming to be the sole support of his parents, or any of the similar dodges that were used to avoid military service. It was expected the draft call would come in late spring or early summer, and while Kauff said he was "ready and anxious to go to war," he hoped to finish the season before entering service. "I want to play one more season and help the Giants to a world's championship," he said. "Then I'll be ready to go to France to play at a bigger game. But if I'm ordered to camp next summer I'll forget baseball and try to be a good soldier."

Besides the threat of draft facing him at the opening of the 1918 season, Kauff was looking at a pay cut. The three-year guaranteed contract, at a reported $7,000 a year, which he had carried over from the Federal League had expired with the end of the 1917 campaign, and Kauff had to take a reported "slash" in pay when signing a one-year deal with New York for 1918.           

Just after the season opened, Benny was informed that his hometown managed to fill its first draft call before his number came up.

He opened the season in fine form. Batting behind Giants lead-off hitter, rookie outfielder Ross Youngs, Kauff hit .370 in the month of April. He was still going strong in May, hitting .350 for the month, when he was notified that he could expect to be called to service within three weeks. When the calendar changed, so did Kauff's luck at the plate. Through the first 10 games of June he hit only .205. What he did hit, though, was hit well. McGraw moved Kauff to the clean-up spot and he responded with a .545 tear in the first three games. Then Kauff was notified to report for induction on June 24. He went into a dreadful tailspin in his final five games, batting only .176 from June 18-22. Still, Kauff left the Giants with a .324 average, among the league leaders.

Muggsy McGraw undoubtedly snuffled back a tear or two when he called the departing outfielder, "The most lovable chap I've ever managed. He is a real man, game, honest, even-tempered and kind-hearted." His teammates sent Kauff off with a wristwatch, as did the president of the club. Newspaperman Joe Vila sent him off with these words, in a front-page Sporting News article headlined, "Fans bid goodbye to Benny Kauff / He goes to war, where he'll make good just as he has done on battle fields of baseball."

Vila wrote, "Benny Kauff is gone! The little fellow said farewell to the Giants Saturday night. John McGraw and the players wished him God's blessings and Benny departed as brave as a lion. There is no use denying that Kauff will be sadly missed. He was the most popular player on the New York team, always trying his best and helping McGraw to win many games with his big bat.

"Kauff will be as fine a soldier as he was a ball player," Vila predicted. "He is dead game and has the real fighting spirit. From the time he broke into the National League he has never ceased his efforts to climb to the head of the batting averages." Vila, usually feuding with his fellow sportswriters, took a swipe at those who had roasted Kauff in his early days with the Giants, saying, "He was shamefully misrepresented at first by alleged funny men, but his earnest efforts soon won thousands of admirers."

One of Vila's colleagues, among the unnamed poets who littered The Sporting News' editorial page with doggerel in those days, penned the following ...

LINES TO B. KAUFF.

With the bludgeon you're a bear,

Benny Kauff.

You can hit 'em hard and fair,

Benny Kauff.

And we know that you will shine

When the Sammies cross the Rhine

In the series over there,

Benny Kauff.

Indeed, the press continued to follow the military career of Benny Kauff in nearly as much detail as they had given his diamond exploits.                   

(to be continued May 4)

Was Benny Kauff wrongly banned? Part 3

(continued from May 2 )

1916 National Police Gazette supplement.

Little more than two weeks into the 1915 season, on April 29, Benny Kauff was suspended indefinitely by Federal League president, James Gilmore, who cited Kauff's "gross violation" of a "perfectly equitable contract with a duly authorized agent of the Brooklyn Club.

"Kauff," he added, "is suspended as an example to him and to every other player in the league that we do not propose to tolerate any breach of contracts that we enter into with them in good faith. Kauff is the most valued man in our league, yet he stands suspended the same as if he were a man of mediocre ability. I do not know what the ultimate disposition of Kauff's case will be. He will stand suspended until I see fit to lift the ban."

Gilmore made sure, however, to emphasize that Kauff remained under contract to Brooklyn. "The Federal League will fight to a finish to prevent Kauff's playing with the National League."

On April 30, N.L. president Tener held an emergency meeting in New York with most of the East Coast owners. Over fat cigars they determined that Rule No. 20 of the agreement which governed major and minor league baseball automatically operated against the engagement of Kauff by the Giants. The rule specified that any contract jumper had to wait three years from the time he violated his O.B. agreement before applying for reinstatement. They also decided that Tener would set aside Quigley's forfeit of the April 29 contest and gave Boston the official win in the 13-8 game.

On May 1, the major league's National Commission, the three-man board which ran baseball before Landis was named commissioner, met via telephone to discuss the situation. The commission was comprised of Tener, American League president Ban Johnson and Reds owner Garry Herrmann, who served as chairman. They unanimously agreed to refuse Kauff's application for reinstatement with Organized Baseball, stating, "in the past (Kauff) has not respected his contractual obligations and therefore, in our judgement, is not a desirable person to be identified with the great national game."

At the same time the National Commission was black-balling Kauff, Giants owner Hempstead and Tip Tops owner Ward were meeting in New York to dispose of the body. Following the conference, Hempstead made the following statement: "Kauff's services were offered to us several weeks ago, and it was represented that he was under no contract with any club, but a free agent. We investigated these statements carefully and not until we felt thoroughly satisfied that he was free to sign a contract with us did we sign him." He went on to say that the Giants " ... acted in the utmost good faith in the belief that he had no contract" with Brooklyn.

In meeting with the Brooklyn owner, the Giants' prexy said Ward, " ... brought to our attention facts of which we had no previous knowledge and which we believe give him the right to Kauff's services. Had we known these facts in the first place, we would not have felt at liberty to sign Kauff, and having learned of them we willingly surrender his services to Mr. Ward." The Brooklyn magnate magnanimously accepted Hempstead's explanation and laid the "recent complications" to a "misunderstanding."

