Walter East: Deadball Minor Leaguer and Pro Football’s First Scandal

This article was published in the SABR Deadball Era Committee’s February 2024 newsletter.

 

Walter East is hardly the sole Deadball Era career minor leaguer to have led an interesting and eventful life. But more than a century later, he may well be the only one to have his own Wikipedia page. Regrettably for East, the reference work narrative focuses almost exclusively on his involvement in a harebrained scheme to fix the outcome of two 1906 pro football games. Left unmentioned is anything about East’s personal life; accomplishments as a three-sport athlete on the collegiate and professional levels; success as a minor league field leader; and post-athletics life as a practicing attorney and political operative in his adopted hometown of Akron, Ohio. The paragraphs below endeavor to fill that void.

Walter Rufus East was born on March 29, 1883, in Coulterville, Illinois, a downstate hamlet situated near the Missouri border. He was the fourth of five sons born to Rufus East (1846-1907), a Union Army veteran turned restaurant proprietor, and his wife Lucinda Jane (nee Robinson, 1846-1936), devout Presbyterians of working-class stock.1 Nothing is known of Walter’s youth or his introduction to the sports in which he would later achieve fleeting acclaim except for a report that he began playing team baseball at age 16.2

BEGINNINGS IN BASEBALL

Walter East is first discovered in the public record as a 20-year-old, playing first base for the Pittsburg (Kansas) Coal Diggers of the Class D Missouri Valley League. Amply sized — officially listed as 5’11”/180 pounds but probably a bit larger3 — East was recruited by his older brother Claude, a Pittsburg club co-owner.4 At the time, Walter was an undergraduate at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and a three-sport (football, basketball, baseball) stalwart for the Reformed Presbyterian Church-affiliated school’s athletic teams.

A right-handed batter and thrower,5 East posted only a .233 batting average for the weak-hitting Coal Diggers6 but impressed with his defense, a Pittsburg newspaper describing “his work at first base [as] unusually good.”7

At season’s end, Walter returned to the classroom and playing fields of Geneva College. The following spring, he joined a semipro baseball club representing nearby Sharon, Pennsylvania. Released in late June, East soon found a berth as a second baseman with a nine sponsored by the Akron Athletic Club,8 beginning an association with “the Rubber Capital of the World” that would last the remainder of his life. Upon arrival, he unveiled a yarn that became a staple of his biography. “When I started my career in a little town,” East related, “the other players in the outfield were named North and West” and were aligned in the club batting order to place “North at bat, East on deck and West in the hole.”9 Big Walter, as he was often called, quickly became a local favorite, deriving special satisfaction from hitting a game-winning homer against his former Sharon clubmates in late August.10 He also began to attract major league interest, with Cleveland Naps founder-owner Charles Somers personally scouting East. The prospect, however, had already committed to remaining in Akron for the ensuing season and was thus unavailable to the Naps.11

Now bent on the study of law, Walter transferred to Western University of Pennsylvania that fall.12 But for the time being, football was his primary concern. Playing right end for an undefeated WUP eleven, he was a standout, “being invincible on defense and a sure gainer with the ball.”13 But the priggish East expressed reservations about teammates who were “hard to handle and refuse to cut out smoking and other indulgences that do not mix with football.”14 Over the winter, he played basketball for the Ohio National Guard team. For the 1905 baseball season, East signed with the Akron Buckeyes of the newly formed Class C Ohio-Pennsylvania League but did not report until his spring semester college course work was completed.15 Shortly thereafter, Akron club management deposed skipper Frank Motz and placed the 22-year-old East in charge. Under his direction, the Buckeyes played well, posting a commendable (66-42, .611) final record. And East himself performed creditably, being selected as the second baseman on the All-Ohio minor league all-star team selected by Cleveland Plain Dealer sportswriter Henry Edwards.16

Despite allegations of professionalism — it was reported that East had recently signed with a pro football team in Canton, Ohio, and that he had earlier been remunerated for transferring from Geneva College17 — East returned to WUP and his fitful legal studies that fall.18 And again, he played right end for a talented university football team. Belying its excellent 11-2 record, the WUP team was strife-torn, with various players turning against Coach Arthur Mosse. Among those who threatened to leave school if Mosse was not discharged was Walter East.19 His hostile attitude toward a respected local football coach, however, did not sour Pittsburgh baseball fans on East, and by late December there was public clamor for a major league ball club to audition him the following spring.20 But that did not happen. In the meantime, East spent the winter playing basketball for the WUP varsity.21

