Bert Inks

During the 1890s southpaw Bert Inks pitched for six different major league clubs – but posted a winning record for only one of them. More than a century later, that performance prompted a 19 th century baseball scholar to declare, “Bert Inks exemplified the lengths to which teams often go to give a left-handed pitcher every opportunity to develop into [major league] material.”1 Yet, if he was largely a bust as a major leaguer, Inks found long-term success in another form of mass entertainment. For the last 30-plus years of his life, he owned and operated “one of the best known and most popular movie theaters in northern Indiana.”2 The story of this ballplayer-showman of yesteryear follows.

Albert John Inks was born on January 27, 1871, in Ligonier, Indiana, a small but thriving municipality located in the northeast region of the state. He was the youngest of four children born to monument manufacturer Charles Vinson Inks (1836-1918) and his wife Caroline (née Myers, 1841-1923).3 The large but tightly knit Inks clan traced its roots to English Protestants who arrived in Pennsylvania prior to the Revolutionary War and were later among the first white settlers of northern Indiana.4 The income generated by his father’s monument business bestowed a comfortable upbringing upon Bert (as he was known) and his siblings, residents of a handsome Italianate home constructed in Ligonier’s upscale and religiously diverse New Jerusalem neighborhood.5

Our subject attended public schools through graduation from Ligonier High School. He then joined older brother Will at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend. At the time, Notre Dame was not the collegiate athletic powerhouse of today, but a combination college-prep school locally renowned for academic rigor and student discipline.6 There, he and Will played on campus baseball teams during the late 1880s, with Bert pitching one squad to the intramural title.7

During the summer of 1889, Bert (a lanky 6-feet-3, 175 pounds) and Will Inks (a tall, right-handed pitcher-infielder) played for a crack semipro club in Goshen, Indiana.8 The Inks brothers also freelanced, playing for various northern Indiana sides.9 But what attracted major league attention was Bert’s pitching for Goshen in a narrow loss to the National League’s Washington Nationals  in a late-season exhibition game. Nationals club president Walter Hewitt “was so taken with the work of Inks in the box that he made an effort to sign him which, for some reason or other, was unsuccessful.”10 Another Inks admirer was John T. Brush, owner of the NL’s Indianapolis Hoosiers, who tried “to induce him to join the Indianapolis club, but the young pitcher preferred to finish the season in slower company.”11

In late January 1890, Brush overcame Inks’ reticence and signed him and Goshen batterymate Nick Ivory to Indianapolis contracts.12 Meanwhile, brother Will inked a pact with the National League’s Chicago Colts.13 Prior to the 1890 season’s start, however, the National League liquidated its weakling Indianapolis and Washington franchises as a strategic move in preparation for oncoming battle against a newly arrived and formidable rival, the Players League. Brush thereupon dispersed his club’s assets, selling Inks’ contract to the NL’s Philadelphia Phillies.14

Neither Inks brother lasted long in spring camp. Will was an early cut by Chicago;15 Bert was let go by Philadelphia in mid-April.16 A quick audition for the Milwaukee Brewers of the minor league Western Association also failed to land Bert a job.17 He then signed with another Western Association club, the Omaha Pets.18 He made his professional debut on May 8, 1890, but lasted only into the fourth inning in Omaha’s 13-11 win over the Denver Grizzlies.19 During the contest, the young portsider displayed two career-long performance characteristics. Chronic control problems – six walks, four wild pitches, and a hit batsman – contributed to the 10 unearned runs that Denver scored. This was at least partly offset by hitting ability –  Inks went 1-for-2, with a bases-loaded triple. The lefty batter would later post a .300 career batting average as a major leaguer.

That outing apparently dissuaded Omaha manager Frank Leonard from using Inks again, the clamor of the club’s unidentified Sporting Life correspondent notwithstanding.20 In mid-June, the hurler was released.21

Inks finally found stable employment with the Monmouth (Illinois) Maple Cities of the independent minor Illinois-Iowa League. The only statistics of his with Monmouth that survive are batting average (.221) and fielding percentage (.890).22 But the Maple Cities (64-48, .571) were a strong second-place finisher in final league standings and Sporting Life declared that “the [Monmouth] left-handed pitchers – Inks, Clausen and Browner – were all good.”23

Early the following year, the Inks brothers were reunited, signed by the Fort Wayne (Indiana) club of the Northwestern League.24 Will was hampered by illness in the early going but Bert got off to an excellent 14-5 start.25 Then in late June, he was “drafted” by the Duluth (Minnesota) Whalebacks of the Western Association.26 Inks kept up the good work with his new club, going 9-5 (.643), with a sparkling 1.08 ERA in 125 1/3 innings pitched, for a non-competitive (39-61, .390) cellar dweller. And when the financially troubled Duluth club disbanded on August 20, Inks became a highly prized free agent.

