I'm in the process of selling off some of my scorecard collection to clear space, and I thought I would share some of the more interesting ones.
This first one is a 1944 Puebla vs. Mexico City. In the mid-1940's the Mexican League was trying to become a third major league, and recruited countless Negro League stars such as Roy Campanella, Leon Day, Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige in addition to the best Cuban and Puerto Rican players. Backed by the millionaire importer/exporter Pasquel brothers, the Mexican League went over the top in 1946 when they lured away several Major League players like Max Lanier, Mickey Owen, Sal Maglie and Vern Stephens.
The cover of this 1944 scorecard has a great drawing of Mexico City's ace pitcher Leroy Matlock. Matlock was one of the starters for the great 1933-1936 Pittsburgh Crawfords team as well as the Homestead Grays and St. Louis Stars. Though he's forgotten today, he was named as one of the Negro Leagues' all-time best pitchers in 1954 Pittsburgh Courier's newspaper poll. Matlock went to Mexico in 1940 and played there for the next two seasons before retiring.
Among the stars playing in this 1944 game were Negro Leaguer's Wild Bill Wright, Theolic "Fireball" Smith and Hall of Famer Willie Wells along with Latin standouts Millito Navarro and Bobby Avila in just his second summer of pro ball.
You might recall Theolic "Fireball" Smith as the hero of the fun 1996 Mark Winegardner book "Veracruz Blues," a fictional retelling of the 1946 Mexican League season.
The original owner pasted in a box score of the game, which was won by Puebla 7-2.
The scorecard is printed on a rough, heavy cardstock. Front has some writing in pencil and the back has a bit of damage from where it was pasted in an album. I've only seen a handful of 1940's Mexican League scorecards and this is the only 1944 one I've come across. Rare? That's an understatement.
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