Bypassed in the minor league player draft, East returned to Akron for the 1906 season.22 And despite protestations that he did not want the job, East resumed duties at the club helm.23 Along with predicting a pennant, “the youngest manager in the league” announced new disciplinary mandates, including nightly curfews and the imposition of fines for “stupid plays. I believe the best way to get a player’s thinking apparatus to working rightly is to assess fines for dumb plays,” East declared.24 He then set about discovering and signing prospects for the club roster.

The Akron ball club, now nicknamed the Rubbernecks, got off to a slow start as manager East had to fend off interference from the club directors.25 But thereafter, Akron surged in league standings with its youthful field boss leading by example. Big Walter batted a team-leading .291, while his defensive stats reflected the wide fielding range that produced the high total chances (706), putouts (332), assists (321), and errors committed (53) marks that would annually characterize his work as a second baseman. In the end, only untimely late-season defeats stood between Akron (83-55, .601) and the O-P League champion Youngstown Tire Works (84-53, .613). Thereafter, East was named the second baseman on the league all-star nine selected by Youngstown sportswriter Ed F. Bang,26 and promptly reengaged as Akron manager for the 1907 season.28 In the interim, East returned to the gridiron and his rendezvous with scandal.

THE FOOTBALL SCANDAL

Long before the NFL came into existence, Ohio was a hotbed of professional football with various localities fielding a gridiron squad. Two of the most formidable were based in Canton and Massillon. With home fields separated by a mere 15 miles, the Canton Bulldogs and Massillon Tigers were considered among the nation’s top pro clubs and fierce rivals. In the November 1905 championship game of the top-notch Ohio League, Massillon defeated Canton, 14-4. With a rematch the following fall likely in the offing, the sides stepped up their recruitment of playing talent, with rugged end Walter East approached by both teams.28 In time, he opted for Massillon.

In the run-up to a 1906 season-ending away-and-home game showdown with Canton, Massillon extended an undefeated streak that stretched back three seasons. On November 6, the Tigers administered a 32-0 shellacking to Pittsburg Lyceum in which right end Walter East “showed his many old college friends … that he is even better now than during the days that he was playing a star game with the Western University of Pennsylvania eleven.”29 But shortly thereafter and with the initial clash with Canton only days away, East was released by Massillon, reportedly because of “a bad case of ‘charley horse.’”30

On November 16, 1906, Canton upset betting favorite Massillon, 10-5.31 Eight days later, the Tigers evened the score with a 13-6 triumph and thereby retained the Ohio League championship.32 A full accounting of the brouhaha that subsequently erupted, often considered the first fixed-game scandal in professional football history, is beyond the scope of this essay.33 But in brief, days after the second Canton-Massillon game, Massillon club owner Ed Stewart alleged that with financial backing from gamblers, ex-Tiger Walter East and Canton coach Blondy Wallace had attempted to engineer a fix via bribery of players. Under their scheme, Canton would win the first game and Massillon the second, setting up a high-stakes rubber match to be played in Cleveland.34 Wallace furiously denied the accusation, promptly instituting a $25,000 defamation lawsuit against Stewart and the Massillon Morning Gleaner, the newspaper that first published the Stewart charges.35 The response from East, however, only complicated matters. Exonerating Wallace, East asserted that there had, indeed, been an attempt to corrupt the Canton Massillon games but named its instigator as Massillon coach Shelburn Wightman.

