Please help identify this 19th C. team image.

[orator1]

Does anybody have any info about this image?
It appears to be 19th century.

- is it a generic image or an illustration of a specific team?
- if it's a specific team, which one and what year?
- in which publication was this published?

Thanks!

[barrysloate]

The book was called "Our National Game" and was nothing more than a Victorian scrapbook. It included six color illustrations similar to the one you posted, as well as mostly blank pages which were used to glue in Victorian diecuts. Often the albums are found today filled with these diecuts.

As far as identifying the team it may be based on a real ballclub, but the players are drawn so generically it's impossible to know who they are.

EDited to add I think it was published in 1887.

[orator1]

Thanks for the info Barry.
I think the uniforms look similar to the 1886 NY Giants uniforms.
If the book was published in 1887 this could be a possibility.

If it is the Giants, I'd like to see if I can identify any of the players.
If someone has a better resolution image of "Our National Game" please post it.
Thanks.

[jbsports33]

There should be other examples out there to compare and give you more info. I have seen them for sale recently. Many times you see a few sheets, but a complete album can be difficult to find. Dealers seem to split them up to sell the sheets separate.

Jimmy

[Fred]

Must have been the same artist that did the Gold Coins (N284s).

[fkw]

That Victorian Scrapbook is seen on eBay from time to time, sometimes complete, sometimes as individual pages removed from the originally blank album.

Usually found just like any Victorian album, with tradecards and scraps glued onto the blank pages.

Nice display piece.

[bcbgcbrcb]

Just a guess but the player all the way on the left - Keefe, the player all the way on the right - Ewing, the player next to Ewing with cather's gear - O'Rourke, manager in the center - Mutrie, player holding the bat horizontally - Welch, one of the other players with the mustaches could be Connor (maybe the one that I identified as Keefe)?

[barrysloate]

This image very well could be based upon a known major league team, and the Giants would surely be a likely candidate. The artist even went to the trouble of making the third player from the left shorter, so if there is a Giants player who didn't have a mustache and is relatively short, that would be a clue. But the likenesses are poorly executed and too generic to do an accurate identification.

[orator1]

After some further searching I found that scp auctions sold this Victorian album in July 2009. The one they sold was intact with all 6 images.
The resolution is good so you can get a close look at them.

http://www.scpauctions.com/scpauctions/LotDetail.cfm?Lot_ID=16753

Phil, I also noticed some resemblances to Giants players.
The one in the catcher's uniform does look a lot like O'Rourke, and the manager sitting down could certainly be Mutrie.

Doing a google search on the album's manufacturer - Liebenroth, Von Auw - turns up an address of Franklin St in New York.

It seems likely that the team represented is the 1886 New York Giants due to the nearly identical uniforms, player resemblances, copyright date of 1887, and the album being manufactured in New York.