[T206Jim]

Many of you were astute enough the find the embedded clue, others recognized the pose and and a few others.... well it was all in good fun and spirit!

Time for this episode of RPPC Mystery Theater. Here is the story. The image comes from one of a pair of 1913 RPPCs from the August 26, 1913 Cincinnati Reds at New York Giants game at the Polo Grounds.

Polo Grounds RPPC.jpg Matty 1913 RPPC front.jpg

Given the vantage point and the alignment of the straw hats is is obvious the RPPCs are from the same game. For the Who, What, When and Where we turn to our trusty allies the scoreboards, newspapers.com and a couple of contemporary photos.

Here are two known photos of the Polo Grounds, dated on the negatives themselves from the Bain Collection at the Library of Congress. The first from the 1913 World Series at the Polo Grounds with ads on the wall that match exactly with our RPPCs. The second shows the 1913 Carlisle-Dartmouth football game with matching ads as well. The massive right field flag in our RPPC is a clear match for the Polo Grounds.

Polo Grounds 1913 World Series.jpg Polo Grounds 1913 Dartmouth.jpg

This establishes the year, the scoreboards will confirm this and give us the exact date and game details. The scoreboards are a little clearer in person with a loupe magnifier than these enlarged photos.

Dark uniform pitcher RPPC scoreboard.

Scoreboard Johnson.jpg

Light uniform pitcher RPPC scoreboard.

Scoreboard Mathewson.jpg

The details are the same on each scoreboard except the first one is clearly in the bottom of the 3rd and the second is in the top of the 1st (During this era the home team at the ballpark where the game was being played on their scoreboard was listed on the top whereas in the other league games on the scoreboard other home teams were listed on the bottom). The matchups when magnified from the RPPCs show that the four games being played that day are Cincinnati at New York (our game), Chicago at Brooklynn, Pittsburg at Boston and St. Louis at Philadelphia. The only game with runs scored is the one in which St. Louis has scored three runs in the 1st inning at Philadelphia. The bottom right advertises that Cincinnati is “Here Tomorrow”. Checking 1913 box scores when these teams all played each other shows that the only date where St. Louis scored 3 runs in the 1st and Cincinnati played at New York the next day was August 26, 1913. Here is that box score.

Box score.jpg NYT clipping 4th inning.jpg

The scoreboard shows that in the 1st RPPC it is the bottom of the third with the Giants at bat with 2 outs and the 2nd batter in the lineup at bat (Note the “2” batter for NY being moved to the middle “A.B.” column). The “2” batter was the shortstop Art Fletcher. We know the “3” batter, 3rd baseman Tillie Shafer, lead off the 4th with a single according to the August 27th New York Times game report. We can therefore assume Fletcher is in the process of flying out to right for the final out of the 3rd. That places Fletcher running from the plate to first, Shafer on deck, Chief Johnson on the mound watching the fly to right, Johnny Kling behind the plate and Hall of Famer Joe Tinker at shortstop based on the box score.

In the second RPPC, the game is in the top of the 1st with two outs with the fourth slot batter at the plate. Based on the game report in the August 27, 1913 The Sun and the box score we know Bescher was thrown out at second trying to steal for the first out, Bates flew out for the second out, Groh had an infield single and that Marsans the fourth slot batter flew out for the final out. Our shot must show Mathewson on the mound checking Groh at first before delivering the pitch to Marsans at the plate.

The_Sun_Wed__Aug_27__1913_ 1st inning play by play.jpg

It is fascinating to see Christy Mathewson on the mound mimicking his classic T3 pose checking the runner at first base before beginning his windup.

Mathewson crop.jpg