Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 January 1918 — DEAL WITH PHILADELPHIA BIGGEST EVER EXECUTED IN BASEBALL WORLD [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DEAL WITH PHILADELPHIA BIGGEST EVER EXECUTED IN BASEBALL WORLD

Although no official figures were given out in thd deal which gave Grover Alexander and Bill Klllifer to the Cubs, it was unofficially announced that President Weeghman figured that he forked over SIOO,OOO for the star battery. If such is the case it is biggest deal ever executed in baseball. Back about 1911 the baseball world was startled when the New York Nationals paid SII,OOO for Rube Marquard.-then with the Indianapolis club. No such deal ever had been turned before. The next year the Pittsburgh club paid, according to authentic reports, $22,500 to the St. Paul club for Pitcher Marty O’Toole and the Marquard deal was so far eclipsed that it soon was forgotten. , . Early in the year 1915 Charley Comlskey of the White Sox purchased Eddie Collins from Connie Mack for $50,000, with a reported bonus of $15,000 to Collins for signing the contract. The following spring, 1916, the Eddie Collins deal was duplicated, according to unofficial figures, when the Cleveland club forked over $50,000 for the services of Tris Speaker. / If Weeghman gave SIOO,OOO for Alexander and KHlifer, a part of which is In the form of players Prendergast and Dillhoefer, it is likely that he figured he was paying at the very least $75,000 for Alexander alone, which breaks all records for money paid for ball players and sets a mark likely to stand for years.