Allen Sangree Explained

Allen Sangree
Birth Name:	Allen Luther Sangree
Birth Date:	1878
Birth Place:	Pennsylvania
Death Place:	Trenton, New Jersey, United States
Nationality:	American
Genre:	Sports Writer, War Journalist
Subject:	Baseball Writer, Boer War

Allen Luther Sangree, also as Allan or Alan (c. 1878 – March 2, 1924) was an American sports writer and war journalist.

Life

Father: Milton H. Sangree, Mother: Jane E. Hudson. Born around 1878, most likely in the area of Harrisburg or Steelton, Pennsylvania.^[1]

Attended Gettysburg College (class of 1892)^{[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]} Member of the Sigma Chi Theta fraternity^[7]

On the staff of the New York Sun some time around 1896^[1]

With the New York World as a correspondent traveling to Africa reporting on the trouble between Great Britain and the South Africa Republic prior to the Boer war. He reported for Collier's during the Boer War^[8] as well as for Cosmopolitan^{[9] [10]}

Started writing as one of the featured baseball writers for the New York Evening World on March 11, 1905^[11]

Married Kate Bradley (1888–1952) on November 4, 1905

On October 2, 1908 Allen Sangree was asked by William McMutrie Speer^[12] (a member of the editorial staff of the New York World) via the city editor George Carteret, to locate some Panamanians who had recently came to town with a possible connection to William Nelson Cromwell and the Panama Canal. Allen was unable to locate them, reported back to the editorial staff with no story and the assignment was crossed off. However Allen's investigation did appear to have stirred up William Nelson Cromwell's PR staff who approached Caleb Van Hamm (the managing editor) and "demanded ... what the World meant by getting after his boss without giving him a look-in."^{[13] [14]}

Died March 2, 1924, in Trenton, N.J., after having been hospitalized for a breakdown two years earlier.^[8]

Writings

A turn of the century (1900s) writer.

Early references

1892 he had a position with McClure's syndicate in New York and wrote for McClure's.

South Africa and the Boer War

• Wrote a character sketch of Cecil Rhodes in the February 1900 issue of Ainslee's Magazine^[15]
• Was a New York journalist who was at one time stationed in Cape Town South Africa as the secretary of the U.S. consul-general.^[16]
• He covered the Boer War in South Africa^[17] traveled with General Christiaan De Wet^[18]

Sports writer

• Wrote the often quoted piece

• Wrote the short story "The Jinx" in 1910, which was included later in his book The Jinx: Stories of the Diamond (1911)^[19] which is probably one of the earliest written references to the word jinx to mean someone being unlucky.^{[20] [21]}
  • A review of the book "The Jinx: Stories of the Diamond"

• Was a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America in 1911 and 1914^[22]

Other works

Poet "Your Old Uncle Sam", which was put to the music of "The Old Grey Mare"^{[8] [23]}

Bibliography

• Book: Sangree , Allen . The Jinx: Stories of the Diamond. G. W. Dillingham Company. 1911. New York.
• Sangree. Allen. De Wet and His Campaign. Cosmopolitan. 31. 65–74. May 1901.
• Sangree. Allen. "Fans" and Their Frenzies; The Wholesome Madness of Baseball. Everybody's Magazine. 17. 378–87. September 1907.
• Sangree. Allen. No more war in baseball Great Conflicts in the History of the Game - Part II. Baseball Magazine. VII. 5. 21–29. September 1911. 2007-08-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222709/http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/BBM/1911/bbm75j.pdf. 27 September 2007 . live.
• Sangree. Allen. The Strategy of Baseball. Everybody's Magazine. 15. 509. 1906.

Short stories

• "A Break in Training", The Saturday Evening Post, February 18, 1911
• "The Naive Mr. Dasher-Story of a Baseball Jinx", The Saturday Evening Post, May 28, 1910
• "The Ringer", The Saturday Evening Post, May 6, 1911
• "In Dutch", The Saturday Evening Post June 17, 1911
• "The Indian Sign", The Saturday Evening Post, September 9, 1911
• "That Load of Hay", Top-Notch, September 20, 1914
• "A Time Exposure", The Popular Magazine, February 7, 1915
• "The Sacrifice Hit", The Popular Magazine, September 7, 1915
• "The Limited Male", The Popular Magazine, September 20, 1916
• "Nix on the Slaughter", Ainslee's Magazine, October 1916

Articles

• "Americans in South Africa", Munsey's, March 1900
• "The Lonely Idol of the Fickle 'Fans'", The Saturday Evening Post, July 29, 1905
• "Why Nobody Loves the Umpire", The Saturday Evening Post, September 2, 1905