On May 1, the Brooklyn Club attempted to reinforce its contractual hold over Kauff by paying him the first installment of his salary. After advances had been deducted, the check came to $192. Kauff, sick in bed with a touch of ptomaine poisoning, refused to accept the money. Kauff also never received the $5,000 signing bonus from the Giants. He had demanded it prior to the press conference announcing his jump to the Giants, but McGraw had told him he'd get it after the game.

When all of baseball's "suits" had had their say, Kauff was heard from. "The National Commission, nor the Federals, nor the Giants cannot keep me from taking down something around $1,000 a month for the next three seasons," he told reporters on May 2. "My contract with the Giants is iron-bound and states very clearly that I am to be paid whether or not I am able to play. They signed the paper with their eyes open and I insist that they live up to the agreement. I cannot be held to account for any bungle the New York Club might have made in bucking the National Commission or stopping it when it seemed ripe for peace moves (with) the enemy. I am not caring for anybody but Kauff, and you can bet I am interested in his welfare."

He had not cooled off by the following day and blasted all parties again, "I am through with the Federal League," he said, "I have been made the goat of one of the biggest fiascoes of base ball, but I was absolutely right and I intend to prove that I was right. I was not under contract to Brooklyn's Federal League Club when I signed with the New York Giants. Robert B. Ward knows I was not. He repudiated the contract Dick Carroll made with me. Carroll tried to tempt me with a pay check at the rate of $6,000 per year only after the management of the Tip Tops learned I had signed with the Giants. That contract I entered into with McGraw could have been proved legal and binding I am sure. I was assured that New York's National League Club would stand behind me in the fight. The National Commission turned down my prayer for reinstatement and as soon as it did I was dropped like a hot potato. That is not right; it is not justice. I should have had no complaint if the Wards had agreed to honor the contract I signed with Carroll. They cannot honor it now after I have signed with the Giants. I intend that the Giant contract shall be honored whether or not the National Commission sees fit to make fish out of me and fowl out of some of its pets. I shall fight this case single-handed if need be. I intend to sue the New York National League Club for the full amount of its contract and a promised bonus of $7,000 (sic), if it does not fulfill its promise to stand behind me."

Sporting Life summarized the entire weekend's happenings for its readers in the May 8 issue, under a second-coming headline which proclaimed, "AVERT BASE BALL DISASTER." The subhead read, "The New York Club's Amazing Folly in Opening the Door to a War of Reprisal By Signing, and Attempting to Play, a Federal League Star, Checked by Organized Ball Powers."

In a column in the same paper a week later, the dean of American sportswriters, Grantland Rice, took up Kauff's defense. First he blasted Tener and Johnson for blacklisting Kauff on the basis of his jumping a reserve clause with the American Association's Indianapolis team. He pointed out that Tener himself had jumped a reserve clause 25 years previously when he left the National League for the Players League, and that Ban Johnson in 1900 encouraged National League players to jump their reserve clause and join the American League. In view of that, Rice queried, " ... upon what grounds of morality, logic, fairness or anything else do they vote that Kauff has committed a base ball crime?

"Kauff has received an enlarged amount of criticism for his recent move, but if the true facts were known he is less to be blamed than most of those star players who jumped Organized Ball and were taken back. When the Indianapolis franchise went up in smoke, Kauff, legally, was a free agent. On being transferred to Brooklyn he was due a new contract. This contract, to be legal, had to be signed by Robert B. Ward. Unless Kauff and others who examined the inside status are lying, Mr. Ward refused to sign the contract before Kauff left the Brooklyn Club. Therefore Kauff, legally, was still a free agent. His move to go out and get more money was not only not dishonorable, but was in entire accord with the spirit of the modern game."           

By the 5th of May, Kauff had regained his composure and wrote to Federal League president Gilmore, "I am anxious to play ball again with the Brookfeds and feel sorry that I followed the advice of older men in the game and took part in the recent trouble. Mr. Ward has treated me fairly and has shown so much interest in my welfare that I am ready to show the fans that I am not ungrateful. Will you please raise my suspension and let me take part in the Tip Tops' pennant fight?

"The whole affair of last week was the result of a misunderstanding. The Tip Tops are the best combination I have ever played with and if you will act favorably upon this application I will at all times give my best services to the club. Please act upon this so that I can get into the game while the strong Western clubs are at Washington Park. Respectfully yours ..."

Upon receipt of the letter, Gilmore declared that Kauff would be reinstated effective on May 8.

1919-21 W514 strip card.

Within a month, Kauff was back in the headlines. He engaged former New York star and future Hall of Famer John M. Ward to represent him in securing his promised $5,000 signing bonus from Hempstead and the Giants. According to Kauff, he was to have gotten his bonus before the ink was dry on his signature on a Giants contract, but that he was hustled into uniform and out on the field before receiving the money. Kauff threatened to drag the Giants into court, if necessary, where it's likely testimony from the likes of McGraw would shed unfavorable light on the whole episode of Kauff's kidnapping from Brooklyn. So sure was Benny of his position that he declared he would not settle his claim for $4,999.99. 

Hempstead, traveling with the team on a western swing, did not respond to the demand.

On July 1, Benny once again jumped the Brookfed team. That pay day, Kauff had been presented a check for $500, instead of the $1,000 he was expecting. Ward had deducted $500 of the $1,500 advance salary Kauff had received from Indianapolis the previous year. In 1914, Kauff had borrowed the money from the Hoofeds (Hoosier Federals, get it?), with the agreement to pay back $500 each July 1 for the next three years. When the league had taken over the Indy franchise, it had assumed the debt, paying the team the $1,500. In turn, when Kauff went to Brooklyn, Ward had paid the league $1,500 and become Kauff's creditor in the matter.

