1931 Old Waldorf Bar Days by Albert Stevens Crockett

OldWaldorf Bar Days of St. Louis, the most imposing figure of them all, with his great stature, large mustache and imperial, and wide-brimmed hat, seldom missed a call during his visits to New York; while a Wisconsin city would send the Pabsts, who, to quote their slogan, brewed the "beer that made Milwaukee famous." John McGraw, manager of the New York Giants, was a great spender in the Bar, and so was Garry Her– mann, equally famous and equally popular with Mc– Graw in the baseball world. Neither of them would permit anybody else to buy drinks for the crowd so long as he was present. If a barman gave a drink check to anybody else when McGraw or Hermann was treat– ing, he "got in Dutch." The crowd at times would also be liberally decorated with "cauliflower ears," for a new pugilistic champion must always be brought there to be toasted and to be admired. And having found the way, he would come again. One has seen in the room, for example, Jim J ef– fries,lankyBobFitzsimmons, andhuge-chestedTomShar– key, who owned a saloon in Fourteenth Street. Even John L. Sullivan, long the most famous fighter in the prize ring, used to drift in, white-haired and white– mustached, to amaze the curious, who found it almost incredible that the fine-looking old m·an, who, from his appearance, might have been a retired bank president, was really a noted "pug." And "Jim" Corbett would also be seen in the crowd, though Jim was not much of a drinker. He, too, had his own saloon, andjust ·a block or so away, but Jim _had many friends at the old Wal– dorf. There he impressed all who came into contact · [56]