Samuel Gompers and the labor movement

There is a reference to Allen Sangree in the papers of Samuel Gompers where a friend, writes

There is a reference in the Congressional Record^[24]

References

1. Book: Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, Containing Sketches of Representative Citizens, and Many of the Early Scotch-Irish and German Settlers . J. M. Runk & Company . 1896 . Chambersburg, Pa. . 273–274. 2007-08-18.
2. News: Local Happenings. New Oxford Item. 1916-07-20 .
3. Book: Stover , Clyde B. . Charles M. Beechem. The alumni record of Gettysburg College, 1832-1932. Gettysburg PA. Gettysburg College. 778. 1932 .
4. Book: Residence directory of the Sigma Chi Fraternity: the chapter rolls, alphabetical and residence indices, together with a historical sketch of the Fraternity since 1890. 592. 1902. 2007-08-16. The Sigma Chi Fraternity .
5. Some early references say Pennsylvania College, which was the original name for Gettysburg College.
6. Oral Sangree family history has it that Milton H. Sangree placed great importance in attending college.
7. The Sigma Chi Quarterly. VIII. 41. 1889. The Sigma Chi Quarterly: The Official Organ of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. 2007-08-16. The Fraternity. Fraternity, Sigma Chi .
8. News: Obit. The New York Times. 17. March 3, 1924 .
9. Sangree. Allen. General De Wet and His Campaign. Cosmopolitan. May 1901 .
10. Sangree. Allen. The Youngest Soldiers in the World. Cosmopolitan. June 1901 .
11. News: New York Evening World. New York Evening World. 6. March 11, 1905. 2007-08-16.
12. Information about William McMutrie Speer's papersWeb site: William McMurtrie Speer Papers 1880-1936. 2007-08-18. Columbia University Libraries.
13. Book: Seitz , Don Carlos . Joseph Pulitzer, his life & letters. Simon & Schuster. 1924. New York. 352. registration.
14. It appears that this series of events ended with the libel suit against Joseph Pulitzer, Caleb Van Hamm and Robert Hunt Lyman of the New York World as well as the New York World itself, and the Press Publishing Company for libel against William Nelson Cromwell, J. P. Morgan, Douglas Robinson, Charles P. Taft, Elihu Root, and Theodore Roosevelt.

    The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court with a unanimous ruling in favor of the New York World.United States v. Press Publishing Company. 219 . U.S.. 1. 1911. http://supreme.justia.com/us/219/1/case.html . 2007-08-18.

    See also Web site: McHam. David. Class notes on Judicial Review. University of Huston. 2007-08-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20070220142048/http://www.class.uh.edu/comm/classes/comm4303/section3/judicialreview.html#puliter. 2007-02-20. dead. for some commentary on the actual libel case.

15. News: Books and Magazines. The Salt Lake Herald. 5. February 12, 1900. 2007-08-16 . Ainslee's Magazine for February is notable for an extraordinarily varied table of contents. Perhaps the most valuable contribution is a character sketch of Cecil Rhodes, by Allen Sangree. .
16. Book: The American Monthly Review of Reviews . 21 . Albert Shaw . 363 . 1900 .
17. Book: Current Literature: 1901 . Wheeler . Edward Jewitt . 1901 . 774.
18. Book: van Hartesveldt , Fred R. . The Boer War: Historiography and Annotated Bibliography (Bibliographies of Battles and Leaders). Greenwood Press. May 30, 2000. 182. 978-0-313-30627-3 .
19. Book: Sangree, Allen . The Jinx: Stories of the Diamond . allen sangree. . 1911 . G. W. Dillingham Company . 7–60.
20. Web site: Quinion. Michael. Words to the Wise, your Etymological Queries Answered. 2007-08-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070927023103/http://www.takeourword.com/TOW118/page2.html. 27 September 2007 . live.
21. The book review from The New York Times implies that the word jinx was not in the dictionary at that time Web site: Book review . The New York Times. October 29, 1911. 2007-08-14 .
22. Web site: Sportswriters: BBWAA Members, 1911-1914. Society for American Baseball Research. 2002-08-02. 2007-08-15 .
23. Book: Rust , Brian . The Columbia Master Book Discography, Volume II: Principal U.S. Matrix Series, 1910-1924 (Discographies). Greenwood Press. May 30, 1999. 223. 978-0-313-30822-2 .
24. Book: 63rd Congress First Session. Maintenance of a lobby to influence legislation / hearings before a subcommittee of the committee on the judiciary United States Senate. Vol 4. U.S. Congress. July 22 – August 14, 1913. 1909, 1910.