At spring training, Kauff had initially been offered a contract for $5,500 a season. Kauff asked for an additional $500 per annum to pay the debt, and it was written into the pact. In July, Kauff claimed he had been told he would not have to repay the loan and thus felt justified in jumping the team once more.

Though Kauff claimed McGraw still wanted him in New York, and had even sent him a uniform, when Benny showed up at Ebbets Field, where the Giants were playing the Dodgers, McGraw ignored him.

The league slapped a 10-day suspension and $100 fine on Kauff for his latest desertion.

That same day Kauff filed suit in Brooklyn to compel the Giants to pay his signing bonus, plus interest since May 6 and attorney's fees. On Aug. 9, the Giants responded by alleging that Kauff had misrepresented the facts of his base ball status, that he was not able to carry out the provisions of his contract and that the memo agreeing to pay the signing bonus was not signed by a team official.

Through it all, Kauff continued to tear up the Federal League . . .  on those days when he was not sitting out suspensions. Although the Tip Tops finished the season in seventh place (in the eight-team league), Kauff had led the circuit in batting average, slugging average and stolen bases. He finished second in walks and third in home runs. In the runs, hits and runs batted in categories, Kauff finished fourth in 1915. He led Federal League outfielders in total chances per game (2.7) and assists (32).

Some may argue that Kauff's batting success came against essentially minor league pitching (and with a lively ball, no less). In 1915, however, there were three future Hall of Fame pitchers in the Federal League, albeit near the end of their careers: Three-Finger Brown, Chief Bender and Eddie Plank. While it's impossible to figure accurate batting averages on the basis of available box scores, it can be computed that in games in which those pitchers worked, Kauff hit .411 in 1915, compared with his overall batting mark of .342.

Of the season, he was able to reflect, "After four or five more years in this base ball business, I'll be ready to step aside. I was a coal miner before I broke into base ball, but after I quit playing I hardly believe I'll go back to a pick and shovel. I'm 24 now, and I believe I can stick with the topnotchers for four or five years. If I keep my health and am not crippled in that time I should be able to collect a bank roll that will enable me to pick out some other business and live pretty soft for the balance of my natural life."

The 1915-16 off-season was again a tumultuous one, for and about Benny Kauff.

The Indianapolis American Association team filed an appeal with the National Commission seeking $10,000 which they said the Giants had agreed to pay for its reserve claim on Kauff. Despite the fact that he was then playing with the outlaws, on Sept. 11, 1914, the Giants had executed a contract with the Indians, payable if Kauff reported to the Giants and was retained by them until May 1, 1915  and provided that the Indians had a legitimate contract with the player. It was arguable whether or not the Giants "retained" Kauff as of May 1, but since the Indianapolis A.A. team never had a contract with Kauff, the commission found that the Giants had no obligation for the $10,000. After sorting out the contract language, the commission disallowed the claim.

More importantly, following the close of the 1915 season, the Federal League ceased operations. Benny Kauff, along with most of the star players became the property of the league, who would sell them to the highest bidders to pay off the owners' debts. As part of the "peace agreement" which included bringing several Fed owners into the O.B. fold as major league magnates, there was a general amnesty provided for players who had deserted the established leagues.

At age 24, Benny Kauff was in the enviable position of having 16 major league clubs bidding for his services.

(to be continued May 4)

Was Benny Kauff wrongly banned? Part 2

(continued from May 1)

Benny Kauff with the N.Y. Giants, circa 1919.

There is little that compares to the thrill of surviving a near-death experience in an auto wreck, but Benny Kauff's 1915 season was hardly anti-climactic, on or off the field. He continued to put up league-leading offensive and defensive statistics while being used as a pawn in the on-going war between "Organized Baseball" and the "outlaw" Federals. And it would take several courts and commissions and most of baseball's owners to decide for whom Benny would play and who owed what to whom.

Through all the commotion outside the white lines, Kauff did nothing on the field to disabuse the fans of the notion that he was the "Ty Cobb of the Federals," though he would later try to distance himself from such comparisons.

Despite the fact that Kauff's Indianapolis team had won the Federal League pennant in 1914, it was a money-losing proposition and the league transferred the franchise to Newark, N.J.; all except Benny Kauff and pitcher Cy Falkenberg, who had won 25 games for Indy in 1914 and led the league with 236 strikeouts and nine shutouts.

The players' contracts with Indianapolis had been used as collateral for a loan which the team had received in 1914 from Robert Ward, owner of the Federal League Brooklyn Tip Tops. While such "syndicate" baseball was not allowed in the established major leagues, the rest of the Federal magnates decided it was in all of their best interests not to oppose the appearance of its star in a hometeam uniform in the nation's major baseball market.

It took some convincing in the case of the new Newark owners. They had paid $70,000 for the Indianapolis team and its debts, and wondered aloud what it was they had bought if the team's two star players were not included in the deal. Ward returned Falkenberg and made a suitable cash settlement for Kauff.

Sporting Life introduced its Brooklyn readers to their new diamond star in terms that no player could live up to: "Whether or not the Federal League makes good and becomes a permanent organization, it has developed Benny Kauff, who is hailed by thousands of fans around the Federal circuit as the greatest player of the present generation. Kauff is the premier slugger, premier fielder, premier base stealer and best all-round player in the league. He is being called a second Ty Cobb, yet there are many followers of the Federal clubs who say that within the next season Kauff will play rings around the Georgia Peach."

The paper cautioned, "Kauff isn't an impressive-looking young man either off the field or on. There are other athletes who make him look small by comparison. In fact, he is a small-like young man, but very husky. His right arm, with which he throws, is longer than his left [Not! Kauff batted and threw from the port side]. He throws with deadly accuracy. Kauff doesn't field like the average outfielder. He has a peculiar style, but he gets the ball and covers a lot of ground. Around the circuit they say that he runs crazy on the bases and that he doesn't know a thing about stealing bases, but he leads the league in that department of the game."

