JSA Deacon McGuire Autograph on a 1877 Scorecard Assist
 

Requesting a little assistance regarding a very unique item I recently acquired. It is a JSA certified autograph of James Deacon Mcguire on a Spalding scorecard and features the box score of the 1900 Philadelphia Phillies.

The scorecard really intrigues me, as it is clearly marked "Entered by an Act of Congress in 1877". From my limited research capabilities, I know that Spalding issued the first scorecards and record books in 1877. However, I have been unable to find an example of a scorecard from that period. I'm assuming it is possible this scorecard was issued in 1877 but wasn't used until this game was played in 1900 or 1901. The scorecard is on very thin paper stock and may have been in one of the record books from Spalding.

The second thing that intrigues me is the game. It evidently featured the 1900 or 1901 Philadelphia Phillies as it contains the following players that were member of the Phillies during that period; Elmer Flick, Ed Delahanty, Joe Dolan, Jimmy Slagle, Harry Wolverton, and Al Worth. The problem is that it also lists Bones Ely who was playing for the Athletics and a gentleman named Sheig as the catcher. Bones Ely is understandable because he was in Philadelphia also, although with the Athletics but there is somewhat of a link. Sheig I have no idea.

McGuire was playing for the Superbras from 1899-1901. This could mean the game was between the Phillies and Superbras due to the scorecard containing the autograph of McGuire.

I don't specialize in pre-war as my interests lie with post war pre 1970. So I'm requesting assistance on what the forum thinks. I'm especially interested to hear from scorecard experts that may have an opinion if this scorecard is an original from 1877.

Thanks to everyone in advance.

Unfortunately I can't answer any of your questions, but another neat thing is that it lists the umpire as Hall of Famer Hank O'Day, who umpired in the NL from 1895-1927.

Neat item!

Hi-

The item you have is a page from a bound Spalding scorebook that was taken apart. I think that notation was used for scorebooks with copyrights through the 1890s. I have a couple of intact scorebooks from the 1860s in my collection.

Alan

Thanks to both Alan and Rob for your responses.

Regarding Alan's observation, I have seen Spalding scorecards from the 1890s but none have the notation about Congress at the bottom. Just somehow makes me believe this sheet may be from 1877, but may be just wishful thinking on my part.

I owned that scorebook for years. It was from Deacon McGuire's estate. It was a 1900-01 scorebook and the 1877 date is just when that style scorebook was copyrighted. They used the '1877' book for decades.

It is sad it got broken up, it had so many great games in there and it was a fantastic piece of history.

Jim, you mention a player by the name of Al Worth. I believe you meant to say Al Orth, the pitcher who had a 20-12 record with the Phillies in 1901, his last of 7 years with this team.

There was a catcher named Gerry on the York (Pennsylvania) YMCA team in 1900, and another player on that team named Ely. I think that "Sheig" may actually be "Ghery", a mis-spelling of Gerry's name. (A capital G in cursive writing can look similar to a capital S, and look at how the y in Delahanty looks like a g and the r in Wolverton looks like an i.) I suspect this scoresheet may be from an exhibition game that featured players from the Phillies, and that Gerry and (not Bones) Ely filled in for Philadelphia players that did not participate.

These are excellent suggestions. Still, it would be strange to bat "Sheig" 5th in the order if he came from the York team--or from ANY minor league for that matter.

I greatly appreciate the response and obtain some provenance on from where it came. It's sad the book was broken up, but I'm very glad to possess the card.

Val, thanks and you're right - I meant to type Orth.

Also appreciate everyone's take on the game, who played in it, etc.

In recent months I have been able to stumble into some pretty neat scorecards that have made me appreciate them a lot more than in the past.