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Tip-Top Name Sparks Furor in Brooklyn
BROOKLYN, NY. March 8, 1913 - Baseball fans in Brooklyn have come out against Robert Ward and his Tip-Top baseball club, saying that they are angry the team is essentially an advertisement for Ward's baking business.
“I am not in baseball as an advertising business, never was and never will be.”said Mr. Ward. “I am in baseball because I like the game, am interested in it, and always have been interested in it. To my mind it is a wholesome, clean game that appeals to most people and should appeal to most people. Even if I had tried to ‘play both ends against the middle’ and use baseball to advertise my other business and my other business to advertise baseball, there would be nothing criminal about it. It would be perfectly lawful and perfectly proper and might even be considered good business. But I haven’t done so. My club was nicknamed ‘Tip Tops’ by the sporting writers. They took the name from my favorite brand of bread, very true, but they did so without my knowledge or without consulting me. As far as I am concerned I am sorry they did, for it lays me open to some criticism. But a nickname is like a disease. It comes without the consent or knowledge of the person who has it. And once fastened on an individual or a club it is almost impossible to shake off.”
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