[SelzShoes]

He stood in the box, the air still crisp with dew. Elmo smiled to himself and looked for the signal. As the umpire bellowed “play ball,” a flash of light—a mirror reflecting the sun—shone. The fix was on.

It was a complicated system, based on precise timing. Based on how much the syndicate had paid out or taken in, when Elmo Bronneke was slated to pitch, the bosses decided if they need him to win or lose. A wire was sent from the central office in downtown to an inconspicuous storefront near the park. From the store, one of two carrier pigeons was released: black for play clean, white to throw the game. When the pigeon arrived at a home near the park, a young boy would rush to his ‘uncle’ with a plain envelope with a single slip of paper inside. Based on the coded instructions, the man would know whether to ‘flash’ Bronneke or not with the mirrored back of his pocket watch. The whole process took under 15 minutes.

Bronneke was the only member of the Brooklyn triad still playing ball. Mosholder had retired after the 1877 season, and now worked with the New York gambling syndicate in what he referred to as their ‘collections’ department. Bennie Zoellner, the first baseman on the squad, had played a season for Bangor in the New England Association, but when it became clear the Empire would not reinstate him for 1878, he left the club. A tryout for the Columbia Association had not gone well, as he had put on too much weight to move with the speed the game demanded in this era.

But Bronneke had survived. An arm injury in 1878 while with Omaha of the Flatlands Congress had been seen as an example of the consequences of an unjust life. Forced to make a salary outside of baseball, Bronneke traveled south and found work on a ranch in Texas. There, the daily rigors of work built his arm back into shape. While letters to James McCormick went unanswered, the news of the formation of the Columbia Association gave him hope of pitching on the national stage again. A letter of contrition to William Temple was enough to ‘prove’ the young hurler had been ‘framed’ by McCormick and his cabal. It was not long, however, before Bronneke decided the lower salary of the Association require supplementing.

While the Empire had taken steps to clear the gambling element out of their league, the Association had not. Trying to build a following with young unknowns proved to be difficult. “Name” players, even ones with questionable past, were seen as necessary to provide legitimacy to the new league.