The paper continued to effuse, "But it is at the bat that Kauff stirs up the bugs [1910-1920s baseball slang for fans]. Whenever he marches up to the plate the opposing pitchers begin to tremble and the spectators begin to calculate how far he will swat the ball. Kauff is a natural, yet a nervous, hitter. He takes a long, full swing at the ball, and it goes when he meets it. He generally meets it. All pitchers seem to look alike to him."

n summary, "He covers a world of ground, throws beautifully and accurately, bats fiercely, and is in the game every minute. He is a youngster and should have several good years ahead."

Brooklyn's own Damon Runyon, the best-read columnist in the New York papers, made his own, considerably more stylish, introduction of Kauff to Gotham City. He wrote: "Having seen him in civilian array, we are undecided whether Benny Kauff is a better show on or off (the field). Certain it is that in either case he is a scene to stir the dormant corpuscles. In his working apparel he is a companion piece to Tyrus Raymond Cobb and Tris Speaker, while in his street make-up he is a sort of Diamond Jim Brady reduced down to a baseball salary size.

"As a spectacle of something more than purely local interest we believe he easily comes second to the Woolworth tower, when it is all touched up with electricity. On his hands, Benjamin carries a couple of diamond rings that set him back about $3,500. In his necktie he wears a diamond horseshoe that would be a size and a half too large for Roamer, and Roamer has fairly large feet for a horse. On days when he does not wear a four-in-hand tie Benny has the horseshoe pinned to his shirt bosom, and it cannot be denied that the effect is very striking."

Runyon went on to declare Kauff among his favorite performers. "We used to take a certain delight in the first baseing of Hal Chase," Runyon wrote, "and there was a time when we would go a long ways to see Mathewson pitch. Of late, we have found keen pleasure in viewing the gyrations of Ty Cobb, and in watching Tris Speaker at his business of outfielding, but, considering it purely from an artistic standpoint, we must admit that the star of the Feds furnishes us as much entertainment as any player in all the land.

"Kauff is not quite as good a ball player as Cobb," Runyon offered, "He does not possess as much baseball sense as the Jewel of Georgia; he is not as `smart' in a baseball way as Cobb. He cannot hit as well as Cobb. He can field better and throw better, but he cannot do other things as well."

The columnist seemed to feel Kauff could be more accurately compared with a future Hall of Famer in the Red Sox outfield, "He is in some respects a better player than Speaker, although his fielding does not compare with the marvelous work of the Texan. He will hit as well or better, and he can do more things on the bases, but we doubt if his baseball mentality comes up to that of Speaker. While the Fed star possesses a world of baseball intuition, he lacks the inventiveness of Speaker."

Runyon then turned to an unnamed "ballplayer of long service in organized baseball, who (has) seen the stars of the past and present," for an assessment of Kauff. "He loves to play baseball more than any man I ever knew," said his contemporary, "It's a mania with him. I don't believe you could keep him from playing if he didn't get a nickel for his work. I think his longest suit is his hitting, although he can field, and throw, and run, as well as anybody else in the world. Up at the plate, however, he seems to have no weakness.

"He uses an enormous bat, but he twirls it around like a toothpick. He is never still an instant when he is facing the pitcher. He hits a left-hander even better than a right-hander. He can hit with two strikes on him as well as at any other time, and he hits to any field."

The anonymous colleague then spoke of Kauff's gameness, "He is never out. I mean that no matter how far a ball beats him to a bag, it is Benny's opinion that he had been defrauded by the umpire. There never was a strike called on him that was over the plate, to hear him tell it. Now and then if he happens to pop up an easy fly he may grudgingly admit that he is out, but if it happens to be a long fly, he thinks the outfielder was mighty lucky to get it. And he can never understand why he cannot get a safe hit every time up. He doesn't think a pitcher should ever have anything on him, and he comes back to the bench after being retired bewailing his luck and telling what he'll do to that heaver the next time he steps to the plate."

The old-timer concluded, "I've seen many a one come and go, but this fellow is a wonder;  that's what he is,  a wonder."

Another writer who made comparison between Kauff and Cobb was Clarence F. Lloyd of St. Louis. "The Feds' Ty Cobb is constructed vastly different from the Detroit Demon," Lloyd wrote. "He's only 5 feet 7 inches tall, against Cobb's 6 feet, and weighs 174 pounds. Cobb will go much higher than that. Being 5 feet 7, Kauff crowds a lot of his weight in his shoulders. He's built more on the order of a welter weight boxer or a varsity halfback. He doesn't look the 174 pounds he admits."

Kauff himself tried to defuse the rivalry being generated by the sports writers. "If I felt I was as good as Cobb and would perform as well, or better, I would be foolish to make public my thoughts," he told Lloyd. "It's the same as a manager or a player claiming a pennant while fanning in the hotel lobby. You can't win ball games in hotel lobbies. They have to be played and won on the ball field. And any time I think that I'm as good as Cobb I'll have to get out on the lot and prove it, not admit it."

Lloyd drew out Kauff on the subject of base stealing and the ballplayer sounded like Cobb when he said, "It's all in getting your lead and slide. There are several players in the Federal League who are faster than I am, but they don't steal as many bases because they don't figure out their leads and don't slide properly into second base."

It's worth mention that Kauff's base stealing fame was accrued almost entirely in the Federal League. Other than his debut pro season in the Virginia Valley League, for which accurate stats are not available, Kauff never led a minor league in thefts. In fact, in 1911 and 1914, the two seasons in which he spent an entire season with a single team, his stolen base total was only fifth-best each year.

