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Albert M. Frey: the First American Pool Shark
Who was the first pool shark? Much depends on how we define the terms
"pool" and "shark." But I think a good case can be made for Albert "Peter Pan"
Frey. Also known as "The Magical Boy," "The Boy Wonder," "The Boy Expert" and "The Blonde Boy," Albert Frey was the
first American pool shark, in my opinion, because he dominated the earliest
American pool games: fifteen-ball, 61-pool, continuous pool, straight pool and
eight-ball (the latter was then called "pyramid" because of the shape of the
balls when they were racked). The only reason Frey didn't dominate nine-ball as well is that he died
prematurely in 1890, and the game was not invented until the 1920s. Frey was the
first master of cue ball position, or "playing shape," so there is little doubt
that he would have dominated nine-ball, since it puts a premium on cue ball
control.― Michael R. Burch
The father of American billiards is almost without question Michael Phelan. But
when he was winning championship and big
stakes matches, the game being played was carom billiards, not pocket billiards.
In carom billiards, the goal is not to pocket balls, but to make one ball touch
another ball. Carom billiards games often became mind-numbingly boring affairs in which
players would "run" hundreds or thousands of balls by barely nudging them,
"nursing" them along rails, or making them rock slightly in "anchored"
positions. Understandably, audiences soon grew weary of watching such tedious matches.
Therefore in the late 1800s and early 1900s new games were invented, in which the goal was
to pocket balls. These games were the forerunners of what we call "pool" today.
So if we are going to identify the first pool shark, we need to look
at the earliest forms of pool, and figure out who was winning the most loot, and
"sharking" the other players. If you're a fan of carom billiards, I will gladly
concede that Michael Phelan was the first American master. But I don't think he was
the first American pool shark, because he wasn't running the table by pocketing
balls. Albert Frey won
the first American eight ball tournament (then called "pyramid"), the first American straight
pool tournament (then called "continuous pool"), and the first American
tournament in which the ball and pocket were called. Furthermore, according to Phelan
himself, Frey was "almost invariably winning" matches against the top pros when
he was in his prime. How good was Frey? He burst onto the pool/billiards scene
at age seventeen in 1880. Within a year, and for the next decade, he would
dominate pocket billiards. Even when he was very ill toward the end of his life,
after having been instructed not to play by his physician, he was still beating
the best players in the world more often than not. So he was the first American pool shark, in my book, for
whatever that's worth.
Now let me define what I mean by "shark." Someone who "sharks" other players
goes beyond just beating them. He hustles them. He embarrasses them into playing
games they should have avoided, then takes their money. When the chips are down,
he makes shots that should be unmakeable, and in the end the other players can't
help shaking their heads, wondering how the hell he did it. Albert Frey certainly
fits that description, as we can see by consulting the Chronology below ...
San Francisco Call, Volume 68, Number 141, 19 October 1890: Charles H. Manning,
who is now recognized the champion player of America, was recently interviewed
by a representative of the New York Herald in relation to the game. To
be a successful player, said Mr. Manning, a man must combine natural
adaptability to the game with steady, untiring practice. Some are fine players,
because they are naturally adapted to it, while others are experts, because by
conscientious practice they have mastered the mechanics of the game. An
illustration of the born player was the late champion, Albert M. Frey. Frey was
an originator where others were merely imitators. He was a man who needed very
little practice to prepare for a match. Where Frey would practice two hours a
day, it would be necessary for some men to play six or seven. When I first met
Frey, I was electrified by his marvelous intuition. He would seem to grasp the
idea of a combination or intricate shot with greater perceptiveness and ease
than anyone I have seen before or since.
In other words, Albert Frey was a "natural."
Timeline of Billiards and Pool
1099: According to Michael Phelan's The Game of Billiards, the sport
was introduced to Europe by Knights Templar returning from the First Crusade.
1300: Medieval illustrations depict "ground billiards," a lawn game related to croquet and golf.
