Читать книгу No Money, No Beer, No Pennants. The Cleveland Indians and Baseball in the Great Depression онлайн

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In addition to handing out raises, the Cleveland front office had paid out a huge amount on new players. Gordon Cobbledick wrote in his column that the team had spent major dollars: “When Bradley and his associates took over the Cleveland club last winter he said he would spend money and he has spent plenty. A considerable estimate would place the Indians’ expenditures for new players in the past year at a quarter million dollars.” A chunk of that money went for Earl Averill and Dick Porter, but the team signed a total of twenty new ballplayers for the 1929 season. Cobbledick claimed his sources revealed that Cleveland had spent $20,000 for Jimmy Zinn, who was a gamble at best. The Johnny Miljus debacle of the previous season had cost $17,000. Prospects from college and minor-league rosters made up the remaining costs. If that was not enough, the Indians’ agreement with Terre Haute called for them to make up any of the farm club’s deficits, which in 1928 amounted to $14,000. By all accounts, Alva Bradley had truly made a serious commitment toward building a winning baseball team.