There's no denying, however, that Kauff was a demon on the basepaths in 1914. His 75 steals led all three major leagues. Cobb had only 35 thefts in 1914, but was limited to 97 games because of broken ribs, which naturally prohibited him from throwing himself around second base, even when he returned to action. In 1915, for the second consecutive year, Kauff led the Federal League in stolen bases, swiping 55. Cobb, perhaps smarting from the comparisons to Kauff, ran wild in 1915, stealing a career-high 96 bases, a record which would stand until 1962 when Maury Wills lifted 104.

The veteran ballplayer who had told Damon Runyon that Kauff would play ball for nothing evidently did not sit on Benny's contract negotiations with Brooklyn in 1915. "I felt that I had not been used rightly when I was transferred from the Newark Club to the Brooklyn Club," Kauff said later. "Mr. Ward wanted me to sign a contract calling for a low salary and toss in a large bonus. I wanted the large salary and small, or no, bonus named in the contract."

Those contract difficulties between Ward and Kauff created one of the most sordid affairs in the Federal League war. The basics were that McGraw and the Giants decided they'd like to have Kauff playing in New York and induced him to jump his contract. The Giants' interest in Kauff was two-fold. First, they wanted to obtain one of the most valuable players in the game, a widely advertised player who would be a big drawing card.

1992 Conlon Collection.

Unspoken was the fact that Kauff might prove to be the great Jewish ballplayer that the Giants had been trying desperately to find. Since the turn of the century, the neighborhoods around the Polo Grounds had increasingly become home to Jewish immigrants and their American-born children. While it was widely believed that Kauff was a Jew, in fact his heritage was Slavic. Secondarily, the acquisition of the Federals' top star would minimize competition for fan support in the greater New York area.

For his part, Kauff had a high regard for John McGraw as a manager, and desired the prestige and job security which came from the established major leagues. Some writers even speculated that Kauff needed the big city crowds to perform to his potential. "He is so constituted temperamentally that crowds and hurrahs are necessary if he is to give his best," said an unnamed Sporting Life writer, "Playing before a handful of fans [at Brooklyn] day after day got on his nerves."

Even before the season opened, Kauff was conspiring with the Giants to violate his Federal League contract. During spring training in Texas, Kauff had negotiated and signed a contract with Brooklyn's business manager, Dick Carroll, acting for the president. The contract was for three years, at a salary of $6,000 per year. According to Kauff, Ward refused to sign that contract, balking at the salary Kauff had penciled in.

Back in Brooklyn for the season curtain-raiser, Kauff delighted the opening day crowd, with a home run. Across the river, Giants president Harry Hempstead had his lawyers going over Benny's contract with a fine-toothed comb looking for a loophole that would allow Kauff to return to Organized Baseball. Like many Federal League players, Kauff was on baseball's ineligible list as the result of his having jumped his reservation by the Indianapolis team of the American Association to sign with the Indianapolis Federals.

The Giants' lawyers apparently found something they liked and gave Benny a crash course in contract law, with the result that Kauff sent a demand to Ward which said, "As I have not received a reply to my former letter with reference to my contract I must have the same by tomorrow, Thursday, April 29, at 12 o'clock noon. It cannot go on in this uncertain condition. I must have reply in writing."

The verbiage about timing was not casually arrived at. At 12:30 p.m. on April 29, the Giants called the baseball writers to the Polo Grounds pressbox, where they were greeted by the sight of Benny Kauff in Giants livery. Kauff had signed a three-year contract with New York, calling for $7,000 salary per season, plus a $5,000 signing bonus. "Boys," said McGraw, "meet Benny Kauff; he'll play center field for me today." As cocktails were passed, and the afternoon papers' writers scrambled for the telephones, Kauff modestly announced, "I'll bunt a home run into that right field stand every day."

When Kauff took the field, however, the Boston Braves refused to come to bat. When 10 minutes elapsed after he'd called "Play ball!" without a Braves batter stepping into the box, umpire Ernest Quigley declared the game forfeited to the Giants. In the interim, another umpire had phoned National League president John Tener for instructions. Tener advised that the game must go on, but that Kauff could not play.

By the time Quigley had been so advised, the field was swarming with many of the 6,000 fans. Many gathered near the box of Braves owner James Gaffney to hear the fight between Gaffney and McGraw. The Giants' manager was berating the rival owner, "Gaffney, you're the man responsible for forfeiting of this game. You're the one objecting to my playing Kauff. That's a fine way for you to repay the favors I have done for you. I'll get even. You can't make a fool out of me and get away with it."

Gaffney responded that he would not jeopardize the standing of his players by having them take part in a game with a player on the "black list." He added that he was not looking for war with the Federal League (which had not put a franchise into Boston).

That evening he expanded on his remarks for reporters, "I was sure," said he, "that Kauff was ineligible by the rules of organized baseball. I did not refuse to sanction the game, however, until by calling up President Tener, I made sure of my ground. Had I foolishly permitted my club to go ahead I would have left every member of the world's champions open to suspension for having participated in a game with an ineligible player. I took my stand for self-protection. No one was more pleased than I when New York finally agreed to proceed without Kauff."

With new orders from Tener, the umpires had park police clear the field and, with Kauff on the bench, a game began. After ascertaining that the Giants had, indeed, won by forfeit, McGraw's team took the field for a seven-inning "exhibition" which they lost 13-8.

Even as the game was going on, Brookfeds' owner Ward was planning his counterattack. He telegraphed Tener, "Regarding reported jump of player Kauff to New York National League Club, I wish to advise that the Brooklyn Federal League Base Ball Club has at all times respected valid contracts with the players. Also wish to inform you that player Kauff has a valid and binding contract with the Brooklyn Federal League Club. Would be pleased to have you advise me what action you propose to take in the matter."

