A baseball pioneer who helped build the American League Jimmy "Loafer" McAleer was a 19th Century ballplayer a major league manager and an owner who presided over the Boston Red Sox" 1912 championship team and initiated the practice of the President of the United States throwing out the first ball of the season. The 5 x 7 1/4" cabinet produced by the Meacham & Sabine studio of Youngstown Ohio pictures a young McAleer in formal attire similar to the image in his 1909 Ramly card.Sabine was born in Youngstown Ohio in 1864 and broke in as an outfielder with the 1889 Cleveland Spiders. Known for his temper internet accounts relate a story where Sabine in an 1891 game against the Cincinnati Reds was tripped by Arlie Latham while rounding third base prompting Sabine to chase Latham with a baseball bat (we pass this story along of course because we are offering an N173 Latham cabinet as part of this auction and the two would make an excellent pair). McAleer possessed excellent speed stealing 51 bases in 1891 and finishing his 13-year career with 262 stolen bases. McAleer along with Hall of Famers Cy Young John Clarkson and Jesse Burkett were members of the 1895 Championship Cleveland Spiders team.After McAleer"s playing career ended he continued as a manager joining the Cleveland Lake Shores in 1900. He became the manager of the St. Louis Browns in 1902 and joined the Washington Senators in 1909. During his early managing career he was instrumental in the development of the fledgeling American League working with his close friends Charles Comiskey and Ban Johnson to recruit players from the National League.In 1912 McAleer purchased half of the Boston Red Sox and was credited with helping assemble the championship clubs that included the outfield of Tris Speaker Harry Hooper and Duffy Lewis along with Smokey Joe Wood and Bill Carrigan. After an unfortunate dust-up with league president Ban Johnson over McAleer"s dismissal of Red Sox manager Jake Stahl (a close friend of Johnson) McAleer sold his shares in the Red Sox and retired back to Youngstown.