History of the A's
Athletics Go To The End Of The Rail
Another year, another title . . . could it really be that the annual Globe Shield championship was now becoming an all too familiar routine for the A's and their supporters? When the 1912 team defeated the eastern champions from Almonte in the title game by a score of 19 to 3, the turnout in St. Catharines was described as good, but not at all like the crowds of just a few years earlier. Some of the star players had left, the league itself wasn't as strong as before, and even a bit of the old excitement seemed to be missing from the beloved old corner lot.
And the management of the team could see it all.
So a hastily arranged trip across the continent to challenge Vancouver for the Mann Cup was undertaken to restore the flagging interest in the double-blues. This was exactly the type of opportunity that was denied the very strong Athletics teams of 1908 and 1910. But those earlier teams were noteworthy with their future hall of fame luminaries such as Kalls, Fitzgerald and Hope.
The end result for the Athletics
and their supporters was less than what was hoped for, but maybe the real
story of the 1912 Athletics Mann Cup bid was how the city supported the
team on its grand excursion to far-off British Columbia in pursuit of an
old dream.
And the rest is history.
Middle row: W. J. "Billie" Lee (President), Ivan McSloy, Corby Richards, Harry Flynn, Art Gayder, Art MacGlashan, Frank McIlwain (Field Captain)
Front row: Billy Aubron, Harry Cerney (trainer), Bobby Milne
THE
ATHLETICS HAVE SENT A CHALLENGE TO VANCOUVER
FOR GAMES FOR THE MANN CUP
THE DAILY STANDARD
MONDAY SEPTEMBER
23, 1912
President Kelly today is
forwarding by wire a challenge from the St. Catharines Athletics to the
Vancouver senior amateur team for a series of games for the Mann Cup.
This means that the Athletics
will make the trip to the coast provided the thing can be financed. A
subscription list will be opened and there should be no difficulty in
raising the required amount.
It will take about $2,500 and
it is understood that the Athletics have about half that amount on hand.
The other half must be raised if the world beating Athletics are to go.
This should be no great feat
for St. Catharines.
ATHLETICS
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED BUT ED HARRIS CANNOT
PLAY ON TEAM
THE
MANN CUP TRUSTEES REFUSE TO MAKE A
DEFINITE STATEMENT
SAY
HARRIS WAS PAID MONEY --- SUBSCRIPTION LISTS
WERE OPENED TODAY TO SEND TEAM
The Daily Standard
Wednesday September
25, 1912
The challenge for the Mann Cup
entered by the Athletic Lacrosse Club has been officially accepted on
condition that Ed Harris, the stalwart defence man of the local team does
not play in the cup games.
The trustees are emphatic in
declaring that Harris has received money for his services and although
they have been asked by the Athletics to produce some evidence to this
effect, they refuse to do so.
The only course left open is
for the Athletics to bow to the trustees ruling and drop Harris from the
lineup. The boys realize that although they have been done an injustice,
that the wisest thing is to make the best of it and go west without
Harris.
The dates suggested by the
Athletics, viz., the 2nd and 5th of October, have
also been accepted. This would mean the team having to leave here tomorrow
night, which of course, is an impossibility.
Subscription lists were opened
today and the public should be generous in their support of this worthy
object.
Want New Dates
The Athletics' executive held a
meeting this afternoon at Tim and Mac’s and decided to have the dates
changed to 9th and 12th, so as to give them time to
get to Vancouver.
THE
ATHLETICS WILL GO SUNDAY NIGHT
GENEROUS RESPONSE
TO THE SUBSCRIPTION LIST AND AMOUNT WILL BE RAISED
MR. R. W. LEONARD
SENDS WORD FROM OTTAWA THAT HE WILL GIVE $100
The Daily Standard
Friday September
27, 1912
After the Mann Cup trustees had
chosen Oct 9 and 12 as the dates for the Athletic-Vancouver games, the
Vancouver Club wired that its grounds could not be had for the latter date
and the cup trustees have changed the dates to Oct 5 and 9. The Athletics
will therefore leave on Sunday night on their long journey across the
continent to bring home another trophy to go alongside the Globe Shield.
