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 is a scorecard from a 1942 Brooklyn Bushwick - Baltimore Elite Giants game. The Bushwicks were a top-flight semi-pro team that played at Dexter Park. Though called the "Brooklyn" Bushwicks, the Dexter Park was actually in Woodhaven, Queens. The Bushwicks started around WWI and consistently attracted the best white players on the East Coast who weren't in organized ball. Over the years the Bushwicks fielded college stars, former minor leaguers and retired major league stars. Dazzy Vance, Waite Hoyt and George Earnshaw where among the big names that played for the Bushwicks. Several future Yankees players such as Whitey Ford and Marius Russo got their start with the Bushwicks as the team's manager Joe Press was an unofficial scout for the Yanks. The team was so strong that a Columbia University baseball star by the name of Lou Gehrig failed to make their roster after a tryout.
The Bushwicks were best known for their games against the best Negro League teams of the 30's and 40's, and because the Bushwicks were made up of mostly pre or former major and minor leaguers, those games are used by some historians as a valuable tool with which to attempt to gauge the level of talent found in the Negro Leagues.
This scorecard is from the Wednesday, June 24, 1942 night game against the Baltimore Elite Giants. The Elites were in the midst of a tough.pennant race with the Homestead Grays and featured a talented lineup that included Hall of Famer Roy Campanella and stars Wild Bill Wright, Larry Kimbro, Sammy T. Hughes, Pullman Porter, PeeWee Butts and Felton Snow.
The '42 Bushwicks fielded big leaguers Al Cuccinello, Bots Nekola, Wally Signor, Tony DePhillips, Ed Boland and Chuck Sheerin.
This Bushwicks scorecard is a real standout because it comes with the original mimeographed lineup sheet still paper clipped to the inside which lists both the Elite Giants and the Bushwicks rosters.
In the game, the Elites beat the Bushwicks 6-3.
Bushwicks scorecards surface every so often, but this is one of the earlier ones I've come across, and all the more special because of the mimeographed insert and Negro League connection. Usually when these surface they are beat up pretty good, but this one is in nice condition, with a stain on the front and not much edge wear.
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