Chapter 25

Charles Comiskey and the Northwoods

Referred to as America's “national pastime” since 1856, the game of baseball truly became the most popular organized sport in the country in the early 1900s.1 The advent of the American League in 1901, the first World Series in 1903, and baseball celebrities such as Ty Cobb, Cy Young, and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson packed fans into stadiums across the country. Promoters began to realize that baseball's popularity with the masses translated into big money. The owners of successful ball clubs were becoming wealthy and powerful. Charles A. Comiskey, owner of the 1906 World Champion Chicago White Sox, was no exception.

Comiskey, known as the “Old Roman” because of his statuesque profile, demonstrated his wealth and prestige by sponsoring a grand pilgrimage to the Wisconsin northwoods shortly after the close of each baseball season. Comiskey's entourage would include prominent men from the world of baseball, such as American League commissioner Ban Johnson and Dubuque, Iowa, baseball magnate Tom Loftus as well as an array of well-connected politicians, judges, lawyers, and business moguls. Numerous members of the press also accompanied the autumn expedition, which could number sixty people or more.² The stated purpose of the northern ventures, which began as early as 1903, was to relax and unwind after the hectic baseball season and engage in a little hunting and fishing.

Comiskey's first northern Wisconsin camp was located near Springstead, in Iron County, thirty-five miles from the nearest railroad station in Fifield.³ Provisions were hauled by wagon for several days prior to the party's arrival each fall. At camp, some of the most prominent men in America at the time spent northern Wisconsin autumn days on the water in pursuit of musky or tromping the woods with shotguns in hand.

Nights at camp were spent in lighthearted revelry and hunting camp camaraderie. Practical jokes were common, as were mock court proceedings for those who broke the camp “rules,” such as missing a meal or snoring during the night. Sportswriter and early Comiskey biographer G. W. Axelson wrote: “These were conducted according to Hoyle, as there were always enough bona fide judges and lawyers in the party to assure even-handed justice.”4

In 1907 the camp at Springstead was abandoned for a new recreational property a few miles to the north. Comiskey purchased a large tract of land on Trude Lake, twelve miles from the village of Mercer. A large and elegant log lodge was built on the property, as were several smaller cabins.

The Rhinelander New North listed some of Comiskey's entourage in a 1910 newspaper report: “Those in the party beside Mr. Comiskey were B. B. Johnson, president of the American league; C. C. Spink, St. Louis editor; James McAleer, manager of the Washington team; Jack Sheridan, veteran umpire; George Thompson of the Lake Shore railroad; P. F. McCarthy, Jas. McTauge of St. Louis; Bob Walsh, Tom Miller, Pete Lamler, Al. Hayden, Jimmy McLain, Eddie Welsh and Joe Farrell, Chicago nimrods of note.”⁵

The Rhinelander Daily News reported on the Comiskey entourage passing through town in 1912: “Those who were at the Northwestern depot Tuesday morning when the limited train went north had the opportunity of seeing through the car windows many of the most noted personages in the world of baseball. The White Sox players Chicago's Champions headed by Charles Comiskey passed through the city on their way to their annual outing at Camp Jerome, Trude Lake, near Mercer.”⁶

Comiskey developed the Jerome Club into a premier hunting and fishing camp. Eventually consisting of six hundred acres of land, the entire property was enclosed by a sixteen-foot-high woven wire fence.⁷ Comiskey indulged his love for wildlife by releasing a variety of animals into the enclosure, including deer, elk, moose, antelope, and buffalo. Many of the animals were fairly tame, having been raised at camp, and provided camp visitors with great entertainment.

One of the most famous animals at the Jerome Club was “Big Bill” the moose. “Bill was captured in the Rainy Lake region while still wobbling,” wrote G. W. Axelson. “He was brought up on a bottle at Camp Jerome and in time grew up to become one of the most magnificent antlered specimens on the continent.”⁸

Unfortunately, Bill's magnificence came to an abrupt end. “One night during a storm, a fallen tree leveled a section of the fence. Bill found the hole and struck out for the land of his nativity,” wrote Axelson.9 Before Comiskey, who had offered a five hundred dollar reward for the safe return of the moose, could recapture Bill, a local hunter shot him.

A second moose met a similar fate. This moose was named “Red” in honor of Red Faber, a popular White Sox pitcher at the time and future Baseball Hall of Famer.