Rich enthusiasts would soon move the game indoors, perhaps due to miserable
European winters.
1470: Records show that King Louis XI of France purchased a billiard table; it
had a single hole at the center, like an indoor putting green.
A "mace" was used to push the balls. It was a crooked stick with a
sizeable head, like a golf club, and a slender cue ("tail") used when balls were
too close to rails to employ the bulky mace head.
1564: Shakespeare (1564-1616) makes numerous references to billiards in his
plays. (Phelan)
1587: Mary, Queen of Scots, complains that her captors have deprived her of her
billiard table at Fotheringay Castle, just before her beheading.
1605: King James I of England orders a table to be made by "Henry Waller, our
joyner."
1737: According to H. Savile Clarke, the Earl of Chesterfield is hustled by a
"notorious gamester" called Lookout. (The first pool shark?)
1776: George Washington records his gambling winnings; Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton
and Lafayette also play billiards.
1792: Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette play billiards on the eve of their
imprisonment. Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington are also enthusiasts.
1807: Captain François Mingaud is released from prison and demonstrates
the "draw" backspin possible with his invention: the leather cue tip.
1819: Michael Phelan, the
father of American billiards, is born; at this time
backwards Americans use the mace almost exclusively, but in England the cue
rules.
The Dutch Baron is a
"gentleman of the green cloth" who played "poorly" until it mattered, but at
important points won "as if by accident." (The second pool shark?)
1825: John Carr introduces chalk to billiards then becomes the first
English "road player" when he travels to Spain and robs all comers.
1854: The first American public stakes match on record, for $200, is held in Syracuse,
NY, between Joseph N. White and George Smith.
1858: Michael Phelan defeats John Seereiter, claiming the first American
billiards title and $15,000. Side bets are estimated at a quarter million
dollars, real money back then!
1860: The first college billiards match:
Harvard vs. Yale; the first pro match at Phelan's
billiard hall; position play was "unknown even to the best of
them" but Albert Frey would soon change that.
1863: Albert M. Frey is born in New York to German parents, according to
his obituary in The New York Herald
(April 26, 1889).
The first pro championship on a four-pocket table is held at Irving
Hall, NYC. Dudley Kavanagh wins over Louis Fox and John Deery. Deery runs 313
balls by "jawing."
1865: Abraham Lincoln is a self-confessed "billiards addict." On April 13, John Wilkes Booth, another pool enthusiast,
gets loaded at
Deery's Billiard Saloon before shooting Lincoln.
1867: Joseph Dion runs 616 balls vs. John McDevitt, using a "jawing"
technique. This led to the barring
of "jawing."
1868:
John McDevitt runs 1,483 billiards (unfinished), then
runs
1,458 and averages 166.67 vs. Joseph Dion in Chicago on Sept. 16,
1868. Such huge runs led to the barring of the push stroke.
According to
Michael Phelan, "The old style of game came thus to an end." But a new game was
just starting to take off ...
1869: Snooker is invented by bored British army officers in India, one
of them being future prime minister Neville Chamberlain.
1871: John McDevitt perishes in the Great Chicago Fire. Michael Phelan dies from exposure suffered while saving his grandson from drowning.
1874: Wild Bill Hickok pistol whips seven thugs who try to prevent him from
entering Chicago's St. James Hotel to play billiards.
1876: Mark Twain and Bret Harte write a play in the billiard room of Twain's
Connecticut home. Twain is a self-confessed billiard nut.
Cyrille Dion beats A. P. Rudolphe with runs of 141,
177, 114, 216, 99 and 228. The Times calls
the game boring, predicts disaster. But Albert Frey will soon bring real excitement.
1877: Fourteen-year-old Albert Frey is employed by William "The
Comanche" Sexton in his Bowery pool hall.
1878: The first American pool
tournament (fifteen-ball pool aka "61 pool") is won by a Canadian, Cyrille Dion.
Ah, the irony!
