Guide to the Papers of August Garry Herrmann

Guide to the August "Garry" Herrmann Papers,

1877-1938

National Baseball Hall of Fame Library

25 Main Street
Cooperstown, NY13326

Collection Number:BA MSS12

Title:August "Garry" Herrmann papers

Inclusive dates: 1887-1938,bulk 1902-1927

Name of Creator: Herrmann, August, 1859-1931.

Extent: 90 linear feet (140 five-inch boxes, 2 two-and-one-half-inch boxes, 9oversize boxes)

Abstract:

This collection contains the papers of August "Garry" Herrmann who was President of the Cincinnati Reds and Chairman of the National Commission during the years 1902-1927. Herrmann's papers consist of correspondence, newspaper articles, contracts, ledgers, maps, blueprints, drawings, and memorabilia which offer insight into the operations of an early twentieth-century baseball club and the first ruling government of baseball. Although Herrmann is regarded as a peacemaker and the father of the World Series, he is best remembered as a colorful and jovial baseball magnate.

Language: Most of the materials in this collection are in English. Occasionally, there are materials in German.

Preferred Citation:

August "Garry" Herrmann papers, BA MSS 12, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York.

Conditions of Access and Use: No restrictions.

Physical Access: Originals are fragile; researchers must useavailable microfilm. By appointment only;available Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Only boxes 1 – 53are microfilmed at this time.

Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use: Copyright restrictions may apply.

Description Control:

This collection was organized, arranged, and processed according to Describing Archives: A Content Standard by Andrew Newman and Cliff Hight in 2005 and 2006. In preparing the Biographical History, the following sources were consulted. Kevin Grace, "Cincinnati's King of Diamonds," in Baseball in the Buckeye State, ed. Mark Stang and Dick Miller (Cleveland: The Society for American Baseball Research, 2004); August Herrmann, Clipping File, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, New York; Zane L. Miller, Boss Cox's Cincinnati: Urban Politics in the Progressive Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 1968); and John Saccoman, "August Herrmann," in Deadball Stars of the National League, ed. Tom Simon (Dulles, VA: Brassey's, Inc., 2004).

Other Finding Aids:Cliff Hight applied Encoded Archival Description to this finding aid in 2006. It is available by contacting the library.

Related Archival Materials:

Related materials in the same repositoryinclude: J.F. Collins, The "Garry": A Book of Humorous Cartoons, Pickings from the Diamond (Cincinnati, OH: Allied Printing, 1904); The National Commission, Annual Report of the National Commission, 1905-1916, 1918-1921; and East inventory.

Other repositories withmaterials that relate to August "Garry" Herrmann include the Cincinnati Historical Society Library, the Archives and Rare Books Library of the University of Cincinnati Libraries, and the Archives/Library of the Ohio Historical Society.

Grants: Yawkey Foundation, 2004-2007.

Biographical History:

August "Garry" Herrmann was the president of the Cincinnati Reds baseball club from 1902 to 1927. For seventeen of those years, he also was the chairman of the National Commission, the ruling body of Organized Baseball (1903-1920).

A native of Cincinnati who was born to German immigrants on May 3, 1859, Herrmann gained the nickname "Garry" from the foreman of the printing shop where he first apprenticed. The shop printed the official newspaper of the courts of HamiltonCounty, The Law Bulletin, and Herrmann soon became involved in Cincinnati's political machine. Herrmann rose in the ranks of the Ohio Republican party quickly, and became one of political boss George B. Cox's most important men. Herrmann was on the Cincinnati Board of Education, as well as a court clerk, before being named to the city's Board of Administration. He later served as chairman of Cincinnati's Water Works Commission before leaving City Hall for the ballpark.

Herrmann's affiliations went beyond bossism and baseball. He was involved in a plethora of groups, including the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks, the Shriners, the Masons, the International Typographical Union, the Republican Party, the American Bowling Congress, and the local Turner Society, to name a few. These connections led Herrmann to positions of national prominence in areas beyond the ball field, For instance as president of the American Bowling Congress for two terms in 1907 and 1908, as chairman of the national gathering of Turner Societies in 1909, and as Grand Exalted Ruler of the Elks for the 1910 to 1911 session.

The interest Herrmann garnered from his involvement in those organizations paled in comparison with the attention he received as President of the Cincinnati Reds and as Chairman of the National Commission. He became involved with the Reds in 1902 when he negotiated with John T. Brush to purchase the team. Herrmann, Cox, and Julius Fleischmann, of yeast and gin fame, equally split the purchase price. Herrmann's administrative abilities and outgoing personality led the new owners to install him as president of the club. He remained at that position for a quarter of a century.

