Neat Find & Story - Holyoke Paperweights 1905 Champions Played one MLB Game

[smokelessjoe]

Hi all,

Thought I would share this little find... It was kind of neat how it panned out.

I saw this Half Dollar coin with the initials WJR for the 1905 Holyoke Champs of the Connecticut State League. I got on SABR and looked up the 1905 Holyokes and saw only one name that ended with R.... (Butch Rementer)... Well, those initials do not match :( but then I click on the name and low & behold his full name is Willis J. "Butch" Rementer!

I started searching around and found a 1905 article talking about the Holyoke Champs and the awards that were handed out that day. It mentions that each player received a watch fob... Could this be considered or used as a watch fob??????

Also, the article states that "(Old Frank) Foreman scrambled down on the field with an umbrella which the Holyoke friends of "Butch" Rementer presented." Any idea what that means? For some reason I am not understanding that sentence...?

Butch Rementer is also pictured in the T210-8 Old Mill series, which I think would make a great companion piece!
Edit: Forgot to mention that Rementer played one MLB game for the 1904 Philadelphia Phillies.


Would love to here your thoughts on this and if there are any others known. Any guess on a value for something like this?

Thank you,
Shawn

[Shoeless Moe]

Now that's finding a needle in a haystack! (on Ebay)

[steve B]

That's a great find!

I think the half could have been used as a fob, probably on a chain.

The umbrella thing as I read it is that Butch had a fan club, and the leader came out of the stands near the end of the ceremonies to give him an umberella.

Might be worth asking the seller if they had any sort of chain the half came with, or any other stuff.

Steve B

[thekingofclout]

That's a terrific find and story, Shawn! And a great job in researching it as well. What a super way to kick-off the New Year!

[smokelessjoe]

Certainly was a needle in a haystack!

Steve,
I get it now... I think your right, Rementer may have been a local favorite and was presented with the umbrella. Makes sense now :)

Thank you,

[Scott Garner]

Nice Job, Shawn!! Awesome story!!

[pariah1107]

First, great find, and follow through on the research! Always glad to see this kind of work being put in. Second, If Holyoke was like semi-pro/minor league ball games in these parts in that era, I believe the sentence about the donations were almost at an end, until the manager? went on the field with an umbrella, refers to the practice of "showering the field with silver", or change, for your favorite player, usually after he hit a big blast. A painful way to celebrate for the players for sure, but it supplemented otherwise modest paychecks. Or, it may just be an umbrella...

[smokelessjoe]

Thank you everyone for your responses.

Ty,
That is interesting... I have learned something new! I will try and see if I can find more information about some of the actual games that were played and see if Rementer played some terrific game etc. Like you said, maybe just an umbrella?

Shawn

[euclide]

I have one of these but the engraving is different, the initials match up to one of the players on the team.