After sharing the telegram with reporters, Ward added that if Tener did not order Kauff's return to Brooklyn, he would start a war of reprisal and go after the biggest stars in "Organized" ball. While it was true that the Federals had lured a lot of star and journeyman ballplayers from the American and National Leagues, and the minor leagues under the umbrella of the National Association, the Feds had taken care to sign only those players who were in their "option year" under the reserve clause, or who were outright free agents. They may have tampered with many of those players by advising them not to sign their previous year's contracts, so as to be eligible to jump, but the Feds had drawn the line at signing players with valid contracts in O.B.

A month later Brooklyn's business manager Carroll told the press that the Federals had massive retaliation planned in the event Kauff had been allowed to take the field on April 29. Carroll said, "I knew something about what was going on and when McGraw played the foolish trick of trying to get Kauff over with the Giants I was fully prepared for him. If Kauff had played for the Giants that afternoon eight Giants would have jumped into automobiles I had waiting outside of the Polo Grounds and would now be with the Brooklyn Tip Tops."

It is doubtful that Carroll was being entirely truthful, but there's no doubt that if the National League had decided to harbor Kauff the Federals would have escalated the baseball war.

Realizing the potential damage a Federal player grab could visit on the National League, Tener quickly wired Ward, " ... relative to the Kauff incident, you are apprised that the player in question will not be permitted to play in the National League at this time."

While the warring leagues made nice via Western Union, Benny Kauff was out of work.

(to be continued May 3)

Was Benny Kauff wrongly banned? Part 1

(More than 20 years ago I authored a lengthy feature article about Benny Kauff for Sports Collectors Digest. This is an updated version of that article and will run on this blog in six installments. I'm going to schedule this series to appear during the week when I'm making my return to my Wisconsin office from my Pennsylvania winter quarters.

(When this was originally published in the early 1990s, SCD had a circulation of about 30,000 copies per week. Of those 30,000 papers printed each week, about 29,000 were thrown away when the new issue arrived a week later.

(Now, 20 years later, I doubt that more than a couple dozen of those original issues that featured the Benny Kauff series still remain. The creation of the internet and the publication of this article in the new medium means that this original research and presentation of Benny Kaufmann’s story will live forever and be widely accessible for future generations.

(Ain’t the 21^st Century grand?)

Benny Kauff became "The Ty Cobb of the
Federal League" in 1914, playing for the
champion Indianapolis Hoosiers. He's shown
here on a 1915 Cracker Jack card.

Coal miner's son

Of the many players driven out of baseball by Kenesaw M. Landis in his early years as baseball’s commissioner, Benny Kauff surely received the rawest deal.

Like the "Black Sox," Kauff was acquitted of his alleged crimes in a court of law, only to have Landis rule that he was permanently barred from Organized Baseball. As a U.S. magistrate, Landis' judicial decisions were routinely overturned at the appeals level. Ballplayers like Benny Kauff, however, had no recourse from the rulings of baseball's first czar.

Unlike Landis' other targets, Kauff was not accused of throwing ballgames, taking bribes or consorting with gamblers, at least not publicly. Rather, Kauff was expelled from baseball after being accused, but acquitted, of grand theft auto.

Kauff's mixup with stolen cars was the last in a string of automotive related mishaps that nearly cost him his life several times and which eventually cost him his baseball career.

It's unknown whether a continued major league career would have led Kauff to Cooperstown or Palookaville. He left the game at the age of only 30 with a lifetime .311 batting average over parts of eight major league seasons between 1912-1920. In 1914-15 he had back-to-back seasons in which he led his league in both batting average and stolen bases. Only one other major league player ever matched that feat, Honus Wagner in 1907-1908.

Benny Kauff's story is the stuff of which Grade B movies were made. It was a twist on the American dream. He was the archetypical hard-working poor boy from a small town who made it big in the big city only to be victimized by the system, ending up in the gutter. There was no happy ending.

Kauff was born in 1890 in the coal-mining region of southeastern Ohio, around Middleport. His father, William, was said to have been a crackerjack ballplayer in his own right, but he married young and went down in the mines to support his family rather than risking the uncertainties of a professional baseball livelihood before the turn of the century.

Introducing its New York readers to their new outfielder in 1916, a local paper recounted Kauff's childhood thusly, "The boyhood of Benny Kauff was a happy one, but not one of ease. His father is today Benny's idol, as he has been since childhood. They are the image of each other, the elder Kauff looking so young that he might pass as the Giant outfielder's brother."

Benny's formal education virtually ceased at the age of 11 when he took a job as a breaker boy in the mines at $3 a week. By his mid-teens, Kauff was a full-fledged coal miner, working beside his father. At 75 cents per ton, the Kauff & Son consortium could make $10-13 a week working 12-hour days, though they had to pay for their own tools and blasting powder.

At the age of 14, growing into what would eventually be a 5'8", 157 lb. frame, Kauff began playing baseball seriously on a town team comprised largely of miners who played Saturday afternoons and Sundays around the coal district of Ohio and West Virginia. According to a latter-day account, the miners' team "practiced in the evenings, when summer days were long, and their work had ended. Young Kauff soon made quite a reputation as an outfielder and hitter. His short arms, developed by hard work since he was a lad of eleven, had the power of driving a ball with terrific force. He was extremely fast on his feet, and his lack of height made him hard to pitch to."

Then, as now, the mines meant hard work, unhealthy conditions and danger. Kauff later claimed to have had two narrow escapes in underground slides. For some reason, reporters throughout his career persisted in trying to get Kauff to compare his status as a star ballplayer to his career as a coal miner. His stock answer was that baseball "was softer, and there's more money in it."

A poem which appeared in the Jan. 24, 1914, The Sporting Life could have been written about Benny Kauff, but wasn't because nobody had yet heard of him in 1914. By George E. Phair, the poem was titled:

THE OTHER SIDE

Down in a murky mine he worked,

digging for chunks of coal.