One of Garry's first efforts in baseball was brokering the peace agreement between the American and National Leagues in early 1903. He chaired the National League Peace Committee, and influenced the meetings with the American League representatives enough that they signed the Cincinnati Peace Agreement. Herrmann also was on the National League Board of Directors for many years, and he chaired many of the League's committees over the years.

Herrmann oversaw remodeling projects at Palace of the Fans and the construction of Redland Field, the two Cincinnati ballparks where the Reds played between 1902 and 1927. He administered the ballpark concessions, which included the Coca-Cola Company, Fleischmann Company, Jung Brewing Company, and Philip Morris; and advertising, which included hotels, restaurants, railroads, lumber stores, and shoe companies. He also approved arrangements for renting the grounds for movies and other baseball games, including teams such as the Long Branch Cubans, Cuban X Giants, American Giants, American Bloomer Girls, and Texas Bloomer Girls. In addition, Herrmann arranged for the Reds to play exhibition games with many semi-professional and minor league teams.

The Reds were a mediocre team for most of the time that Herrmann ran the club. Even with notables like Joe Kelley, Edward "Ned" Hanlon, Clark Griffith, Hank O'Day, Joe Tinker, and Charles "Buck" Herzog managing the team, the Reds usually finished in the lower half of the standings. The Reds climbed into the first division and remained there with greater regularity between 1917 and 1926, under managers Christy Mathewson, Pat Moran, and Jack Hendricks. Their greatest accomplishment during Herrmann's tenure was winning the 1919 World Series. Unfortunately, the "Black Sox" scandal tarnished the luster of that victory.

Some of the more notable players that passed through the Reds organization during Herrmann's tenure included John "Rube" Benton, Hal Chase, Lew Fonseca, Henry "Heinie" Groh, Miller Huggins, John "Hans" Lobert, Adolfo Luque, John "Larry" McLean, Eppa Rixey, Edd Roush, Ivy Wingo, and two of the first Cubans to play major league ball, Armando Marsans and Rafael Almeida.

Herrmann's tenure as the chairman of the National Commission was initiated by the National Agreement that was signed on 11 September 1903 by the American League, National League, and National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues. This document provided for a ruling body of three men consisting of the presidents of the American and National Leagues, and a third member who would chair the Commission, elected annually by the clubs. The Commission gave decisions regarding player and teams disputes, and administered the finances and planning of the World Series. The chairman, who presided at the meetings, would cast the deciding vote and became the default chief justice of the three-member panel. The first man elected to chair the National Commission was also the only man to hold the position, August Herrmann. The baseball executives recognized his efforts in negotiating the peace agreement and rewarded him with the chairmanship, citing his broad views of justice and unquestioned honesty.

Widely recognized as fair and equitable in his decisions, Herrmann still incurred the wrath of particular owners. Team presidents like Charles Murphy (Chicago Cubs,1906-1913), Horace Fogel (Philadelphia Phillies, 1909-1912), and Barney Dreyfuss (Pittsburgh Pirates, 1900 -1932) were vocal in their displeasure with any decision of the Commission that they perceived as unjust. There were also heated exchanges between members of the Commission themselves as they were deciding cases. American League president Ban Johnson at times had an acrid pen, as did National League presidents Harry Pulliam, Thomas J. Lynch, John K. Tener, and John Heydler.

While most of the decisions of the National Commission were perceived as just and fair, a few contributed to the downfall of the Commission in 1920, including the George Sisler and Scott Perry cases. The George Sisler case was complicated, but boiled down to a dispute between the Pittsburgh National League team and the St. Louis American League team. Each claimed contractual rights to Sisler, and it took three years for the Commission to mull the evidence and come to a decision. When the Commission sided with St. Louis in 1916, Dreyfuss exploded and worked continually to overthrow Herrmann as chairman.

The Scott Perry case was a feud between the Boston National League club and the Philadelphia American League club as to which club owned the rights to Perry's services. The panel sided with Boston, but Philadelphia disregarded the ruling and secured an injunction from the civil courts to keep Perry. The AL club's failure to comply with the decision resulted in fractured relations with the National League, and furthered the movement to remove Herrmann.

Other factors conspired to bring an end to the National Commission. These included the legal fight against the Federal League, which lasted from 1914 to 1922, and the "Black Sox" scandal of the 1919 World Series. The court case involving the Federal League was expensive and time consuming, and while the decision eventually supported Organized Baseball, it added to the growing displeasure with the current administration of baseball.

The "Black Sox" scandal involved eight players of the Chicago White Sox who were reportedly involved in a deal to purposely lose games in the 1919 World Series in exchange for money. While the gambling scandal mainly came to light after Herrmann's resignation as chairman in early 1920, it accelerated the demise of the National Commission and paved the way for the Office of the Commissioner.