According to East, Wightman offered to arrange for Massillon to lose the opening game in exchange for $4,000, allowing plot insiders to clean up betting on underdog Canton. East then took the proposition to John T. Windsor, a financial supporter/director of the Akron Rubbernecks baseball club and a well-to-do sporting man who agreed to back it. To modern eyes, however, the mechanics of the fix plot border on deranged, particularly its terms being memorialized in a written pseudo-contract signed by Wightman, East, and Windsor. 36 When the scandal erupted, Windsor publicly corroborated the East account of events.37 But the clincher was East’s production of the incriminating document itself, signed in triplicate by the fix principals. Forced into a corner by this irrefutable evidence, Wightman acknowledged participation in game rigging negotiations but insisted that he had done so acting on orders of Massillon club boss Stewart, so as to entrap East and Windsor, the true fix masterminds.38 But Wightman promptly undermined the credibility of this dubious claim by further alleging that East had also boasted of obstructing Akron’s efforts to capture the Ohio-Pennsylvania League pennant earlier that fall.39

This baseball-related charge was greeted by widespread skepticism, with Cleveland sportswriter Harry Neily declaring that East and his Akron charges went all-out to win the OPL pennant, “plugging hard for every game.”40 And when Wightman declined to appear and repeat his allegations at a quickly-scheduled Ohio-Pennsylvania League meeting, his charges were discounted and no disciplinary measures were imposed on East by circuit overseers.41 Looking back on the scandal today, it is unclear whether fixing the Canton-Massillon clashes ever got beyond the talking stage. And there is little, if any, hard evidence to substantiate whether either game was rigged. Nevertheless, the corruption allegations dramatically affected the fortunes of professional foot-ball in Ohio, with both the Canton and Massillon elevens thereafter suspending operations for a time.42

REFOCUS ON BASEBALL

Although he went unpunished, the fixing scandal effectively ended Walter East’s time on the gridiron. From there on, he concentrated his sporting attentions on baseball. With the support of dominant board director Windsor, Big Walter returned as player-manager of the Akron Rubbernecks. But other club directors held his connection to the football scandal against East, creating season-long tension among club executives that eventually culminated in Windsor physically assaulting another team director.43 Meanwhile, manager East attempted to boost Akron prospects by signing former Cleveland Naps second baseman Nick Kahl, a longtime acquaintance from hometown Coulterville.44 But an irreparable arm injury soon forced Kahl’s release.45 East suffered another disappointment when the National Commission disapproved contracts signed by hard-hitting first baseman Bill Schwartz and himself which did not include a reserve clause.46 On another futile front, Big Walter tried to improve his players’ lot by patenting “an inflated rubber protector to cover the leg, body, and arm” of Akron batsmen, but the device proved impractical. 47

Notwithstanding the above setbacks and the season-long hostility of minority club directors, East had the Rubbernecks in the OPL lead as the season entered the home stretch.48 But like the year before, Akron was nipped at the wire, finishing a close (83-53, 610) third to Youngstown (86-52, .623) and the Newark (Ohio) Newks (86-53, .619). East’s playing performance was also a near-repeat of the prior season. He posted a solid .285 BA with a team-best .379 slugging average and upped his fielding stats to 343 putouts-378 assists-30 errors = .960 FA. Those numbers made him the second baseman on the OPL all-star team chosen by Cleveland Plain Dealer sportswriter Neily49 and a selection by the Little Rock Travelers of the Class A Southern League in the post-season minor league player draft.50 Unhappy that he was not deemed a free agent, East protested his draft selection, but to no avail. The National Association, overseer of minor league baseball, ordered him to report to Little Rock.51 On another sports front, East was also unsuccessful in efforts to secure a franchise in the newly organized Central Basketball League of Ohio.52

However disgruntled he may have been about the National Association directive, the Little Rock draft launched Walter East toward the modest summit of his baseball career. Initially, though, things did not work out well for him, particularly when appearing before quickly-turned-hostile home game fans.53 By early June, it was widely reported that a disgruntled East was hoping to leave Little Rock to assume managing the Erie (Pennsylvania) Sailors of the O-P League.54 But that did not happen. Instead, East was sold to the Nashville Volunteers, 55 for whom he proceeded to play the best base-ball of his pro career and contribute significantly to the club’s come-from-behind Southern League championship. 56

“Since Walter has joined the Volunteers, he seems to hit the ball very hard, and very often,” observed a New Orleans newspaper in late July. “He also seems to field nicer than ever before. In short, he is playing star ball.”57 Posting respectable batting (.260) and fielding (.949) averages58 and providing heady on-field leadership, East was deemed “instrumental in landing Nashville the pennant” by the Memphis Commercial Appeal.59 That view was echoed back in Akron where the Beacon Journal stated that “East can claim credit for being one of the big factors for his team getting the Southern League flag.”60 Thereafter, he compounded the satisfaction of being a member of a pennant-winning ball club with another professional achievement. In December, East passed the bar examination and was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio.61 The newly minted attorney then spent the winter in Akron, working as an associate at a city law firm and coaching the Buchtel College basketball team.62