               And never a thought of discontent

entered his simple soul.

               He worked away through the life-long day in a

spirit of deep content.

               And drew his pay in a stolid way, nor

asked for another cent.

              

               A baseball scout picked the miner out

as a whale with a baseball bat.

               The young man swelled with the job he held

till his cranium burst his hat.

               The young man dwells in the best hotels

and he rides in a royal way.

               And says: "Oh, my! What a slave am I!"

and he yells for a raise in pay.

In 1909, Kauff became a regular on the semi-pro Keystones team in his neighborhood. The teenager played nearly every position on the diamond. Reminiscing in later years, he said of his first play-for-pay game, "I recall, rather vaguely, that in my first game I caught for three innings, pitched for three innings and then caught for three more innings, and in the game I hit two home runs, and they helped us to win. If my memory serves me, I got about $1.25 for my services and it seemed like very 'soft' money."

Of his early diamond education, Kauff said, "I have made batting a study from my earliest days. Even as a youngster on the Ohio sand lots I studied the habits of the various pitchers, sought their little movements by which they sometimes betray a weakness and I made an honest effort to become an efficient batsman. I did not pay much attention to the defensive side of my playing. I let that take care of itself, and, as luck would have it, I've gotten along pretty well."

Kauff continued, "Many a good ballplayer was developed in that part of Ohio. The Keystone and Middleport clubs were the big semi-professional clubs of the locality in which I lived and I attribute to the experience I gained while playing with those teams the foundation upon which I built my career as a ballplayer. The clubs managed to maintain a pretty high standard of play. I played first with the Keystones in 1909 and later the same season was induced to join the Middleports. I regarded this as somewhat of a promotion, for the Middleports were the representative ball club of the town and it was a mark of distinction to play on the team."

For 1910, Kauff received another promotion, to true professional baseball, when he was signed to a contract by the Parkersburg (West Virginia) team of the Class D Virginia Valley League. According to the lore which followed Kauff in his hey-day, he made his debut in pro ball by pitching the first game of a doubleheader and catching the second.

Primarily used as a pitcher in his first pro season, Kauff is said to have compiled a 14-4 record, with two of his losses said to have been of the one-run variety. He is also said to have hit .417 in 1910, while stealing 87 bases. Despite the heroics, Kauff's team finished fifth in the six-team league. Unfortunately, the league did not promulgate official statistics for the 1910 season, so the record of Kauff's initial minor league season has to be accepted as anecdotal.

In 1911 Kauff was promoted once again, all the way to spring training with the New York Highlanders (they didn't become widely known as the Yankees until 1913) at Athens, Ga.

On the recommendation of scout Arthur Irwin, New York owner Frank Farrell picked up Kauff for the $300 draft price. Irwin later claimed Kauff was not given a fair chance to show his talents that season, and the Yankees thereby lost a star ballplayer. He said, "The difference between $300 in cash and a $35,000 ballplayer is what the New York American League club might have saved if my theory that a busher is entitled to gradual polishing instead of a quick-fire test of his ability had been worked out in Kauff's case."

According to other press accounts, Kauff was simply too raw a recruit to land a job on the American League club which had finished in second place in 1910. One reporter said, "Benny was the hit of the youngsters among the veterans," in camp. "He was filled with the good old pep and it looked as though he was going to stick." Rookie manager Hal Chase, a future teammate of Kauff's on the Giants and later a fellow member of baseball's "black list," however, proclaimed that Kauff would never make a ballplayer because his tendency to hit at bad balls would make him an easy mark for the savvy pitchers in the American League. 

He also exhibited a total lack of control on the basepaths. On the way North, in a game with a Virginia college team, Kauff hit a single, a double and a triple, only to be thrown out each time trying to stretch his hit by an extra base. "His one idea was to keep going until the ball reached some base ahead of him," Irwin said.

Also working against him was his reputation as "one of the freshest rookies that ever broke in." One article claimed Kauff's greatest accomplishment in the major league spring training camp in 1911 "was the feat of chewing tobacco, smoking a cigar and taking a glass of beer without interruption to any of the three pursuits."

Prior to the opening of the season, New York farmed Kauff out to Bridgeport in the Connecticut State League (Class B), managed by big league scout Gene McCann.

Kauff had a productive season in helping the team to a second place finish. He batted .294 and his 133 hits were third-best in the league; his 14 triples were tied for third, and his quartet of home runs was tied for fourth. With 48 steals, Kauff was fifth on that list. Among regular right fielders, he had the league's third best fielding average.

One of the scarcest career-contemporary
Benny Kauff collectibles is this 1916
Ferguson bakery pennant.

            April as a Highlander

His season at Bridgeport earned Kauff another trip South with the Highlanders in 1912, for spring training with their new manager Harry Wolverton. This time Kauff made the trip all the way back North. New York writer Harry Coyle said Kauff, "made an excellent impression upon the Hilltop fans as he proved to be that aggressive type of player so essential to a fighting team."

New York started the 1912 American League season dismally. When they went to Boston on April 20 for the grand opening of Fenway Park, they were still looking for their first tally in the win column and Kauff was still looking for his first appearance as a major leaguer. New York lost its sixth straight game in 11 innings. Kauff made his debut when center fielder Harry Wolter injured an ankle. Bert Daniels moved over from right field and Kauff came in as the center fielder. He was 0-for-1 at the plate in the game, but scored a run.

Wolter's injury saved Kauff a trip to the Southern Association. It had already been announced that Benny was going to the Atlanta Crackers when Wolter was sidelined. Kauff debuted before the home crowd on April 25, facing the Philadelphia Athletics and ace pitcher Chief Bender. Starting in right field, Kauff was 2-for-5 at the plate, scoring two runs and stealing a base as the Highlanders dropped a 5-4 decision in 13 innings.

