n his ability to make a winning fight for the National
League, it was agreed that his rights to be considered could not be
overlooked. To retain his National League membership he accepted stock
in the New York club.

Toward the close of the Base Ball season the Brotherhood League dealt
what it believed to be a death blow to the National League by the
purchase of the Cincinnati franchise. It proved to be a boomerang, for
before the first day of January, 1891, the Brotherhood League had passed
out of existence. The backers of the organization, tired of the general
conduct of the sport, were only too willing to come to an acceptable
agreement and retire.

A.G. Spalding, John T. Brush, Frank De Hass Robison, Charles H. Byrne
and A.H. Soden were prominent members of the National League to bringing
this result about. Of these, Mr. Spalding and Mr. Soden survive, but
have retired from active participation in Base Ball affairs.

It was through this settlement, resulting upon the Base Ball war, that
Mr. Brush's activities were turned toward Cincinnati. The National
League had a franchise in that city, but no one to operate it. Mr. Brush
agreed to take up the franchise and attempt to operate and rebuild that
club. That, however, is a detail which relates purely to the continuance
of a major league circuit.

The next most noticeable achievement in Mr. Brush's Base Ball career
and, to the mind of more than one, the greatest successful undertaking
in the history of the game, was a complete revolution in the
distribution of financial returns. By his success in effecting this Mr.
Brush brought about the very purpose which he had sought to attain by
his classification plan.

But the method was better, for the instruments of this readjustment of
conditions were the owners and not the players. Briefly, it was the
following:

There was still war in Base Ball between the American Association and
the National League. Recognizing that the best method to bring about a
cessation of this war was to effect an amalgamation of the conflicting
forces Mr. Brush sought, with the assistance of others, to weld both
leagues into one. He was aided in this task, though indirectly, because
A.G. Spalding was actively out of Base Ball, by that gentleman, Frank De
Hass Robison, Christopher Von der Abe, and Francis C. Richter, editor of
"Sporting Life" of Philadelphia. The writer also essayed in the task in
an advisory capacity.

The amalgamation was