Fourteen players will be taken. Milne or Herr will probably take the place
of Harris on the defence, the other going as one spare man, Gayder being
the other.
Generous Response
The Athletic Lacrosse Club is
receiving a generous response to its call for subscriptions for funds
sufficient to carry a team to and from Vancouver to bring back the Mann
Cup.
Major R. W. Leonard writes from
Ottawa to Secretary McSloy that he understands the club needs $2,000 for
the trip and has $1,000. He says – “When you have collected the other
$900 you can count upon me for $100.”
McLaren & Co., Limited,
through Mr. Alex McLaren, says – “The citizens of St. Catharines
should be proud of the home brews. We hope they will be successful in
securing the Mann Cup. We also hope that the citizens will respond to your
request for funds. With this we have pleasure in enclosing a check for $25
to apply to the above fund.”
Time For Day’s
Rest
Leaving on Sunday night the lacrosse team will arrive in Vancouver in time for a day’s rest and practice before playing their first game on Saturday, and there will be an interval of three days before the second game on Wednesday. If they leave that night, they may be back home again on Sunday night, or in exactly two weeks from the time of their departure.
THAT THOUSAND IS JUST ABOUT RAISED
THE SUM OF $750 HAS ALREADY BEEN SUBSCRIBED; COUNCIL LOOKED FOR $200
THE TEAM LEAVES WESTERN HILL STATION SUNDAY EVENING AT 8 O'CLOCK FOR THE WEST
The Daily Standard
Saturday September 28, 1912
In addition to subscriptions already mentioned in The Standard in aid of the trip to Vancouver, the Niagara Central Railway Company has given $100, Manager Seixas personally $25; J. D. Chaplin $50, J. A. McSloy $100, Hugh McSloy $50, Taylor & Bate $100. The list totals to date about $750 of the $1,000 required, and the club is counting heavily on receiving $200 from the city council.
The team will leave at 8 o'clock on Sunday night. The players will assemble at Tim and Mac's, so as to leave at 7:30 for the station in busses. Those who will make the trip are Dixon, Carl, Tufford, Marriott, Haffey, Herr, Richards, Collins, Milne, Aubron, McSloy, McGlashan, Flynn, players; Coach McIlwain; Trainer Cerney; President Wm. J. Lee; Albert Cox and George Jacobi. They will leave Toronto at 10 o'clock Sunday night and arrive at Vancouver at 11 o'clock on Thursday night.
The team will play there on the 5th and 9th, and expects to leave on the 10th and arrive home on the 14th, and to bring the Mann Cup to St. Catharines.
Trustee John Ross Robertson, of Toronto, sent a telegram yesterday absolutely confirming the dates of the 5th and 9th, and wishing the Athletics every success. Trustee Joe Lally, at present on the coast, will have charge of all arrangements as to referees, etc.
The Athletics had a practice today and every man is in the pink of condition and ready to put up the game of his life.
THE
ATHLETICS GOT AWAY TO A GOOD START
ON SUNDAY EVENING
A BIG CROWD AT THE
WESTERN HILL STATION CHEERED THE STALWARTS ON THEIR WAY
AMOUNT NECESSARY
WAS OVER-SUBSCRIBED AND EVERYTHING WENT MERRY AS A MARRIAGE BELL
The Daily Standard
Monday September
30, 1912
The Athletic lacrosse team and
those who accompany it to Vancouver left on Sunday night and had a great
send off. About 500 supporters gathered at Tim and Mac’s, corner Mary
and St. Paul streets, and cheered the expedition as it drove off at 7:30
to the western station of the Grand Trunk Railway. At the station about
200 people assembled to wish the team good luck in bringing the Mann Cup
to St. Catharines.