The following day at Washington, Kauff contributed a single in his first major league victory, as New York beat the Nationals 10-2. He was back in center field the following day, going 0-for-2 as New York was shut out 5-0. Kauff's final American League appearance came more than a week later when he was used as a pinch-runner at Philadelphia.

Kauff got into five games with the 1912 Highlanders, hitting three singles in 11 at-bats for a .273 average. Even though the team would end the season in last place, and not have a regular outfielder who hit above .274, Kauff was still too green to stick in the American League and was sent down to Rochester in the International League.

"Manager John Ganzel has one of the speediest base-runners in the business in Benny Kauff, who has been shipped to the Hustlers by the Yankees," said The Sporting Life. "He has plenty of speed, but runs bases wildly." Though Kauff was fast, the level of play in the Class AA International League was faster. Kauff was mainly used as a pinch-hitter and pinch-runner, batting .250 with a couple of stolen bases in 13 games.

In early June, the Yankees traded Kauff and cash to Brockton of the New England League, for outfielder Pat Maloney, who scouts described as the fastest runner in the game. Kauff spent only a month with Brockton, hitting just .208 before being returned to the Connecticut State League, to Hartford.

The Brockton club evidently felt Kauff had not given them its money's worth, and on July 15, Kauff appealed to the National Commission for nine days' pay and his train fare between Rochester and Brockton. At his $250 a month contract, the salary arrears amounted to $75. On July 25, and again on Aug. 12, Brockton officials told the commission Kauff had been paid. In each case Kauff denied receiving the remuneration. On Aug. 28, the commission ordered Brockton to forward the $87 to its offices, from where it would be dispatched to Kauff. For "deliberately deceiving" the commission, the Brockton team was slapped with an additional $200 fine.

Despite this minor distraction, Kauff hit his stride at Hartford right off the bat (sorry). He debuted with the Senators on July 19, leading off and playing right field. He was 2-for-5 with a double in Hartford's 7-1 victory. In his first dozen games with Hartford, Kauff hit .522. Of his 24 hits in that span he had five doubles, a triple and a home run. Naturally his bat cooled, but Kauff finished the season hitting .321 with four home runs and 11 stolen bases in 53 games.

For 1913, Kauff was back in Hartford, with the team now in the Eastern Association. Kauff proved capable of playing in faster company and led the team to the championship with a .345 batting average. Kauff also led the league with 176 hits and 19 triples. He was second with 91 runs, tied for fourth with 29 doubles and his 45 stolen bases were fifth in the circuit.

The Pittsburgh Pirates looked the league-leader over carefully in the 1913 post-season, but balked at the $5,000 price tag. The New York Americans, who still held title to Kauff, arranged a deal whereby Indianapolis of the American Association was able to acquire Kauff for 1914 for the draft price.At least that's what Indians owner Jimmy McGill thought.

Prior to the opening of the 1914 season, the Federal League declared itself to be a major league and tried to prove it by offering big league salaries to rising stars, journeyman players and declining veterans in the option year of their contracts within Organized Baseball.

The Indianapolis Federal League club offered Kauff a reported 100% increase over his American Association contract and Kauff immediately leaped into the limelight as the star of the new major league. Using a juiced-up baseball to bolster hitting performance around the circuit, the Federal League made a serious dent in the ego of baseball's establishment and was also noticed in a somewhat slower spin of the turnstiles at major and minor league parks.

The Feds initial season featured a pennant race that went down to the final week and was not decided until Joe Tinker's Chicago Whales dropped a doubleheader which allowed the Hoosiers to grab the gonfalon by a 1-1/2 game margin. The pennant was largely won on the basis of Kauff's hitting. He led the league in hits, total bases, batting average, doubles and stolen bases. He was second in slugging average; third in walks and RBIs and fourth in triples.

Kauff amazed the real students of the game by hitting .422 against left-handed pitching. The Sporting Life said, "There is not another left-handed hitter in the game who can hit left-handed pitching better than right, regardless of the caliber of the pitching. These figures prove conclusively that Kauff is a great hitter."

It was following the 1914 season that comparisons between Kauff and Ty Cobb became common in the adulations penned by baseball scribes, at least those who covered the new league.

It was also following the 1914 season that Kauff had his first serious automotive mishap.

Taking advantage of the big league money he had made during the 1914 season, Kauff bought a big red speedster with an eye-popping 90 horsepower. He quickly developed the reputation of driving as he played baseball . . .  as fast as possible.

Late on the afternoon of Nov. 10 Kauff and two friends set out from Indianapolis for Terre Haute, 65 miles away, to attend a fight. As they loaded Kauff's car, which he'd purchased only 10 days earlier, he told teammate Bill Rariden he was "going to break the road record" getting to the fight. As it happened, he broke a telephone pole, his auto and nearly his neck.

Racing home through the dark near New Winchester, a big touring car loomed in the road ahead of Kauff. A local doctor, renowned himself as a speed merchant, was at the wheel. He refused to yield the highway to Kauff and a road race ensued over the next 20 miles. As Kauff made a move to pass, he lost control of his car and flew off the road. He clipped a telephone pole in two, knocking part of the pole into his gas tank. Entangled in the wires, Kauff narrowly missed losing his head. The careening car then hit a concrete abutment, jumped 10 feet into the air, and bounced back into the road directly in the path of the doctor's car, which struck it broadside.

Both cars were wrecked but, miraculously, injuries were minimal. Kauff's passengers received minor bruises. Benny suffered a faceful of lacerations and a $30 speeding ticket. He later told the press, "The doctor was to blame for the accident. He was going 72 miles an hour and wouldn't let me pass." 

(to be continued May 2)