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Earl Moseley
Right-hander Earl Moseley pitched in three major leagues in the course of four seasons: the American League, the short-lived Federal League, and the National League. He won 49 games and lost 48 and gave up just a hair over three runs per nine innings. Player profiles were uncommon in the era, but I. E. Sanborn of the Chicago Tribune offered one on Moseley, and a portion of it makes for interesting reading:
Moseley always pitched whenever he could get the chance. That was not oftener than two games a month as a rule, and in order to get that amount of experience on the slab he had to organize his own amateur teams, and sometimes to equip them with the tools of the game. There were no inclosed (sic) ball parks available, and the games were played in open lots without admission. Sometimes when the hat was passed among the spectators enough coin would be raised to pay for the balls used and the bats broken in the game. The players had to rustle for their own uniforms, and Moseley was chief rustler for his team. Frequently considerable of the cost of financing the team came out of his own pocket. One year in particular, by way of illustration, Moseley advanced money to buy uniforms for four players besides himself. Only one of the other three ever paid him for the uniform, and that was a year later. One of them died and was forgiven for forgetting the loan. So, the Cub recruit figures that baseball owes him more money than he has got out of the game yet, but if ambition counts for anything he will be square with the game in a short time. Moseley is not in baseball to collect what it owes him, however, but because he loves to play ball. No other reason could explain his devotion to it under such difficulties … - SABR
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