“Charles Comiskey has lost another big moose from his private game preserve on Trude Lake near Mercer,” a northwoods newspaper reported in September 1916. “The animal strayed away from the preserve through a gate, which had been left open by some careless visitor, and was later killed when he attempted to run down a young man walking along a railroad track.”¹⁰

The report went on to detail the incident:

The animal had wandered west from the river until it reached Roddis L. & V. Company's logging railroad a mile northwest of Agenda about six o'clock in the evening. At the same time three of the Lawler boys, Attley, Ted and Basil, were looking for their father's cows in this vicinity. Basil, the youngest of the boys, heard a crashing in the woods near him and went to investigate, thinking the noise was made by one of the cows. Instead of a mild-tempered cow, however, he found himself confronted by no other than ‘Reddy,’ who had a look of envy in its eye, though this interesting fact was to the lad unknown. He had barely time to realize that the largest animal he had ever seen, with wide, flat horns, was standing before him, when the animal came towards him.¹¹

Young Basil was able to jump across the tracks just before an approaching train and the big moose went back into the woods.

A short time later one of Basil's older brothers, Attley, encountered the moose on the railroad tracks and was also pursued by the big animal. Attley, however, was in possession of a rifle and fired three shots at the moose, killing it.

The arrival of Comiskey and his band of notables to the lakeland region each fall caused great excitement in local communities and was usually well reported by the local press.

“Fifty adherents of the world's champion White Sox of Chicago are encamped at Camp Jerome at Trude Lake, west of Mercer as the guests of President Comiskey of the Chicago American League club, states the Hurley Miner,” reported the Rhinelander New North in November 1917. “Three special sleepers were attached to the Northwestern train to accommodate the celebrants. They were cut off at Mercer to permit the party to disembark preparatory to a twelve mile jaunt in to the woods, where the Jerome Country club was all lit up in preparation for the annual fall invasion.”12

The White Sox had recently beaten the New York Giants four games to two in the six-game World Series.

The press sometimes noted, to the disappointment of little boys and adults alike, that Comiskey's party rarely included his champion ballplayers. “President Comiskey, Manager Rowland of the White Sox, and Business Manager Williams of the Cubs were the only baseball celebrities included in the party. The rest of it was composed of White Sox rooters and Chicago baseball scribes. None of the world's champions made the trip, which is expected to include a fortnight's stay in the woods,” reported New North.¹³

While the Old Roman spared little expense to entertain his well-connected guests, he was famous for his tightfistedness when it came to the players. The poor pay received by White Sox players while the club itself was very profitable, may have led to the famous “Black Sox” scandal of 1919. Eight players were banned from baseball for life after being implicated in throwing the World Series that year for one hundred thousand dollars. However, outright greed was also likely a factor, as the split was more than most professional ballplayers made in a year at that time.

It is unclear whether Comiskey came north that year, as the scandal didn't break until 1920. However, he may have been in the process of selling the Trude Lake estate and moving his base of northern operations to the Eagle River area.

In 1920 Comiskey purchased property on Dam Lake in northern Oneida County. “From the Eagle River Review it is learned that Charles Comiskey, owner of the Chicago White Sox and one of the big men in the baseball world, is making extensive improvements to his farm and resort property on Dam Lake.”

“Comiskey purchased this estate last spring and it is one of the finest properties in the entire northern Wisconsin lake region,” reported New North.¹⁴

The success of Comiskey's deer season also was reported by New North that year: “Charles Comiskey, owner of the Chicago White Sox and one of the most notable figures in the realm of baseball, was numbered among the successful deer hunters in Oneida County this season. Enroute from his estate on Dam Lake to Chicago ‘the Old Roman' passed through Rhinelander with a fine buck in his possession. Mr. Comiskey acquired his deer after a several days hunt. It was one of the most perfect specimens of buck seen here this year.”15

Comiskey and his White Sox franchise were never quite the same after the World Series scandal. Shortly afterward, Comiskey became ill and gave up active operation of the team. He continued to spend time in the northwoods at his Dam Lake estate, and it was there that the Old Roman died in 1931 at seventy-two years of age.

“Succumbing to heart and kidney troubles, Charles A. Comiskey, owner of the Chicago White Sox base ball team, passed away Monday morning at his summer home on Dam Lake, northwest of Rhinelander, after a lingering illness of several months. The body was taken Monday night to Chicago for burial,” reported the New North.¹⁶

The New North noted that “his son, J. Louis Comiskey, was at his bedside when he passed away.”¹⁷