Within days, Bert Inks was a major leaguer, signed by the pitching-thin Brooklyn Bridegrooms of the National League.27 He made his big-league debut on August 28 in Cincinnati but was treated roughly by the Reds, dropping an 8-1 decision. The Brooklyn Standard Union informed club fans back home that “Inks, Brooklyn’s new pitcher, was in the box, and although he was hit pretty hard, he has plenty of speed and good control of the ball.”28 Future outings soon put the lie to both aspects of the Standard Union report. Inks was a soft-throwing pitch-to-contact curveball specialist with, at best, shaky control. Three days later, the new acquisition showed well, shutting out the Cleveland Spiders for the first six innings, only to have a seventh-inning defensive mishap in left field and an untimely walk in the final frame hand him a 2-0 setback.29

Inks registered his maiden victory on September 5, 1891, but under highly unconventional circumstances. With inclement weather threatening an advertised doubleheader in Pittsburgh, Brooklyn starter Inks was still in the box when the opening game was stopped by rain after five innings with the Grooms ahead, 3-2. Rather than resume the contest when the rain abated, the five-inning score was declared the official outcome of the first game. The nightcap then got underway, with Inks again the Brooklyn starter. This contest, too, went only five innings before darkness brought an end to the proceedings with Pittsburgh leading, 11-7. With that score declared the second game’s outcome, Inks became both a winning and a losing pitcher on the same dreary afternoon.30

By season’s end, it was clear that Inks was not the answer to Brooklyn’s pitching problems. In 13 starts, he went a lackluster 3-10 (.231), with a 4.02 ERA in 96 1/3 innings, for the sixth-place (61-76, .445) Bridegrooms. He was considerably better with the lumber, batting .286 (10-for-35), well above the .260 club norm.

Unreserved by Brooklyn but without interest from other NL clubs, Inks spent the offseason back on campus at Notre Dame.31 He was invited to 1892 spring camp by the Grooms and made the Opening Day roster, but was knocked out early in his first start, a 15-7 loss to Philadelphia. In a curious misprint, a wire service account of the game gave the name of the Brooklyn pitcher as Inkstein.32 This, in turn, may well have planted the seed for the soon-rampant report that Bert Inks was Jewish.33 Inks himself did not address the issue and it soon receded from public consciousness. But three years later, the assertion would resurface.

In the meantime, Inks displayed splendid form as the 1892 season entered its second month. He set down Louisville on five hits in a complete-game 10-2 win on April 30,34 and followed with a one-hit, 8-0 shutout of Pittsburgh three days later. He also had three base hits of his own and scored two runs in the latter contest.35 By early June, Inks’ record stood at a respectable 4-2 (.667), with a 3.88 ERA in 58 innings pitched, while his batting average rested at a lofty .400 (10-for-25). Despite that, Inks (as well as veteran right-hander Adonis Terry) was released to reduce the club payroll.36

When no other major league club offered him a contract, Inks signed with the Binghamton (New York) Bingos of the top-tier minor Eastern League – where he promptly revitalized his prospects. Assuming the mantle of staff ace, Inks went 22-9 (.710) with a 1.82 ERA in 261 2/3 innings pitched for a Binghamton club that otherwise played sub-.500 ball. These numbers earned him a late-season promotion to the newly formed Washington Nationals, headed for a 10th-place finish (58-93, .384) in the final National League standings. Inks lost two of three complete-game starts for the Nats but batted .300 (3-for-10) in his brief tour of duty.

