Winning By Any Means Necessary

Outlaw behavior was common among owners, team management, and players before and during the time of the ICBL.  Fights were not uncommon among the players or the fans if an umpire made an unpopular call. Managers, on the behalf of the owners, made financial offers to out-of-work players that were impossible to refuse, contract or not.

One of the most famous stories involved Carl Doyle (1912-1951) who signed with the Philadelphia Athletics in the spring of 1935. Known for his wild but fast pitches, Doyle attracted the attention of Art Hord, the manager of the Concord Weavers.  Hord  wanted him for the Weavers, and he alerted the Weaver's President, Aubrey Hoover that Doyle would be traveling by train to Philadelphia. Oddly enough, when the train stopped in Bristol, Tennessee, Doyle was met by Hoover and the Concord Mill Executive, Billy Flowe. Not sure if the "A's manager, Connie Mack would actually play him combined with Hoover's offer of cash money, Doyle agreed to be "kidnapped" so to speak and play for the Concord Weavers. In the middle of July, Connie Mack sent his scout Ira Thomas down to Concord to retrieve his wayward pitcher. 

Although Mack sent down two more players to replace Doyle, the team never recovered that season, but it marked the lengths that the Carolina League owners, management, and players would go to just to ensure a winning season regardless of professional baseball contract.