Query: "ground-rent man" (baseball, 1908)

[Gerald Cohen]

    My thanx to Jim Landau and Laurence Horn for their thoughts on
"ground-rent man." For the sake of completeness, here is the entire
item in which the "ground-rent" attestation appears:
        "Birthday Extra. Congratulations To Tris Speaker. Tristram
Speaker, star outfielder of the Boston Red Sox and one of the
greatest players in baseball, was born in Hubbard City, Tex., April
4, 1888.  He became a professional ball player in 1906, when he
joined the Cleburne, Tex., team.  In 1907 he played with the Houston
team.  At the close of the season he was purchased by Boston and
turned over to Little Rock the following spring as ground-rent man,
the Red Sox having trained on the Little Rock grounds.  At the close
of the Southern League season Speaker was repurchased by Boston for
$500 and joined the Red Sox late in the season of 1908.  Speaker is
one of the greatest hitters in baseball, having had a batting average
of .300 or better each season since leaving the Cleburne team.  In
the American League batting averages for last season he stood third
in the list with a mark of .383.  During the world's series last fall
he was voted the most useful player to his team in the American
League and was presented with an automobile in recognition of his
clever work, both as batter and fielder."
*********
    Remove Jim Landau's thought about the Red Sox kicking themselves
for turning over Speaker to Little Rock, and his suggestion on
"ground-rent" seems valid. What amazes me is the idea of a team
paying in kind (vs. cash) for use of spring-training grounds.

Gerald Cohen

>Date:         Sat, 29 Jun 2002 20:49:13 -0400
>From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: Query: "ground-rent man" (baseball, 1908)
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>At 3:40 PM -0400 6/29/02, James A. Landau wrote:
>>In a message dated 06/29/2002 2:52:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
>>gcohen at UMR.EDU writes:
>>
>>>  >    April 4, 1913, p.20/3; 'Birthday Extra.  Congratulations To Tris
>>>   >Speaker'; 'He became a professional ball player in 1906, when he
>>>   >joined the Cleburne, Tex., team.  In 1907 he played with the Houston
>>>   >team.  At the close of the season he was purchased by [the] Boston
>>>   >[Red Sox] and turned over to Little Rock the following spring as
>>>   >ground-rent man, the Red Sox having trained on the Little Rock
>>>   >grounds.'
>>
>>The meaning seems clear to me.  Tris Speaker was turned over to the Little
>>Rock franchise as payment to Little Rock for letting the Red Sox train on
>>their grounds.    However invented the phrase "ground-rent man" was probably
>>not a real estate agent and used the term "ground-rent" under the impression
>>it meant "rent for using the grounds" as opposed to rent for an apartment,
>>lease payments for equipment, etc.
>>
>>I bet the Red Sox are still kicking themselves for, uh, selling Mr. Speaker
>>down the river.
>>
>Nah.  Speaker did play 7 full seasons (including some excellent ones)
>with the Sawx from 1909 through 1915 before being moved to Cleveland,
>which--though an obvious (little) rockhead move in retrospect, given
>his superb subsequent years for the Indians, was completely
>overshadowed by the matter of that other little contract transfer a
>couple of years later. The legacy of the Curse of the Bambino (the
>sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920 to enable owner Harry Frazee
>for 100K to finance the musical No No Nanette--please don't tell me
>it's an urban legend) is the one from which the Olde Towne team has
>not yet recovered.  Perhaps this is the year?   Naaaah.
>
>larry