My dad doesn’t seem to realize how cool this heirloom is, as it’s been sitting in a shoebox for at least a quarter century. I especially like the pillbox hat inscription. I think it’s silver but I’m not sure. Cool to know that my family has a place in American history this far back!
23 comments
Your ancestors used to play Quidditch?
Look up Cornish hurling.
This is neat, I’m just gonna Google “unknown BBC” and see what I can find out about it.
…Oh no.
Congrats to OP for polishing that unknown BBC!
For real tho I want someone who is versed in baseball history to elaborate on this artifact.
Let me call in my expert in 1800’s baseball awards to tell you that you shouldn’t have polished it like that but I’ll offer about $37
I thought polishing balls was an entirely different subreddit.
That thing is amazing!
This is beyond cool, OP. Looking forward to when more info on this drops in this thread for sure
If thats sterling silver, you shouldn’t polish it.
I remember that tournament well. I was a young buck back then
that’s cool af
Ok, we (I) really need to know more about this. League and team? I’m not recognizing any MLB anything.
It could be a factory team from Lancaster, PA or a AA team from Toledo.
I don’t think polishing hurts this too much because this is a 1-of-1 piece.
With all the new found shine, I can’t make out the words on most of the pics. Maybe somebody can translate?
It’d be really cool if OP reached out to some historians on this, there can’t be many of these things in existence.
(Pic #6) I know Jon Heyman has been in the game for a while but damn.
What’s an Ancestor’s Baseball Award? Strange name for an award. Especially one given out so early in the game’s history.
Albert G. Flournoy? Hard to make out.
There are several Flournoys on [baseball-reference.com](http://baseball-reference.com) but seemingly not this fellow.
This is so cool!
I actually play and teach 19th century baseball, but i am unfamiliar with this team. Going to reach out to a few colleagues and see if I can find anything out.
Here’s another reference to an “Unknown Base Ball Club” from the 1860s, but not in Chicago, and seemingly a team made up of “Anglo-Africans”.
Googling around it seems like “Unknown” was a common shorthand for either pickup teams or an interim naming convention. There are multiple newspaper stories that report games with a team referred to as the “Unknowns” but they are widely distributed across the entire country.
This link includes a citation to the organizing officers, and the organizing officers of these theoretical Chicago Unknowns are listed right there on the silver, so this might very well be discoverable! Good luck!
[https://ourgame.mlblogs.com/blood-and-base-ball-part-2-444ae2f90d8e?gi=8555fc2db91e](https://ourgame.mlblogs.com/blood-and-base-ball-part-2-444ae2f90d8e?gi=8555fc2db91e)
This is so awesome OP!
That’s sick
Cool as shit.