Mine is an all-too-common story:
youthful firebrand becomes conservative as he gets older
I was as important as anyone
in the successful founding of the American League:
as Vice-President of the Players’ Protective Association
I encouraged players not to sign for 1901,
and then recruited many to play in the A.L.,
and managed the White Sox to the first pennant
I later became owner of the Washington Nationals,
and I think I was a good owner
But when the Depression hit,
I was severely hampered in staying in business;
I had to sell Joe to the Red Sox
for a quarter of a million dollars
just to keep the team afloat
I developed a pipeline to Latin America
to secure an inexpensive source of talent
If I had still been the labor radical
I would have hired players from the Negro Leagues,
which would have made us instant contenders
and even threatened Yankee dominance,
but by that time I was too dependent
on the rental income from the Negro Leagues
to take a chance on the long term