The party consisted of Dixon,
Carl, Tufford, Marriott, Haffey, Herr, Richards, Collins, Milne, Aubron,
McSloy, McGlashan, Flynn, players; Coach McIlwain, Trainer Cerney,
President Wm. J. Lee, Albert Cox, George Jacobi, James Haynes and Dr.
Chapman.
Special C. P. R.
Car
They boarded a special C. P. R.
car, on each side of which was a streamer announcing that on this car
rides the “Athletic Lacrosse Club of St. Catharines,” through to the
coast to bring further honors back to this city.
Arrangements are made with the
C. P. R. to have its agents along each division of the road attend to the
wants of the party. There will be stops at the end of each division,
during which the players will be able to get fifteen minutes practice, and
at Winnipeg they will get a work-out of half an hour. They will thus be
able to maintain the fine condition in which they left, and every man is
determined to do his duty to his team, his club and his city.
The subscription list for the
expenses of the team will be kept open till to-night at Tim & Mac’s.
Couldn’t See All
Owing to the limited time in
which to prepare for and arrange the trip of the Athletics, it was
impossible for the committee looking after the same to call on everybody
for subscriptions. The expense of the trip will run over the first
estimate and a few of the loyal supporters have guaranteed the account to
the Club.
If there are any who desire to
subscribe and who were not called upon, they can leave their subscriptions
at Tim and Mac’s, or with E. F. Seixas.
THE
ATHLETICS WERE
UP AGAINST A HARD PROPOSITION IN VANCOUVER SATURDAY
The Daily Standard
Monday October 7,
1912
ATHLETICS ALL
RIGHT!
In the absence of details of
the Vancouver match, the general impression is that our boys were too
heavily handicapped. The long trip, the western officials, the ruling out
of Harris and McIlwain off the field, made the odds too great to contend
with.
It must be admitted that
Vancouver are the better team, yet it would be interesting to note the
outcome if a match with conditions reversed, were played on local grounds.
Vancouver team is much stronger critics would admit, and the Athletics
would have to be at least twenty-five per cent stronger to meet them at
the coast on equal footing. On the other hand, it is now shown that the
Athletics of this year are not as strong as was supposed. Last season they
had a good all-round team, but the loss of Tom Fitzgerald, Hope, Ripley
and Harris has been sorely felt.
During this season just closed
they were equal to all demands and it was thought they would answer in
this final test. However, Saturday’s match has shown that such is not
the case.
This defeat does not detract
anything from the prestige of the Athletic Lacrosse Club. They held an
honored place long before they began to retain championships, and that
place was only gained by the persistence with which they came back in the
face of repeated defeat. Everyone is a good winner, but not everyone is a
good loser. The Athletics long ago qualified as good losers, and if they
continue as in the past, will come back again.
A club that has produced such
men as the Fitzgeralds, Stagg, Hope, Kalls, Barnett, Lowe and many others,
has nothing to be ashamed of.
THE
ATHLETICS
ARE
BACK
TO
THE
CITY
THE BOYS ALL LOOK
AND FEEL WELL – McGLASHAN HURT
The Daily Standard
Wednesday October
16, 1912
The Athletics lacrosse team got
back from their Vancouver trip last evening. The members of the team and
those who accompanied them arrived in Toronto together at three o’clock
in the afternoon. Some of them reached this city by the six o’clock
train and others by the eight o’clock train of the Grand Trunk Railway.
They all look and feel well, excepting McGlashan, who is still suffering
from a broken ankle received about two minutes after he started play in
the first game. The boys did the best they could under the circumstances.
The speed was taken out of them by the long journey and change of climate,
and that being gone they had nothing to go on, though they admit that they
would have been defeated anyway.
Members
of the defeated but valiant 1912 St. Catharines Athletics were:
Frank
“Tony” Dixon (goal)
George
Collins
Lorne
Tufford
Pat
Haffey
Art
Herr
Hedley
Marriott
Howard
“Finny” Carl
Corby
Richards
Harry
Flynn
Art
Gayder
Art
“Dubbis” MacGlashan
Billy
Aubron
Bobby Milne