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Were he living, Jacob J. Wise would be187 years old toda’ (he was born Jan. 15, 1887) — and. perhaps he .eqixl.d explain why'a man would manage a world’s championship professional football team for as little as $22 a year; • ; hAnd that is what he did; !And that, is the reason for this story. , - ■ .' We got it by going through some of the fine records Iclpt by Manager Wise which .were recently uncovered by'.his.sdA-I inrlaw, Herbert Whitman, while go^ng through some of^the family papers. .They are revealing and would * cause Paul Brown or any pther boss of a professional football team to gulp in dismay. ./ i 'Take Wise's big year, 1905. He ' issued a financial statement in de-. tail. Salaries paid all players, including railroad fare to and fromplace of residence, totaled $6,-740.95- which, is probably less money than, the salary paid any individual on the Cleveland Brown team.* * *BUT THE BOYS couldn’t pay a whole lot more than that.in those ; days, for their receipts for the season only amounted to; $16,037.90, which is a-night’s take at a Washington high school football game, and not enough- to make a rattle in .the Cleveland Municipal stadi-I urn where the Browns will rake in ■ 10 times as much in a single game.I Of course you could -get irjto some of the games for as little as 25 cents, but if you wanted the best seat in the house it cost $2.00 which was quite a lump in those days, what with bacon selling at eight cents a pound and eggs at 10 cents a dozen. ; •AH of which gets us around 'to the thought that maybe the Browns are not at all outrageous in asking $4.00 for their top seats next fall.Qn the basis of the inflation of food prices since the days of 1905, . they should be asking $15. jMost of the “take” in 1905 came in the big game with the Canton Bulldogs on Nov. 30, when the turnstiles clicked to the tune of $8,214.00. ,The only other big gate was that i played with' the Carlisle Indians in Cleveland, which was a home game . on the Tiger schedule and which drew $4,102.00 There’s a story in that, too.. At the end of the 1904 season the Massillon and Canton managements got together and .decided they would not play the same team anywhere within a radius of 40 miles. Then much to Manager Wise's surprise, he learned that!Canton had already signed the formidable' Carlisle Indians, before negotiating the non-common opponent arrangement.Wise, we are told, hoiled, andthen jumped in to sign the Carlisle ;# ■(See EMERY WHEEL—Page 17)
Newspaper Details
Evening Independent
Massillon, Ohio, US
Fri, Jan 15, 1954
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Stark L.
OH, USA 13 Sep 2022
Other Publications Near Massillon, Ohio
Massillon Daily Independent
Massillon Item
Massillon News
Massillon Independent
Evening Independent