1879: Jake Schaefer Sr. scores 690 points in one inning of a straight rail match
and is hailed as "The Wizard." The "champion's game" counteracts rail nursing,
but Schaefer
develops the reverse rail nurse technique.
1880: Maurice Vignaux, playing straight rail, runs 1,531 balls against George F. Slosson,
who runs 1,103. Maurice Daly observed: "Such work put straight rail billiards to sleep as a competitive test for
professionals."
Albert M. Frey,
the teenage "boy wonder" and darling of the gambling crowds, makes his public
debut on Dec. 30, 1880.
This is in a tournament preliminary to the upcoming world fifteen-ball
championship, with the winners advancing; the tournament takes
place in the amphitheatre of Connor's Union-Square Billiard Hall.
According to The New
York Times, Albert Frey's "precocious skill" has already given him "quite a
reputation in local billiard circles."
Frey was around 17 in 1880, but probably looked much younger; Frey was also apparently
very short, being "very little taller than a pool table." (TNYT March 27, 1887)
In his first match, Frey
defeats Leslie E. Slosson, the brother of George F. Slosson; other contestants include
Charles Schaefer (the brother of Jake Schaefer Sr.), Joseph King, Otis Field and
Frank Smith.
1881: On Jan. 5, 1881 the preliminary tournament concludes with Charles Schaefer
first and Albert Frey a very surprising second.
Albert Frey was coached
by his brother, George Frey, who promised that Albert "would hereafter play to
win at all times."
It seems that during
Albert Frey's game with an overmatched Otis Field, he may have "slowed down" and
came close to be being barred from the championship.
Charles Schaefer, Albert
Frey, Otis Field and Joseph King advance to compete with the top pros for the
national championship.
On Jan. 15, 1881 the
national championship concludes with Gotthard "The Swedish Phenomenon" Wahlstrom
first, Samuel Knight second, Albert Frey third.
Other contestants in
their order of finish were Joseph King, Thomas Wallace, Albert Lambert, Jake
Schaefer Sr., Charles Schaefer, Otis Field.
On Feb. 7, 1881, Albert
M. Frey creates "wild excitement" with his daring play as he defeats ex-champion
Alonzo Morris Jr. 21-20.
On Feb. 25, 1881, Albert
M. Frey openly challenges Morris to play him "in any public hall in New-York
City" for $250 to $1,000 a side.
The May 7, 1881 edition
of the New York Clipper contains a challenge by boy wonder Albert M.
Frey for the fifteen-ball championship.
Gotthard "The Swede" Wahlstrom
remains the world fifteen-ball champion, twice beating Albert M. Frey head-up in
the championship tournament.
Frey the "boy expert"
(TNYT) tied with Joseph King and Alonzo Morris Jr., then beat them both head-up
in playoff matches to finish second.
Frey went to the table
"smiling and confident" to beat King. Spectators "rejoiced at the little
fellow's success."
Frey then defeated Morris
11-9 with "dazzling" play and "great brilliancy and daring" that included a massé
combination shot involving four balls. (TNYT)
Frey "often looked up at
Morris in a roguish way when he had a difficult shot, and then with a laugh drew
back the cue and sent the ball whizzing into the pocket."
Frey's "unusually
brilliant play" and "making an astonishing variety of the most difficult shots"
had spectators cheering him on, and eating up his act.
During Frey's 11-5 upset
victory over heavily favored Jake Schaefer Sr., the
referee, ex-champion Samuel Knight, "frequently made admiring remarks
about the lad's play." (TNYT)
1882: Albert M. Frey, the "boy
expert" defeats Samuel F. Knight on March 8, winning $1,000 with crowd-exciting
long shots from difficult positions.
Alfred M. Frey wins the
First Tournament at Pyramid (Eight-Ball) at Republican Hall, NYC, May 3-17,
1882.
John Dankleman finishes
second, George Sutton third (his debut) and Jacob Schaefer Sr. and Thomas
Wallace tie for fourth.