After the season, Inks was one of the players caught up in a National Agreement dust-up between the National and Eastern Leagues.37 Inks had been placed on the Binghamton reserve list when the Eastern League season ended on September 16 and the club had not been compensated when Inks joined the Nationals late in the 1892 season. When Washington submitted an 1893 contract for Inks to National League President-Secretary Nick Young, Binghamton filed a grievance with baseball’s National Board of Arbitration. Chaired by NL Boston Beaneaters club boss Arthur Soden, the board subsequently ruled that Binghamton’s National Agreement rights had been violated and ordered Inks’ return to the Bingos.38

Perhaps because he was not a hard thrower, Inks was not noticeably affected by the elongation of the pitching distance to the modern-day 60 feet, six inches for the 1893 season. But he got off to a poor start with Binghamton, anyway, being hit hard and losing two of three early season outings. Impatient Bingos management thereupon released Inks, who was swiftly engaged by an Eastern League rival, the Springfield (Massachusetts) Ponies.39 Bert recaptured form with his new club, leading Ponies staff regulars in victories (22), ERA (2.31), and innings pitched (296 2/3). He also wielded a potent stick, posting a .347 batting average (48-for-138).40 Such fine work did not go unnoticed, and at season’s end Inks was selected in the minor league player draft by the NL’s Baltimore Orioles.41

During spring training, Inks garnered more attention for flashy attire than for pitching. Reputedly the first major leaguer to bring a trunk full of clothing on road trips,42 he promptly assumed the title of “best dressed man on the [Baltimore] team.”43 But reviews were mixed regarding his stuff, with the Baltimore Sun observing that “Inks has shown himself to be a master of several mysterious curves but has not developed any great speed.”44

With no fewer than six future Hall of Famers (Dan Brouthers, Willie Keeler, John McGraw, Hughie Jennings, Joe Kelley, and Wilbert Robinson) at his disposal, Orioles manager Ned Hanlon’s daily lineup featured abundant offense. The club’s weakness was a pitching staff with only one reliable arm: Sadie McMahon. Newcomer Inks made a good first impression on the Baltimore faithful with a six-hit, complete-game 4-3 victory over the New York Giants in his inaugural appearance.45 He then settled into the role of spot starter/reliever. Over the ensuing months of the campaign, Inks saw action in 22 games overall, posting a creditable 9-4 (.692) record but with a bloated 5.55 ERA and poor ratios of base hits (181) to innings pitched (133) and strikeouts (30) to walks (54).

That was not good enough for manager Hanlon, and in late August Inks was traded to the Louisville Colonels in exchange for right-hander George Hemming.46 Thus, Inks went from playing for a club headed for a first-place NL finish to membership on the very worst team in major league baseball. He quickly adapted to his new club’s norm, going 2-6 (.250) for a Louisville nine headed for a last-place (36-94, .277) finish. About the only bright spot in the uniform switch was the.444 batting average (12-for-27) that Inks posted for the Colonels.

Inks got Louisville off to a promising start in 1895, scattering eight hits and striking out 10 in an 11-2 Opening Day triumph over Pittsburgh. After the game, Pirates skipper Connie Mack was duly impressed, informing gathered sports scribes: “That fellow Inks surprised me. I didn’t know he could pitch that way.”47 Unhappily for Inks, malaria then sidelined him for more than a month.48 He attempted to resume pitching in late May but lasted only a single inning in an 11-4 loss to Baltimore. Five of his next six starts also ended in defeat, with a 7-5 loss to Cleveland on June 24 dropping the Colonels’ season record to an abysmal 7-41 (.146).49 In retrospect, Inks appears not to have fully recovered his health that entire year, going almost another month between starts late in the season.50

As the 1895 season neared its close, the old report that Bert Inks was Jewish was revived by Cincinnati sportswriter O.P. Caylor. In a nationally syndicated article about the ethnicity of major league baseball players, Caylor asserted that “there is but one other player in the National League who is of Jewish blood, namely Inks. The latter’s real name is Inkstein, and he is a full blooded Hebrew.”51 Thereafter, the bald and erroneous Caylor claim was repeated, often with skepticism, by other sports outlets.52 But if Bert Inks himself, a non-religious Protestant of English ancestry, responded to Caylor, it went unreported in the press.53 In any event – and as was the case in 1892 when the Jewish canard first surfaced – the matter quickly disappeared from newsprint.