Although his employment options were now greatly expanded, East was not yet ready to abandon baseball. But he was unenthusiastic about returning to Nashville. Instead, he applied to fill a managerial vacancy with the Zanesville (Ohio) Infants of the Class B Central League, but was turned down.63 After a brief contract holdout, East reported to Nashville’s spring camp ready to resume his place as the club’s second baseman and team captain.64 By mid-June, however, shaky performance turned hometown fans against him, the grandstand abuse reaching the point where East asked Volunteers manager Bill Bernhard to release him.65 But Bernhard refused, declaring “I consider East one of the most valuable ball players in the league, and one of the brainiest, besides [being] one who has given his best efforts to the club.”66

East rewarded his manager’s confidence by soon returning to form. By season end, his numbers (.266 BA/.947 FA) nearly duplicated those of the previous year, but Nashville’s improved (82-55, .599) log was good only for second place in the Southern League pennant chase. Once his ballplaying duties concluded, East effected a change in his domestic status, marrying 29-year-old Alice Durhoff in late October.67 Over the ensuing winter it briefly appeared that the now 26-year-old might receive a major league shot when his contract was sold to the Cleveland Naps.68 But days later, the sale was revealed as no more than a device for transferring East to the Buffalo Bisons of the Class A Eastern League.69 East got off to a good start with his new club, but his hitting then fell off sharply. In late June, he was traded to an EL rival, the Montreal Royals.70 The change of livery did not spur improvement, and by season’s end the East batting average had sunk to .231 in 73 games played, combined. Jettisoned by Montreal, East returned to the Southern League, reuniting with Bill Bernhard, now manager of the Memphis Turtles.71 Bernhard, a former major league pitcher, had relied on East to orchestrate the in-field defense while the two were in Nashville, and in-tended to repeat that protocol in Memphis, appointing East his team captain.72 But success eluded them this time as Memphis finished a distant sixth in final Southern League standings.

As before, East returned to Akron for the winter which he spent angling for a managerial post close to home in the newly-formed Class D Ohio State League.73 Rebuffed once again, he returned to the Southern League for the 1911 season, his contract having been sold to the defending circuit champion Atlanta Crackers.74 By June, however, a .240 batting average in 40 games earned East his release. After a brief sojourn with the Kansas City Blues of the new top-echelon Class AA American Association, 75 East assumed the post of player-manager of the Ohio State League’s Mansfield Brownies.76 Taking over a club with a pennant-contending 47-36 (.567) record, East contributed on the field, registering a career-best .293 BA in 33 games. But he flopped as Brownies leader, his charges not responding to his command and saddling their new skipper with the only losing (25-31, .467) mark of his managerial career.

The stint in Mansfield ended the professional baseball career of Walter East. Although never good enough for the majors, he had been a competent high minor league ballplayer with a decent bat, wide defensive range, and plenty of on-field smarts. Big Walter had also been an excellent lower-tier minor league manager, accumulating a 287-181 (.587) record in four sessions at the helm. But now approaching age 30 and with the business, legal, and political worlds beckoning, he left the game for other pursuits.

LIFE AFTER ATHLETICS

Late during his minor league days, East opened a commercial laundry in Ashland, Ohio, hometown of wife Alice.77 The business proved successful, providing the budding entrepreneur with a healthy off-season income. An ensuing venture, however, proved an embarrassing fiasco. In February 1913, East and a business partner bought a dilapidated hotel in Marion, Ohio, intending to transform it into European-style resort.78 Security pledged to finance renovations included East’s Ashland laundry. When the hotel venture collapsed and its financiers attempted to foreclose on the security, it was discovered that East was not the laundry owner. His wife was. Angered backers then charged East with fraud and had a warrant issued for his arrest.79 Sometime thereafter, the matter was quietly settled out of court.80

