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29-581: The federation lobbies the state legislature and executive branch on issues important to its members, assists its state and local affiliate unions in organizing new members, conducts training and educational programs, and conducts research into labor-related issues such as workplace health and safety, health care, wages and benefits and more. The Maine AFL–CIO also sponsors the Maine Women's Labor Institute, which trains working women in how to become more effective union leaders and political activists. Membership in

58-481: A car driven by Babe Ruth , along with Ruth's wife Helen, rookie outfielder Frank Gleich , and second-string catcher Fred Hofmann . Ruth lost control of the car, and O'Leary was ejected from the vehicle, although he suffered only minor injuries. He then coached with the Yankees for 10 years, during which period they won six pennants and two World Series , including the great 1927 Yankees team. O'Leary then coached with

87-466: A comic vaudeville act. The O'Leary-Schaefer vaudeville act is said to have inspired two Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals: the forgotten 1930 film They Learned About Women and Busby Berkeley's last film, Take Me Out to the Ballgame (1949), with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra . Not known for his hitting, O'Leary had a career batting average of .226. After finishing his playing career in 1913 with

116-780: A large role in the dissolution of the National Commission , baseball's former body of authority, following a quarrel with Ban Johnson . He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. He was also named to the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame in May 2022, as the selection of Cardinals managing partner William DeWitt Jr. for his accomplishments as manager of the St. Louis Browns. Comiskey died in Eagle River, Wisconsin in 1931, and

145-541: A major league starting in 1901. As owner of the White Sox from 1900 until his death in 1931, Comiskey oversaw building Comiskey Park in 1910 and winning five American League pennants (1900, 1901, 1906, 1917, 1919) and two World Series (1906, 1917). He lost popularity with his players, who eventually came to despise him. The players' animosity toward Comiskey was seen as a factor in the Black Sox scandal , when eight players on

174-644: A messenger boy, he was sent to the ballpark of the Chicago White Stockings ; when their shortstop, Frank Shugart , was injured, O'Leary was recruited on the spot, based on the recommendation of someone who knew him. His talent as a middle infielder and scrappy hitter came to the attention of Charles Comiskey , owner of the White Stockings (later the Chicago White Sox ). Though there is no independent verification, O'Leary reportedly signed briefly with

203-404: A plumber and working at construction jobs including driving a brick delivery wagon for the construction crews building the fifth Chicago City Hall, which stood from 1873 to 1885. Comiskey started his playing career as a pitcher , and moved to first base after developing arm trouble. He is credited with being the first to play hitters off of first base, allowing him to cover balls hit to more of

232-460: A year ($ 52,722 today). Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver made only $ 6,000 a year ($ 105,443 today). Eddie Cicotte had been promised a $ 10,000 ($ 175,739 today) bonus if he could win 30 games in a season. When Cicotte closed in on the 30-game goal, Comiskey had him benched to keep him from reaching the mark." Comiskey's stated reason for having manager Kid Gleason bench Cicotte was that with the Sox headed for

261-401: Is dominated by unions in blue-collar industries and state government. Since 1994, the state's largest employers—shipbuilders and paper mills—have shed nearly 4,500 workers, and job losses continue due to defense budget cuts. Due to these trends, membership in the federation dropped from 84,000 members in 1999 to 63,700 in 2005 (of which only about 50,000 were dues-paying union members). In 2006,

290-568: The Chicago Cubs under Rogers Hornsby , and with the St. Louis Browns. On September 30, 1934, several weeks shy of his 59th birthday, O'Leary was brought out of retirement by the Browns. In a pinch-hitting appearance, he singled and subsequently scored, becoming both the oldest Major League Baseball player to collect a hit and score a run . He died from peritonitis in Chicago on January 6, 1941, and

319-687: The Cincinnati Reds in the National League (1892–1894). Comiskey left Cincinnati and the majors in fall 1894 to purchase the Western League Sioux City Cornhuskers in Sioux City, Iowa and move it to Saint Paul, Minnesota , renaming the team the St. Paul Saints. He had compiled a .264 batting average with 29 home runs , 883 RBI and 419 stolen bases . As a manager, he posted an 839-542 record. After five seasons of sharing

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348-577: The St. Louis Cardinals , O'Leary became a player-manager in the minor and semi-pro leagues for several years, including in San Francisco, St. Paul, San Antonio, and Chicago, until he was offered a coaching job in 1920 by his close friend, Miller Huggins , manager of the New York Yankees . After a 17–0 victory over the Washington Senators on July 6, 1920, O'Leary was returning to New York in

377-576: The AL champions conspired to "throw" the 1919 World Series to the NL champion Cincinnati Reds . Comiskey was notoriously stingy (his defenders called him "frugal"), even forcing his players to pay to launder their own uniforms. Traci Peterson notes that, in an era when professional athletes lacked free agency, the White Sox's formidable players had little choice but to accept Comiskey's substandard wages. She writes: " Swede Risberg and Lefty Williams made less than $ 3,000

406-590: The Maine AFL–CIO is open to all member unions of the AFL–CIO. The membership meets in a general convention in odd-numbered years. The organization is governed by three executive officers (a president, vice-president and secretary-treasurer), and a 26-member board of directors. Four directors represent central labor councils, one represents the Retiree division, and one represents the Maine Women's Labor Institute. Delegates to

435-775: The Maine AFL–CIO lost another 14,000 members when unions with the Change to Win Federation disaffiliated in the wake of the formation of the rival organization. Nearly 10,000 these members belonged to the Maine State Employees Association , an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union , which represents employees in Maine's state government. Charles O%27Leary As a coach Charles Timothy O'Leary (October 15, 1875 – January 6, 1941)

