Was that George Mitchell on today’s baseball steroid issue?...No, actually it was Albert Spalding weighing in on the tragic issue of alcoholism that plagued major league baseball in the late 19th century. It would be quite common for players to report for games intoxicated, fines would be levied and their names would be reported in the Sporting News (The Sports Illustrated / ESPN of the times). Albert Spalding, President of the National League Chicago club, who instituted an extremely strict policy against this problem, said in 1888, “My players have said to me point blank, that they ‘have not touched a drop today’ have been proved to have drank that very day over a dozen glasses of beer before going to a match (Spalding would hire detectives to watch his players). It costs us thousands of dollars lost each year, some clubs more than others for they all do it.” Sound familiar?
