Just got referred here from the memorabilia forum. Recently acquired what appears to be a partial set of 7 Victorian Baseball Paper Dolls. They came to us with a fantastic collection of 1870's and 1880's Chromolithograph Paper Dolls (most by McLoughlin Bros.). These Baseball Paper Dolls however are the only Dolls in the collection that are not your typical "Girl's" Paper Dressing Dolls and they have thrown us for a loop.
They are blank backed and printed on a very light weight card stock. My first thought looking at them was that they were from the 1910's but the uniforms and the fact that none of the players are wearing gloves is more consistent with the 1880's. The uniforms all say "Detroit" and the uniforms are identical in style to those worn by the 1887 Detroit Wolverines of the National League. There was a note with the group in the collection that seems to imply that there may have been 23 Paper Dolls in the original set but there are only 7 present.
The source seems to confirm the belief that these are 19th century issues. That same source might point to McLoughlin as the publisher. I think the best guess is that these were "Paper Dolls" and nothing more (not a part of a game) - they are not die cut but rather hand cut and were likely issued either as a Paper Doll Book or as sheets of figures. Anyone know what examples have sold for in the past?
One other note - on the back of each Player there is what appears to be a period pencil inscription that seems to have been written by a child. Each figure has a “position” (such as “right field”, “catcher”, “shortstop”) and the name of the Detroit Tiger who played that position ca1910. Inscriptions include “right field / Cobb”; “utility / O’Leary”; “pitcher / Donovan”; “left field / Crawford”; etc. We are unsure if these notations were added some years after the Paper Dolls were manufactured or if perhaps the Dolls WERE published ca1910.