After that disagreeable experience, East gravitated toward the law and local politics, interrupted only by brief state-side military service during World War I. In August 1920, East was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican Party nomination for prosecuting attorney for the City of Akron.81 Thereafter, he did criminal defense work and accepted court-appointed trustee assignments. Given his background, it was logical for a local syndicate looking to hold on to the Akron Buck-eyes as an International League member to retain East as legal counsel in early 1921.82 When the league awarded the failing franchise to Newark (NJ), East oversaw the financial end of the transaction.83

East remained involved in local Republican Party politics throughout the 1920s, serving on various committees and speaking at meetings. Meanwhile, his marriage ended in divorce. Relocation to the Akron suburb of Barberton did not improve East’s prospects for political office. A run for a municipal court judgeship was unsuccessful, as was one for city solicitor.84 Thereafter, East undertook the high-profile defense of a county commissioner charged with embezzlement and official misconduct. A February 1930 trial finally yielded an East triumph of sorts, as the jury was unable to reach a verdict.85 Preparation for the retrial brought East to Philadelphia where he suddenly fell ill. He died of uremic poisoning at Mercy Hospital on the evening of August 28, 1930.86 Walter Rufus East was 46. Following funeral services conducted in Akron, his remains were returned to his birthplace and interred in Coulterville Cemetery. Childless, the deceased was survived by his elderly mother, four brothers, and ex-wife Alice.

Almost a century after his passing, Walter East is remembered, if at all, only for having played a shrouded role in pro football’s earliest fixed-game scandal. But a closer look reveals that event as forming no more than a passing chapter in a life presumably like that of other long-forgotten Deadball Era minor leaguers — one full of incident and interest.

 

PHOTO CREDIT

Walter East: Akron Beacon Journal, April 2, 1906.

 

NOTES

1. Walter’s brothers were Lovejoy (born 1869), Charles (1871), Claude (1873), and Stiles (1885).

2. According to “Diamond Dust,” Mansfield (Ohio) News, September 20, 1906: 7.

3. Per player vital statistics published in the New Orleans Item, March 24, 1908: 14, and East’s TSN player contract card. Another contemporaneous source put East’s weight at 190 pounds (Canton (Ohio) Repository, September 19, 1905: 6), while the adjective big was often affixed to his name in sports reportage.

4. As reported in “Base Ball Gossip,” Pittsburg (Kansas) Headlight, April 20, 1903: 2.

5. Per the Walter East TSN player contract card and con-firmed in vintage newspaper photos.

6. Six of the 12 Pittsburg players batted under .200.

7. “Base Ball Talk,” Pittsburg (Kansas) Kansan, July 30, 1903: 4.

8. See “New Second Baseman Has Been Signed,” Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, July 7, 1904: 5.

9. “East Is Also a Football Player,” Akron Beacon Journal, July 8, 1904: 5.

10. See “Big Walter Got Another Four Bagger,” Akron Beacon Journal, August 25, 1904: 5.

11. As reported in “The Cleveland Club Watching East,” Akron Beacon Journal, September 13, 1904: 5.

12. As reported in the Akron Beacon Journal, September 30, 1904: 9. WUP was renamed the University of Pittsburgh in 1908.

13. Akron Beacon Journal, November 1, 1904: 5, reprinting praise published in the Pittsburg Dispatch.

14. Per “Items of Interest to the Gridiron Warrior,” Akron Beacon Journal, October 27, 1904: 5. Despite such player failings, WUP went 9-0 in 1904.

15. Per “No Trouble about Holding Walter East,” Akron Beacon Journal, February 4, 1905: 5.

16. As reported in “All Star Team Picked from Ranks of In-dependent Clubs,” Akron Beacon Journal, July 31, 1905: 5. Baseball-Reference provides no 1905 season stats for East and data for OPL players were not found elsewhere.

17. See “Walter East with Canton,” Pittsburg Press, September 14, 1905: 14; “East Will Play Foot Ball at Canton,” Akron Beacon Journal, August 18, 1905: 5.

18. As reported in “Walter East to Join Western University Team,” Pittsburgh Gazette, September 21, 1905: 11; “Goals from the Field,” Pittsburg Press, September 21, 1905: 14. The fact that East had played professional baseball did not affect his ability to play other college sports.

19. See “East Rebels,” Akron Beacon Journal, December 4, 1905: 5. For a fuller take on player unrest, see “Players Mutiny Over Coach,” South Bend (Indiana) Tribune, December 4, 1905: 3; “W.U.P. Factionalism Angers Team Fans,” Pittsburg Post, December 3, 1905: 5. The situation was later resolved internally with Coach Mosse returning for the 1906 WUP football season.