By season’s end, Inks’ 7-20 (.259) final log was about on par with that of another hapless last-place (35-96, .267) Louisville club. Yet despite his poor record, considerable offseason interest in him was exhibited by other National League clubs, with the New York Giants and Philadelphia Phillies being the most determined suitors.54 In January 1896, Louisville shipped Inks to the Phillies in exchange for pitching prospect Tom Smith and an undisclosed amount of cash. Inks pronounced himself “happy that he will be a Phillie this season,”55 but his tenure with the club proved brief. In three early-season outings, he was ineffective, going 0-1, while surrendering 21 base hits and five walks in only 10 1/3 innings pitched. At the end of May, Inks received his walking papers.56

Inks’ sixth and final major league employer was the Cincinnati Reds.57 In his first start, he was hit hard at the outset but finished by throwing four scoreless frames in a 7-4 loss to the New York Giants on June 9. A week later, Inks pitched well, limiting the St. Louis Browns to five hits in a 3-2 victory. But in his third outing, Inks seemed “uncertain as to the whereabouts of the plate” and was removed early in a 7-5 loss to the Chicago Colts.58 Days thereafter, his release by the Reds brought the major league career of Bert Inks to a close.59

In 89 games spread over five seasons, Inks posted a 27-46 (.370) record, with a high 5.52 ERA in a shade over 600 innings pitched. Over those frames he allowed 780 base hits, good for a robust .307 opponents’ batting average, while putting 307 more runners on base via walks and hit batsmen. In contrast, Inks struck out only 167 but helped his own cause with a .300 batting average (75-for-250). Also in the minus column was a substandard .875 fielding percentage. Combined with a lack of extra-base power (only 10 of his hits took him past first base), that may have been why conversion to an everyday player was never attempted. In sum, Bert Inks was a competent high minor leagues pitcher and batsman whose talents were not quite good enough for success at the game’s highest echelon.

Still only 25 years old, Inks was hardly disposed to give up just yet. Instead, he signed with the St. Paul Apostles of the high minor Western League. But in his first outing, he was “pounded out of the lot” by the Columbus Buckeyes, absorbing a 14-1 drubbing.60 Shortly thereafter, Inks and teammate Jack Glasscock were involved in an unseemly incident emanating from the “insulting [of] a colored woman riding a bicycle.” A police court appearance ensued. Fortunately for the pair, the magistrate found that “the [unspecified] charge was not proven,” and the men escaped punishment.61 By that time, however, Inks had been jettisoned by St. Paul.62 He spent the remainder of the summer back home in Ligonier, pitching for the town team and area semipro nines.63

Inks returned to the professional ranks the following spring, rejoining the Eastern League’s Springfield Ponies.64 The sterling form of his previous engagement, however, eluded him. He went 5-5 in 12 games, drawing his release in mid-June shortly after a 16-4 thrashing by the Toronto Maple Leafs.65 Inks was promptly snatched up by another Eastern League club, the Buffalo Bisons, but lasted only four games (0-2, with a 3.41 ERA) before being cut loose again.66 Once home in Ligonier, Bert announced that he had been plagued by rheumatism in his left arm and was retiring from baseball on the advice of his physician.67

The next announcement from our subject’s home town conveyed more agreeable news: the August marriage of Inks to Fannie Jackson, a Ligonier seamstress.68 With his bride in tow, Inks thereupon relocated to McComb, Ohio, where he opened a restaurant.69 But he let it be known that he was “willing and anxious to play” for a local team, if only “for recreation.”70 Subsequently, Bert’s father C.V. Inks expressed interest in purchasing the Fort Wayne Indians of the Inter-State League71 – but nothing ever came of it.

Inks gave professional baseball a final shot in 1898, signing with the Norfolk (Virginia) Jewels of the middle-tier Atlantic League.72 But shortly after an unimpressive no-decision start in early May, he was released.73 Inks then returned to Ligonier and awaited tryout offers that never came. Soon in need of employment, he joined the Inks family monument business, by then supervised by brother Will. But Bert kept his hand in the game, playing for local semipro and amateur nines into his late 30s.74 And in 1905, he became the baseball coach at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana.75 By then, however, Inks had cultivated business interests in the amusement and entertainment industries. He went from operating a billiards parlor in Ligonier to owning a theater in nearby Kendallville.