464-606: The Maine labor movement for over 40 years and the Maine AFL–CIO for over 35 years. The current president is Cynthia Phinney. The Maine AFL–CIO is heavily involved in state and federal politics. It is recognized as a potent lobby in the state legislature. It is also influential in federal politics. The federation provided a critical early endorsement to Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) in his 2002 race for election to Congress. On June 22, 2010 it endorsed Libby Mitchell for governor of Maine. The Maine AFL–CIO has seen its membership decline significantly in recent years. The Maine AFL–CIO

493-602: The Old Roman ", was an American Major League Baseball player, manager and team owner. He was a key person in the formation of the American League , and was also founding owner of the Chicago White Sox . Comiskey Park , the White Sox's storied baseball stadium, was built under his guidance and named for him. Comiskey's reputation was permanently tarnished by his team's involvement in the Black Sox Scandal , although he

522-726: The Twin Cities with another Western League club in Minneapolis , Comiskey and his colleagues arranged to share Chicago with the National League , whose club (the Chicago Cubs today) played on the West Side. The St. Paul Saints moved to the South Side as the White Stockings of the renamed American League for the 1900 season (which was also the original name of the Cubs; it was eventually shortened to White Sox). The American League then declared itself

551-471: The White Sox a second straight pennant. However, he initially defended the accused players and, in an unusual display of largesse, provided them with expensive legal representation. He ultimately supported baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis ' decision to ban the implicated White Sox players from further participation in professional baseball, knowing full well that Landis' action would permanently sideline

580-482: The World Series he had to protect his star pitcher's arm (Cicotte ended up with a 29-7 record for the 1919 season). In one incident, he promised his players a bonus for winning the 1919 pennant — the "bonus" turned out to be a case of flat champagne. When the scandal broke late in the 1920 season, Comiskey suspended the suspected players, while admitting in the telegram he sent to them that he knew this action cost

609-666: The biennial convention elect the officers and directors, whose terms of office are for two years. The Maine AFL–CIO has had enormously stable leadership in the 20th century. From 1937 to 1979, the federation was led by president Benjamin Dorsky . After Dorsky's death in 1979, Charles O'Leary , then director of the Bureau of Labor Education at the University of Maine at Orono, defeated Maine AFL–CIO vice-president Marvin Ewing, 75 percent to 25 percent, in

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638-455: The core of his team. Indeed, the White Sox promptly tumbled into seventh place and would not be a factor in a pennant race again until 1936 , five years after Comiskey's death, and did not win another pennant until 1959 and the World Series until|2005}}. Comiskey is sometimes credited with the innovation of playing the first base position behind first base or inside the foul line, a practice which has since become common. Later he had played

667-478: The election for a new president. In January 1999, O'Leary retired. Gwendolyn Gatcomb, the federation's vice-president since 1974, was elected his successor. Gatcomb became the first woman to lead the Maine AFL–CIO. Gatcomb declined to seek election in the regularly scheduled election in August 1999. Edward Gorham , Maine AFL–CIO secretary-treasurer since 1977, was elected president. He retired in late 2009 after serving

696-623: The infield. He entered the American Association in 1882 with the St. Louis Brown Stockings . He managed the team during parts of its first seasons and took over full-time in 1885, leading the Browns to four consecutive American Association championships and a close second in 1889. He also played and managed for the Chicago Pirates in the Players' League (1890), the Browns again (1891), and

725-485: The team, only to have his arm broken from a pitched ball thrown by ' fireballer ' and Hall of Famer Rube Waddell . O'Leary made his major league debut on April 14, 1904, with the Tigers. He was Detroit's starting shortstop from 1904 to 1907 and became a backup shortstop and utility infielder from 1908–1912. In the off-season, O'Leary and teammate Germany Schaefer , known as one of baseball's zaniest characters, worked as

754-552: Was an American professional baseball shortstop who played eleven seasons with the Detroit Tigers (1904–1912), St. Louis Cardinals (1913), and St. Louis Browns (1934) of Major League Baseball (MLB). Born in Chicago, Illinois to Irish immigrants Timothy and Ellen O’Leary, who had 16 children (11 boys). O'Leary worked at age 16 for a clothing company and played on the company's semi-pro baseball team. In 1900, while working as

783-504: Was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston. Comiskey's son J. Louis inherited the team but died a few years later. The trustees of his estate were going to sell the team, but J. Louis' widow Grace was able to gain control of the team and avoid a sale. Her two children, Dorothy Comiskey Rigney and Charles "Chuck" Albert Comiskey II (who served in the White Sox front office in the 1940s and 1950s before he became owner), became co-owners of

812-619: Was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery . During his career, O'Leary claimed to have been born in 1882. However, in 2010, a researcher for the Society for American Baseball Research found him in the 1880 census. His draft record for World War I , which showed that he was born in 1875, was subsequently located. This made him the second-oldest Major League Baseball player to appear in a game, after Satchel Paige . Charles Comiskey As manager As Owner Charles Albert Comiskey (August 15, 1859 – October 26, 1931), nicknamed " Commy " or "

841-496: Was inducted as an executive into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939 . Comiskey was born on August 15, 1859, in Chicago , the son of Illinois politician John Comiskey . He attended public and parochial schools in Chicago, including St. Ignatius Preparatory School , and, later, St. Mary's College (in St. Mary's, Kansas ). He played baseball at St. Mary's, and played for several professional teams in Chicago while apprenticed to

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