20. Per “O.& P. Players in Great Demand,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, December 31, 1905: 15.

21. As subsequently noted in “Manager East Here to Take Charge of Team,” Akron Beacon Journal, April 7, 1906: 5.

22. See “Must Come Back,” Akron Beacon Journal, January 24, 1906: 5, noting the interest that Pittsburgh Pirates club boss Barney Dreyfuss had shown in East.

23. As reported in “Base Ball,” Elyria (Ohio) Reporter, February 7, 1906: 6; “Walter East Selected as Akron’s Man-ager,” Akron Beacon Journal, February 5, 1906: 5. The previous fall, East had announced that he would not manage the Akron club again.

24. See “Will Fine ‘Em,” Mansfield News, April 17, 1906: 7.

25. As noted in “Dark Clouds in O.P. League,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 24, 1906: 28.

26. According to “All Star Team for O.& P. League,” Akron Beacon Journal, October 15, 1906: 3. Sportswriter Bang later became a longtime sports page editor in Cleveland.

27. As reported in “East Will Manage Akron Again,” Cleve-land Plain Dealer, September 18, 1906: 8; “East Will Re-main,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, September 17, 1906: 11; and elsewhere. East’s new contract included a pay raise and the promise of a $500 bonus if Akron won the pennant.

28. Per “East Is Sought by Both Teams,” Canton Repository, September 1, 1906: 6.

29. “It Was Easy,” Akron Beacon Journal, November 7, 1906: 5.

30. Per “East Released,” Akron Beacon Journal, November 12, 1906: 5. Other reports were opaque, citing unspecified conditioning problems as the cause of East’s discharge. See e.g., “Canton Will Be the Mecca of Football World Next Friday,” Zanesville (Ohio) Times Recorder, November 13, 1906: 8.

31. See “Cantons Down Massillon Tigers,” Springfield (Ohio) Daily News, November 17, 1906: 7, which placed the pre-game betting line at four-to-three in Massillon’s favor.

32. As reported in “Tigers Retain Championship,” Akron Beacon Journal, November 26, 1906: 5

33. An in-depth account of the scandal is provided by Gregg Ficery in Gridiron Legacy: Pro Football’s Missing Origin Story (Los Angeles: The Ringer, LLC, 2023).

34. As recounted in “An Ugly Charge,” Mansfield News, November 27, 1906: 7; “Charged That Gamblers Backed Walter East,” Akron Beacon Journal, November 26, 1906: 5; “$4,000 Bribe Offered,” Piqua (Ohio) Daily Call, November 26, 1906: 1; and elsewhere.

35. See “Suit Brought by Coach Wallace,” Springfield Daily News, November 30, 1906: 7: “Suit Brought by Wallace,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, November 26, 1906: 8.

36. As reported in “Charges Wightman as Leading Conspirator,” Wooster (Ohio) Daily News, December 7, 1906: 3; “Walter East Tells Story,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, December 6, 1906: 6; “Manager Walter East Confesses to Canton-Massillon Football Deal,” Akron Beacon Journal, December 6, 1906: 1. Readers should understand that contracts which require the commission of an unlawful act are unenforceable as a matter of law. Collection of gambling debts and murder-for-hire scheme obligations fall into this category.

37. See e.g., “Windsor Tells His Side of the Foot Ball Deal,” Akron Beacon Journal, December 7. 1906: 1.

38. See “Wightman’s Statement,” Akron Beacon Journal, December 7, 1906: 1.

39. Per “Wightman, Sr., Talks,” Akron Beacon Journal, December 8, 1906: 5.

40. As reported in “The Fans’ Corner,” Akron Beacon Journal,” December 11, 1906: 5. See also, “The Fans’ Corner,” Akron Beacon Journal, January 12, 1907: 5: “Few [Akron fans] believed that East had made the statements attributed to him by Wightman.”

41. See “East Will Stick,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 3, 1907: 8; “East to Remain,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, January 3, 1907: 15; “Wightman Refuses to Back Up Charges,” Akron Beacon Journal, January 2, 1907: 5.