Sometime between 1907 and 1909 – accounts conflict76 – Inks found his occupational niche as owner and operator of the Crystal Theater in Ligonier, a then-shuttered 401-seat entertainment venue. With assistance from his seamstress spouse, Bert refurbished the premises and reopened it for vaudeville and motion picture business. In 1910, he also briefly returned to professional baseball in a non-playing capacity, serving as manager of the Ligonier entry in the newly organized Indiana-Michigan League.77 Under Inks’ command, the club went 3-6 (.333) in the Sunday-only circuit and then folded.78

In 1914, Inks converted the Crystal to a movie showcase exclusively; the move paid off, yielding a comfortable income. Thereafter and for the next two decades, the vacation travels and social endeavors of the Inks, and particularly those of wife Fannie, were a recurring feature on the society pages of northern Indiana newspapers. Childless, the couple moved into the spacious Inks family home after the death of his mother, Caroline Myers Inks, in July 1923. The last baseball-connected newsprint mention of Bert placed him in Cincinnati at an old-timers game played at Redland Field in August 1932.79

In spring 1941, Inks was stricken with cancer. He died from that affliction at his Ligonier home early in the evening of October 3, 1941.80 Albert John “Bert” Inks was 70. Following funeral services conducted by a Presbyterian minister, his remains were interred at Oak Park Cemetery in Ligonier. In addition to his widow, the deceased was survived by brothers Harry and Will, and various members of the extended Inks family.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Kim Juhase and fact-checked by Larry DeFillipo.

Sources

Sources for the biographical info imparted above include the Bert Inks file with questionnaire maintained at the Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York; the Inks profiles in Pete Cava, Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players: A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2004 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2015) and David Nemec, ed., Major League Player Profiles, 1871-1900, Vol. 1, (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2011); US Census data and other governmental records accessed via Ancestry.com; and certain of the newspaper articles cited in the endnotes. Unless otherwise specified, statistics have been taken from Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

1 David Nemec, “Bert Inks”, Major League Player Profiles, 1871-1900, Vol. 1, (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2011), 99.

2 “Bert Inks Well Known Citizen Dies,” Ligonier (Indiana) Leader, October 9, 1941: 1. The writer is indebted to Lori Miller of the Ligonier Public Library for supplying a copy of the informative but difficult-to-access local obituary for Inks.

3 The elder Inks children were Harry (born 1865), William (1867), and Rosa (1869).

4 Grandfather Joseph Inks led the family into Northern Indiana after the indigenous Potawatomi tribe was banished in the late 1820s. The Inks family history is recited in a letter by father C.V. Inks published in the Goshen (Indiana) Democrat, October 31, 1918, and reproduced on his Find-a-Grave web page. Also informative is the Find-a-Grave web page for great grandfather John Inks, a War of 1812 veteran.

5 During the 1870s, religiously tolerant Ligonier was home to more than 60 Jewish families, and the Inks residence was located on the same street as the Ahavas Shalom Reform Temple. A meticulously detailed description of late 19 th century Ligonier is provided in a September 1987 application to have its central city neighborhood placed on the National Register of Historic Places, accessible online.

6 Cappy Gagnon, Notre Dame Baseball Greats: From Anson to Yaz (Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2004), 11-12.

7 Cappy Gagnon, Notre Dame Baseball Greats: From Anson to Yaz, 18-19. Author Gagnon places Bert at Notre Dame in 1887, the same year that the school organized its celebrated football team. Inks obituaries and the posthumous player questionnaire completed by family relative Phil Schloss around 1980 maintain that Bert was a graduate of Notre Dame. But according to the 1940 US Census, he only attended college for two years.

8 See “Goshen Defeated,” Indianapolis Journal, August 15, 1889: 5.

9 See e.g., “Base Ball,” (Angola, Indiana) Steuben Republican, August 28, 1889: 4, relating how reinforcements “Inks and Ivory, the strong Goshen battery [and] Will Inks of the Goshen club at first” led Auburn to an 11-6 victory over the Angola Grays.

10 “Base-Ball Matters,” Indianapolis Journal, January 25, 1890: 3.

11 Same as above.

12 As reported in “Inks and Ivory,” Cincinnati Enquirer, January 25, 1890: 2  and “The Game of Games,” Indianapolis News, January 25, 1890: 5. See also, “Major League Engagements: Men Signed by Clubs of the National and Players League,” Sporting Life, January 29, 1890: 1.