With the end of the National Commission, Herrmann remained involved in the search for a baseball commissioner. Once Kenesaw Mountain Landis took office, Herrmann devoted his remaining years in baseball to the Reds. He officially resigned as president of the Reds after the 1927 season due to deteriorating health and increasing deafness. He died on 25 April 1931, one week shy of his seventy-second birthday, and one month after the deaths of Ernest S. Barnard and B. Bancroft Johnson, presidents of the American League.

Scope and Content:

The papers of August "Garry" Herrmann is made up of two parts; Part I. Cincinnati Reds, and Part II. National Commission. PartI. contains all the material associated with Herrmann as President of the Cincinnati Reds, 1902-1927. Part II. consists of material related to Herrmann as Chairman of the National Commission, 1903-1920. The papers were arranged in this fashion due to the great difference in the functions of the two positions. In effect, the arrangement unveils the inner-workings of an early twentieth-century baseball team as well as the first ruling government of baseball, which allows the researcher to see more clearly the relationships between the two.

This collection consists of correspondence, newspaper articles, contracts, maps, blueprints, and memorabilia. Nearly all of the correspondence in this collection was received by Herrmann as either President of the Cincinnati Reds or Chairman of the National Commission. When viewing correspondence grouped by teams and leagues, keep in mind that they were writing Herrmann and not each other. Arranging the material by teamallows the information to be better connected. Most of the material is organized by name, position, organization/team/league, additional information, and date(s). Some of the folder numbers are followed with an "a" because the material was discovered after the final arrangement (for example, see Box 63, Folder 71a). Information contained within parentheses refers to subject matter in the particular correspondence. When "pl:" is located in parentheses, such as (pl: Cobb), this means that the writer of the correspondence is writing about a player with the last name of Cobb. This does not mean, however, that all the information is about that player, but that a portion of it is.

The design of the finding aid is best researched if used in conjunction with a website search engine. However, when viewing this as a MS-Word file, a researcher can search the finding aid using the Findcommand located underEdit on the toolbar. Search the finding aid using last names, city of team, league names, and various subject terms such as "World Series,""World War I,""Sunday baseball,""Cuba," etc. Not all material associated with a particular player, manager, president, etc., is located in the same place. Material associated with a certain player may be located in multiple areas depending on what teams the player was representing at the time he was writing Herrmann or with what cases he was involved in either the National Commission or American and National Leagues. This arrangement decision was made because a straight alphabetical listing (by last name) could not show the relationships between player-manager-president-league-subject. When arranging material by league, team, player, etc., a researcher has the opportunity to find more on the subject by seeing like material in close proximity. For example, if a researcher wants information on Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers, search Cobb and it will bring you to the Detroit/AL section. Not only does one find correspondence from Cobb to Herrmann, but also material from Navin to Herrmann and players Dalton, Dauss, and Lowe each writing to Herrmann. Because Cobb was such a prominent player, he was probably mentioned in their correspondence to Herrmann. This information will only substantiate the information sought by a researcher.

System of Arrangement:

Part I. Cincinnati Reds is made up of series I-XXV each containing a scope note that explains what the series contains.

Series I contains material relative to the business and administrative aspects of the early twentieth-century Cincinnati Reds.

Series II contains correspondence Herrmann received from people and business representatives fromCincinnati, Ohio.

Series III contains correspondence from writers, editors, journalists, etc., representing a newspaper, journal, magazine, movie, or radio station.

Series IV contains fan mail received by Herrmann from "fans" of the Cincinnati Reds.

Series V contains material from manufacturers of baseball equipment and uniforms that either contracted with Cincinnati or advertised to do so.

Series VI consists of surveillance reports from detective agencies that investigated players from the Cincinnati Reds.

Series VII-VIII contain material relating to spring training trips and winter training.

Series IX contains correspondence from hotels and transportation companies.

Series X contains material related to the various activities that would have taken place at an early twentieth-century ballpark while the team was there or away.

Series XI contains material related to the construction and maintenance of the ballpark and includes maps, drawings, and blueprints related to the construction of Redland Field.

Series XII contains material from Cincinnati Reds officials, secretaries/treasurers, business managers, and office staff.

Series XIII contains correspondence from individuals who, during Herrmann's era, played or managed for the Cincinnati Reds.

Series XIV contains correspondence from individuals who served as scouts or trainers for the Cincinnati Reds during Herrmann's era.

Series XV contains correspondence from scout and statistician Louis Heilbroner who provided the Cincinnati Reds with information on players from minor and semi-professional baseball clubs.

Series XVI contains correspondence related to the Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, notably Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

Series XVII contains correspondence and material from National League officials that Herrmann received as a team president in the National League.

Series XVIII contains material Herrmann received as a team president in the National League and offers a view of how he responded when confronted with league matters.