42. The Massillon Tigers hung on for the 1907 season, but the Canton Bulldogs did not. Thereafter, the two teams did not resume playing until 1911.

43. See “Is Fined for Assault,” Canton Repository, September 6, 1907: 5; “Fight May Depose East,” Marion (Ohio) Dai-ly Mirror, August 6, 1907: 6. See also, “O.& P. League Meeting Soon,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 13, 1907: 20.

44. Per “Nick Kahl Deal Is Closed,” Akron Beacon Journal, April 24, 1907: 5; “Akron Gets Our Nick Kahl,” Colum-bus Evening Dispatch, April 15, 1907: 11.

45. See “Akron Releases Nick Kahl,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 22, 1907: 9; “Manager East Release Kahl,” Akron Beacon Journal, May 21, 1907: 5.

46. Per “Schwartz and East to Be Reserved,” Akron Beacon Journal, April 16, 1907: 5. See also, “Sporting Gossip,” Zanesville Times Recorder, April 19, 1907: 11. Had the non-reserve clause contract been accepted, Schwartz and East would have become free agents at season’s end.

47. As reported in “East’s Invention May Handicap Pitcher,” Akron Beacon Journal, July 20, 1907:5. The only one handicapped by the bulky apparatus was the batter and it appears never to have been used in a game.

48. See “Akron Ahead in O. & P. League,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 8, 1907: 19.

49. “All-Star Team Well Divided,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, November 24, 1907: 17.

50. As reported in “Little Rock Signs Four New Players,” Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser, October 26, 1907: 6; “Finn Gets Walter East,” Atlanta Journal, October 25, 1907: 18; and elsewhere.

51. Per “East Turned Down,” Akron Beacon Journal, October 31, 1907: 5; “Minor Leagues Start Row Among Them-selves,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 31, 1907: 6.

52. See “Still a Chance for Basket Ball,” Akron Beacon Journal, October 18, 1907: 5; “Basket Ball League to Include Six Clubs Soon to Be Launched,” (East Liverpool, Ohio) Evening Review, October 24, 1907: 1.

53. See “Knockers Drove East from Little Rock,” Akron Beacon Journal, June 29, 1908: 5.

54. See e.g., “Walter East May Manage O.-P. Team,” Canton Repository, June 7, 1908: 14; “Walter East May Be in Charge of Erie Team,” Erie (Pennsylvania) Daily Times, June 6, 1908: 9. Baseball-Reference erroneously lists East as 1908 manager of the Erie Sailors.

55. As reported in “Viewed from the Press Box,” (Little Rock) Arkansas Gazette, June 25, 1908: 8; “Walter East Released,” Montgomery Advertiser, June 24, 1908: 6; and elsewhere.

56. Nashville (75-56, .573) shaded the New Orleans Pelicans (76-57, .571) in final Southern League standings.

57. “East’s Three Doubles Beat Birds,” New Orleans Item, July 28, 1908: 5.

58. Per Southern League stats published in the 1909 Reach Official Base Ball Guide, 220-221.

59. “Nashville Team Ready,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, March 7, 1909: 21.

60. See “East Ought to Be Happy,” Akron Beacon Journal, October 23, 1909: 5.

61. See “Walter East Is Full Fledged Attorney,” Akron Beacon Journal, December 24, 1908: 5. Earlier that year, East had finally completed his academic course work and been awarded a degree in law by WUP.

62. Per “Will Play Two Champion Fives in Four Days,” Akron Beacon Journal, December 22, 1908: 5. East, formerly a star player,” had been a basketball teammate of various pros then members of the Central Ohio Basket Ball League.

63. See “East Wants to Manage Zanesville,” Akron Beacon Journal, January 8, 1909: 5.

64. Per “First Player to Arrive in Town,” Nashville Banner, March 1, 1909: 4; “Champions’ Baseman Is Holding Out,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, March 1, 1909: 12.

65. See “Fans Hiss Walter East,” Akron Beacon Journal, June 16, 1909: 5; “About Teams and Players,” Canton Repository, June 16, 1909: 3.

66. See again, “Fans Hiss Walter East,” above.

67. Marriage records maintained by the State of Illinois indicate that the couple was married in Chicago on October 21. 1909. The identity of the “Mrs. East” previously men-tioned in sports page reportage (See e.g., Nashville Banner, March 1, 1909: 4; (Little Rock) Arkansas Democrat, March 14, 1908: 8) is unknown.