13 The club affiliations of Bert and Will Inks were specified in the National League rosters published in the Pittsburgh Press, March 30, 1890: 6.

14 See “Echoes from Other Cities,” Washington (DC) Evening Star, April 3, 1890: 8. See also, “Inks May Not Go,” Indianapolis Journal, April 2, 1891: 3, regarding Inks’ reluctance to report to the Phillies. About the same time, Brush sold the contracts of Amos Rusie, Jack Glasscock, and the crème of the Indianapolis Hoosiers playing roster to the NL New York Giants.

15 See “Base-Ball Notes,” Indianapolis Journal, April 11, 1890: 5, taking pains to distinguish Will Inks from his brother Bert, a frequent confusion that persists to this day. Will’s ensuing career in minor league ball included an 1890 stint with the Grand Rapids Shamrocks of the International Association, an affiliation then and now often misattributed to Bert Inks.

16 “The Philadelphia League Team,” Sporting Life, April 19, 1890; 3; “Notes,” Fort Wayne (Indiana) Journal, April 18, 1890: 1.

17 Inks’ release by Milwaukee was reported in “Condensed Dispatches,” Sporting Life, May 10, 1890: 1, and “Contracts and Releases,” Kansas City Journal, May 5, 1890: 6.

18 “The Latest from the Ball Field,” Omaha Daily Bee, May 1, 1890: 2; “Local Diamond Sparks,” Omaha World-Herald, May 1, 1890: 5.

19 “Twas’ a Battle for Blood,” Omaha Daily Bee, May 9, 1890: 2; “They Batted Like Heroes,” Omaha World-Herald, May 9, 1890: 2.

20 “Gate City Gossip,” Sporting Life, June 7, 1890: 13, wherein the club’s correspondent exclaimed: “What has become of pitchers Inks and [Charles] Summers? They have not made their appearances for a long time. Trot them out Manager Leonard and see if they are worthy and well-qualified.”

21 Brooklyn Daily Eagle, New York Tribune, June 17, 1890.

22 The above 1890 Illinois-Iowa League stats were published in the Bowling Green (Indiana) Daily Sentinel, January 12, 1891: 4, and Topeka (Kansas) State Journal, December 27, 1890: 7. Baseball-Reference provides no data for Inks’ stay with the Monmouth club.

23 “Illinois and Iowa,” Sporting Life, November 29, 1890: 5.

24 “Ft. Wayne Facts,” Sporting Life, April 4, 1891: 4; “Base Ball,” Fort Wayne Journal, March 19, 1891: 4; “Indoor Base Ball Notes,” South Bend (Indiana) Tribune, March 14, 1891: 4.

25 Pete Cava, Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players: A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2004 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2015), 96.

26 “Bert Inks Ordered to Duluth,” Fort Wayne Journal, June 23, 1891: 4; “Blank, Blankety, Blank!,” Fort Wayne (Indiana) Sentinel, June 23, 1891, 2. See also, “A Western Change,” Sporting Life, June 27, 1891: 1, elaborating on how Fort Wayne was compelled to accept a Duluth offer for Inks’ contract by National League honcho Nick Young.

27 “Shake Them Up!” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 27, 1891:2. The article misidentified the club’s new pitcher as Fred Inks. The following day, the (Brooklyn) Standard Union did the same.

28 “Another Defeat,” Standard Union, August 29, 1891: 5.

29 “No Runs for the Brooklyns,” Brooklyn Citizen, September 1, 1891: 3.

30 “Finishing Up the Tour,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 6, 1891: 2; “Had Plenty of Fun,” Pittsburg Dispatch, September 6, 1891: 6.

31 “Caught on the Fly,” The Sporting News, January 30, 1892: 3; “Indoor Base-Ball League,” Indianapolis Journal, January 16, 1892: 3; “Sporting Notes,” (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union, January 15, 1892: 2; “Bert Inks as a Student,” Cincinnati Enquirer, January 7, 1892: 2.

32 See e.g., “National League Games,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 17, 1892: 17.

33 See e.g., “Sporting Gossip,” Chicago Inter Ocean, May 2, 18962: 6; “The Diamond,” Pittsburg Dispatch, April 29, 1892: 8; “Base Ball Notes,” Boston Globe, April 27, 1892: 5.