Albert
M. Frey is the world fifteen-ball champion from 1882-1883.
1883: An 8-inch balkline is implemented, in an attempt to counteract nursing
techniques.
This led to the
development of the anchor nurse technique by Jake Schaefer Sr., Frank C. Ives,
and others.
George F. Slosson,
cushion carom billiards, runs 38 balls, a new high run that will stand for 50
years.
1884: The first
Call-Ball-and-Pocket Tournament is held in Syracuse, NY. At this point, Albert M. Frey is
"almost invariably winning" (Phelan).
James Louis Malone wins the
Third National 15-Ball Championship at Music Square Hall, NYC, over Albert M.
Frey and Joseph T. King.
The last "champion's
game" public match is played.
1885: Cap Anson, the major
league baseball hall-of-famer, beats professional Frank Parker 500-364 in a
match in Chicago on March 25, 1885.
James L. Malone
challenges Albert M. Frey to play a championship match for $500 a side, and Frey
confidently offers to double the stakes.
1886: Albert M. Frey wins the 61-pool championship and defends it successfully
three times in 1886-1887 against James L. Malone.
According to an article
in The New York Times about one of the matches, Malone seemed nervous
while Frey "wore a confident smile."
In one of the matches the
applause was so loud that the massive table shook, and Frey's fans were
"electrified" by his "dash and nerve."
In the 1887 match, Frey
doubled the score on Malone, winning 80 games to 40, and taking 14 of 15 games
in one stretch.
1887: Albert M. Fry retains the championship emblem by defeating Alfredo de Oro
11-10, then J. L. Malone in the finals 11-8.
James L. Malone becomes the world fifteen-ball champion, defeating Albert
M. Frey in a match at Maurice Daly's Brooklyn billiard hall in May 1887.
Malone and Frey played so
well that they "wrought the spectators into a great state of excitement,"
according to The New York Times.
Alfredo de Oro of Cuba wins the first of 41 world titles. According to
Billiards Digest, Alfredo de Oro is the #4 pool/billiards player of the
20th century.
Alfredo "Balbo" de Oro's first world
title is in fifteen-ball (61 pool), over James L. Malone.
According to "Banker"
John C. Horgan, the three stars of this era were James L. Malone, Alfredo de Oro
and Albert M. Frey.
The first "continuous pool" tournament is held
at Daly's in Brooklyn and is won by Albert M.
Frey.
Continuous pool is also called
"fifteen-ball" and "fifteen-ball continuous pool."
Continuous pool would
evolve into 14.1 continuous pool, which is the modern game known as straight
pool.
In continuous pool, every
ball is worth a single point and the game is played continuously until a numeric
goal is reached, such as 150 points.
In an article before the
event, TNYT says that Frey is the favorite in the betting, and that new rules
will hopefully "do away with tiresome safety play."
The contestants included
Frey, Malone, de Oro, Albert Powers, Charles Manning, Samuel Knight and Daniel
Lawlor.
According to de Oro,
continuous pool was suggested by an Englishman who offered to put up $200 if
each ball would count only one point.
Malone confirmed de Oro's
account, saying that a match in which Frey beat him while pocketing 39 fewer
balls prompted the new rules.
The rule change was
prompted after Frey beat Malone while pocketing few balls, but Frey then beat
Malone again under the new rules.
A TNYT article dated Dec.
30, 1887 says that Albert Frey originated the game of continuous pool and named
it.
An 1887 World Champions
trading card lists two pool players, Albert Frey and J. L. Malone, in the august
company of Cap Anson, Jack Dempsey and John L. Sullivan.
1888: Vincent Van Gogh paints Night Cafe in Arles with a billiard table as the
central feature.
Albert M. Frey trounces
James L. Malone in a championship match held at Maurice Daly's pool room in
Brooklyn on Feb. 11, 1888.