68. As reported in “Naps Bought Walter East,” Akron Beacon Journal, January 25, 1910: 8; “Walter East Is Sold to Cleveland Team,” Nashville Banner, January 23, 1910: 10.

69. See “But One Position on Local Team Unfilled,” Buffalo Courier, January 29, 1910: 8; “About Filled Up,” Buffalo Express, January 28, 1910: 11; “Star Second Sacker for Bison Herd,” Buffalo Evening News, January 27, 1910: 28.

70. As reported in “Walter East Is No Longer a Bison,” Buffalo Times, June 23, 1910: 12; “East Traded for Deal,” Buffalo Evening News, June 22, 1910: 1; and elsewhere.

71. Per “Walter East Is Signed by Bernhard for Memphis,” Nashville Tennessean, February 13, 1911: 7; “Turtle Team Is Complete,” Nashville Banner, January 17, 1911: 16.

72. See “Memphis Is Formidable,” Chattanooga (Tennessee) Daily Times, April 5, 1911: 7. Bernhard posted a fine 116- 61 (.589) record during a nine-season big league career that ended in 1907.

73. As reported in “Walter East May Manage,” Nashville Banner, January 23, 1912: 14; “East Wants Canton Berth,” Akron Beacon Journal, January 17, 1912: 5; and elsewhere.

74. See “Walter East Is a Cracker,” Chattanooga Daily Times, April 22, 1912: 3; “1911 Turtle Captain Sold to Atlanta,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, April 22, 1912: 9.

75. See “Walter East at Kansas City,” Nashville Banner, June 24, 1912: 13. The AA minor league classification was created in 1912 and restricted to the American Association, International League, and Pacific Coast League.

76. The East hiring was reported in “Mansfield Club Gets Shakeup; East Becomes Manager,” Cleveland Plain Deal-er, July 1912: 8; “Big Shakeup in Mansfield Baseball Club,” Mansfield News, July 18, 1912: 10; and elsewhere.

77. See “Walter East Runs an Ashland Laundry,” Akron Beacon Journal, February 21, 1911: 7.

78. See “Walter East to Open Hotel,” Columbus Sunday Dis-patch, February 16, 1913: 3. See also, “Walter R. East Is to Receive Release,” Marion (Ohio) Daily Star, February 17, 1913: 3, which related that the Mansfield Brownies had released East from the club’s reserved list so that he could pursue the hotel renovation project.

79. As reported in “Was in Wife’s Name,” Akron Beacon Journal, October 30, 1913: 10; “Walter East Held for Embezzlement,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, October 26, 1913: 15; “Walter R. East Is Held to Answer,” Mansfield News, October 25, 1913: 10.

80. No follow-up newspaper coverage was discovered, but circumstances suggest that Alice East, a woman of some means, likely satisfied her husband’s creditors.

81. A political ad for “Walter R. East, Candidate for Prosecuting Attorney,” was published in the Akron Evening Times, August 9, 1920: 4. Days later, East placed fifth in a five-man nomination contest.

82. Per Jack Gibbons, “Syndicate Asks for Option on Base-ball Franchise in Akron,” Akron Beacon Journal, February 22, 1921: 13.

83. See Jack Gibbons, “Akron to Sell International League Baseball Franchise to Either Montreal or Newark,” Akron Beacon Journal, February 28, 1921: 11. See also, “Akron Franchise Going to Newark,” Sandusky (Ohio) Star-Jour-nal, February 25, 1921: 2. The price paid by Newark for the Akron franchise was reportedly $41,000.

84. See “S.A. Decker Elected Mayor Despite Republican Power,” Akron Beacon Journal, November 6, 1929: 31. East finished a distant third in the voting. East’s election setbacks were also noted in his obituaries.

85. See “Briggs Case Jury Discharged After 26 Hours’ De-bate,” Akron Beacon Journal, February 22, 1930: 15.

86. As reported in “Barberton Leader Dies at Hospital,” Akron Beacon Journal, August 30, 1930: 8: “Summit County Attorney Dies,” (Massillon, Ohio) Evening Independent, August 30, 1930: 12; and elsewhere.