34 “Brooklyn’s Day,” Louisville Courier-Journal, May 1, 1892: 7.

35 “A Win and Shut Out,” Pittsburg Dispatch, May 4, 1892: 8.

36 “Terry and Inks Released,” New York Tribune, June 11, 1892: 4.

37 Formulated in 1883, the National Agreement obligated signatories to respect the contract and reserve list rights of fellow member ball clubs. Both the National League and the Eastern League were NA-member circuits.

38 “Results of Decisions of the National Board,” Sporting Life, March 18, 1893: 14; “The Athletic Sports,” Salt Lake Herald, March 12, 1893: 5. In all, the board returned 15 National League signees to their Eastern League clubs.

39 “New Pitcher for Springfield,” Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican, May 26, 1893: 5; “Ten Players Released,” Boston Herald, May 28, 1893: 6.

40 Eastern League batting statistics published in the 1894 Reach Official Base Ball Guide. Reach’s Official Baseball Guide, 1894 (Philadelphia, A.J. Reach 1894), 100. Baseball-Reference has no 1893 batting numbers for Inks.

41 “Condensed Dispatches,” Sporting Life, November 4, 1893: 1; “Pitcher Inks Wanted,” Baltimore Sun, November 2, 1893: 6; “Pitcher Inks for Baltimore,” Philadelphia Inquirer, November 2, 1893: 3. In due course, Baltimore provided the requisite $500 player draft fee to Springfield. “From League Headquarters,” Sporting Life, November 25, 1893: 1.

42 As related years later in “Bert Inks Started Bad Habit When He Shipped Trunk Over Circuit,” Baltimore Evening Sun, January 8, 1918: 11. See also, Cava, Indiana-Born Major League Players, n.25, 97.

43 “Personal Oriole Characteristics,” Sporting Life, April 21, 1894: 1. Decades later, a local sportswriter remembered Inks as “the Beau Brummel” of the Orioles, partial to “wearing silk shirts, jazz ties and driving a canary colored automobile.” Vincent P. Fitz Gerald, “Robbie Asks Old Pals to Root for Dodgers,” Baltimore Sun, September 26, 1920: 21.

44 “It’s a Fast Outfield,” Baltimore Sun, April 11, 1894: 6.

45 See “Orioles’ Third Victory,” Baltimore Sun, April 23, 1894: 7, complimenting the work of pitcher Herbert Inks.

46 “Hemming Traded for Inks and $2,000,” Boston Globe, September 1, 1894: 2; “Hemming for Inks and $2,000,” Chicago Inter Ocean, September 1, 1894: 4.

47 “No Tail-Enders,” Louisville Courier-Journal, April 19, 1895: 5.

48 See “Condensed Dispatches,” Sporting Life, May 4, 1895: 3. Inks spent much of his down time recuperating back home in Ligonier. John J. Saunders, “Louisville Lines,” Sporting Life, May 18, 1895: 3.

49 Three days earlier on a Louisville off day, Inks had curiously pitched the Oil City (Pennsylvania) Oilers of the low minor Iron and Oil League to a 5-3 win over New Castle. “Oil City Won,” New Castle (Pennsylvania) News, June 22, 1895: 1; “Iron and Oil League Games,” Pittsburg Post, June 22, 1895: 6.

50 Between an 8-7 victory over New York on August 27 and an 11-4 defeat by Pittsburgh on September 23, Inks was idle for 25-consecutive Louisville games.

51 O. P. Caylor, “Ireland and Germany,” published in the Roanoke (Virginia) Times, October 5, 1895: 2; Zanesville (Ohio) Daily Signal, October 4, 1895: 3; Portland (Maine) Evening Express, September 30, 1895: 8; Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Daily Intelligencer, September 28, 1895: 7; and elsewhere. The other Jewish player was Chicago pitcher Danny Friend.

52 See e.g., “Around the Bases,” Buffalo Courier, October 9, 1895: 12; “News and Comment,” Sporting Life, October 5, 1895: 2.

53 By the late 19 th century, many in the extended Inks family had become fervent evangelical Christians, members of the United Brethren Church. But the Ligonier Inks remained mainline Protestant and religiously tolerant, with Bert’s niece Tootie (Josephine, older brother Harry’s daughter) later marrying Philip Schloss, scion of a locally prominent Jewish family.