Malone, however, insists
that Frey forfeited by not showing up on time for the match and plays under
protest.
Alfredo de Oro is
the world fifteen-ball champion, defeating James L. Malone in Feb. 1888.
Frank
Powers is the world continuous pool champion.
Albert M. Frey purchases
Daly's pool hall at 234 Broadway. His brother George Frey serves as the
superintendent.
A bio for young hotshot
Albert G. Powers says that he has defeated all players except Frey and will bet
$500 against anyone, except Frey.
1889: Contestants for the world continuous pool championship are
Frey, Malone, de Oro, Manning, King and
hotshot newcomer William Clearwater.
Albert M. Frey defeats
"young" Powers, confirming his fears, by a score of 100-77, at Hardman Hall, NY,
on Feb. 26, 1889.
Albert M. Frey defeats
Charles H. Manning, 102-51, doubling Manning's score, at Hardman Hall, NY, on
Feb. 27, 1889.
Albert M. Frey loses to
Alfredo de Oro, 103-87, at Hardman Hall, NY, on March 1, 1889.
The loss came as a
surprise to Frey's fans, who considered him to be "almost invincible" according
to an article in The New York Clipper (March 9, 1889)
This is confirmed by an
article written by Michael Phelan, the father of American billiards, who said
that Frey was "almost invariably" winning his matches.
It is worth noting that
by this time Frey was approaching his death and had been advised by his
physician not to play pool.
Albert M. Frey defeats
William Clearwater, 105-61, at Hardman Hall, NY, on March 1, 1889.
Albert M. Frey defeats
James L. Malone, 103-91, at Hardman Hall, NY, on March 2, 1889.
Frey ran the first rack
in the "quick and impetuous style peculiar to him" and ran the last rack to win.
(TNYC, March 9, 1889).
Albert M.
Frey wins the world continuous pool championship in playoff matches held March
11-16 at Daly's Assembly Rooms in
Brooklyn.
Frey defeats James L.
Malone 158-127 in 19 innings then overwhelms his other main rival, Alfredo de
Oro, by a score of 168-98 on March 14, 1889.
According to a March 29,
1889 article in The New York Times, Frey was 28 at the time of the
tournament, but looked much younger.
Albert Abrahamson, the
chief clerk of the Green Hotel's billiard room, refused to let Frey enter at
first, not believing he could be 21.
Albert M. Frey wins a match 125-105 against Alfredo de Oro at the Union
League Annex in Philadelphia on March 27, 1889.
After the match, Frey
does a "fancy shot" or trick shot exhibition.
A reporter says that Frey
"plays a quick game, but every shot is as sure as the course of a bullet." (Philadelphia
Times)
The same reporter notes
the marked contrast between the tall, dark mustachioed de Oro, and the short,
fair, boyish-looking Frey.
Frey dies
suddenly of pneumonia on Apr. 25, 1889, leaving the title vacant.
Albert M. Frey was
"widely known as the champion pool player of America," according to his obit in
The New York Times.
According to the Rome
Daily Sentinel, Frey was a master of combinations and positioning the cue
ball (playing shape). Before Frey, playing shape was virtually unknown.
Frey's pallbearers
included his fellow billiardists Harry Mount, Joseph King, Charles Manning and
James Malone.
Malone had
a crown delivered to the funeral, a touching tribute since he had been
Frey's greatest and most determined obstacle to the crown.
George F. Slosson and
William Cavanaugh also paid their respects, as did John D. O'Conner and Edward
Glover of Brunswick-Balke.
1890: According to an article in The Sporting Life (Nov. 15, 1890), "more than
anyone else" Albert Frey was instrumental in continuous pool being adopted by
the pros.
Straight pool, or 14.1
continuous pool, became the American game of pool champions like Ralph
Greenleaf, Willie Mosconi, Irving Crane and Jimmy Caras.
But long before they ever
picked up cues, it was the game of Albert M. Frey, and he dominated it like no
other before him, or since.
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