54 “News and Comment,” Sporting Life, January 4, 1896: 4. An earlier proposed trade of Inks to New York in return for right-handed pitcher Lester German was never consummated.

55 “Caught on the Fly,” The Sporting News, February 22, 1896: 5.

56 “Philadelphia News,” Sporting Life, June 6, 1896: 4; “Base Ball Notes and Comments,” Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Patriot, June 1, 1896: 2.

57 The Cincinnati signing of Inks was reported in “Base Ball Notes,” Wilmington (Delaware) Evening Journal, June 6, 1896: 6; “Baseball Notes,” New York Sun, June 4, 1896: 4; “Base Ball Notes,” Washington Evening Starr, June 3, 1896: 3; and elsewhere.

58 “Easy for the Colts,” Chicago Tribune, July 24, 1896: 8.

59 “Little Things in Baseball,” Chicago Tribune, June 28, 1896: 6.

60 “Almost a 16 to 1 Game,” Minneapolis Journal, July 27, 1896: 12.

61 “Sporting Miscellany,” Toledo (Ohio) Blade, August 11, 1896: 8; “Between the Bases,” Washington Evening Times, August 11, 1896: 3.

62 “News and Comment,” Sporting Life, August 8, 1896: 5; “Diamond Dust” Milwaukee Journal, August 4, 1896: 8; “And Comiskey Wins,” St. Paul Globe, August 2, 1896: 10.

63 “The Local Pickup,” South Bend Tribune, September 19, 1896: 9; “Base Ball Notes,” South Bend Tribune, September 17, 1896: 5; “The Bryan Ball Club,” Toledo Blade, September 5, 1896: 16.

64 “News and Comment,” Sporting Life, March 27, 1897; 5; “Inks Signs with Springfield,” New Haven (Connecticut) Evening Register, March 20, 1897: 9; “Springfield’s New Pitcher,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Times, March 20, 1897: 1.

65 “News and Comment,” Sporting Life, June 26, 1897: 5; “Base Ball Briefs,” Providence Sunday Journal, June 20, 1897: 3.

66 “News and Comment,” Sporting Life, July 17, 1897: 5; “Bisonic Changes,” Buffalo Evening Times, July 8, 1897: 6.

67 “Notes of the Game,” Rockford (Illinois) Register-Gazette, July 21, 1897: 3; “News of the Diamond,” New Haven Evening Register, July 20, 1897: 9.

68 The couple was married in Ligonier on August 27, 1897. “Bert Inks Married,” Fort Wayne (Indiana) News, August 28, 1897: 10; “Brief Ball Notes,” Rockford Register-Gazette, August 28, 1897: 3.

69 “Caught on the Fly,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Record, September 22, 1897: 3

70 “Encouraging,” Lima (Ohio) Times-Democrat, September 1, 1897: 5.

71 “Wants to Buy a Franchise,” Fort Wayne (Indiana) Daily Gazette, December 19, 1897: 15.

72 Cleveland Leader, February 21, 1898: 3.

73 “Jewell Jots,” Sporting Life, May 14, 1898: 3.

74 In 1904, a monument erection mishap left Inks with temporarily mashed fingers and curtailed his ballplaying that summer. “Sports,” Elkhart (Indiana) Daily Truth, June 17, 1904: 1.

75 “Inks to Coach Wabash Nine,” Indianapolis Star, March 7, 1905: 8.

76 Compare Inks obituaries (1907) to The Moving Picture World, July 3, 1909 (1909).

77 “Six Clubs Signed to Ind. Mich. League,” Elkhart Daily Truth, April 23, 1910: 3; “Ligonier in League,” South Bend Tribune, April 23, 1910: 14.

78 Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, eds., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, Inc., 3 rd ed. 2007), 226.

79 Tom Swopes, “Former Reds to Stick Together,” Cincinnati Post, August 20, 1932: 7.

80 Per the posthumous player questionnaire completed by family relation Phil Schloss around 1980 and now reposed in the Bert Inks file at the Giamatti Research Center. See also, “Albert J. Inks Dies in Ligonier,” Topeka (Indiana) Journal, October 9, 1941: 1; “Bert Inks Well Known Citizen Dies,” n.2.