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Joe_G.I have more to share about the ticket in question after spending a little time in the Library and discussing possibilities with several people. While I failed to find absolute proof indicating which game my ticket belongs to, I did collect evidence that supports it being the July 5th campaign against the New York BBC. This was the 27th played home game of the 1888 season after 4 postponed matches and a double header played the day before. In coming to this conclusion, I first had to understand how postponed and double header games were handled w.r.t. tickets.
But first, I want to digress a bit and explain why I believe this ticket doesn’t include the ever helpful information of team played and date. I suspect season ticket holders likely received their tickets in a book before the season started with extra tickets to cover postponed & rescheduled games. Notice how the 1889 International League Detroit season pass book below still includes the extra tickets for games that were never played (courtesy of Bryan Dec – an attractive piece that could be yours for the right price). I speculate that by purchasing a season ticket pass book, you earned the right to attend all home games for the year regardless of how many partial / postponed / rescheduled games there might be. That is why the tickets do not include dates or opposing team information. The playing schedule back then was simply too fluid. The season ticket holder likely attended most games and knew which ticket was required for the next game. If in doubt, call the ticket office, bring a couple tickets, or better yet, bring the whole book to the game.
Conversely, I believe the non-season pass spectators that purchased their individual tickets shortly before the game may have purchased a ticket that looks different. Their ticket might have been both dated and include the opposing team’s information. Printing tickets separately between season ticket holders and those buying for individual games would also allow a ball club to easily address the issue of highly fluctuating attendance. Detroit would sell far more tickets to games versus more popular teams like Chicago and New York, especially after the sometimes cold early season games. Perhaps more time and research will shed more light on this.
Postponed Games
As already mentioned, there were 4 postponed home games leading up to the July 5th match for which I believe the ticket belongs. In all four cases, the games were postponed before their 4:00 scheduled start with no mention in either the Detroit Free Press or The Evening News (forerunner to the Detroit News) of allowing anyone to take their seats for these contests. In each case, it was apparent a game wouldn’t be played hours before the scheduled start. The 4 postponed games are as follows:
5/8/88 against Boston – Postponed due to rain, a very wet field (nonstop rain from previous night). In fact, all National League games were postponed May 8th due to rain except for NY at Indianapolis.
5/14/88 against Philadelphia – Postponed due to freezing temperatures. About 50 people showed up by 3:30 when Harry Wright & the Detroit delegation decided to call the game and make it up later in the season.
5/18/88 against Washington – Postponed due to rain, standing water on field as of 2:00 and game was called.
6/28/88 against Chicago – Postponed due to rain. Immediately scheduled a double header for July 18th to make-up the game however that double header never occurred.
Again, had Detroit decided to seat spectators and admit them into the park, perhaps even watch an inning or two before being called by rain, then the story would be different. In this case, the ticket would have been used and the next game would use the subsequent “game #” ticket.
Double Headers
Here is an example of a frequently run ad in the local newspapers promoting ticket purchase for upcoming home games. All ads reference the same ticket office on Woodward Avenue (~1.5 miles from Recreation Park, further away than I’d expect). This particular ad is for the July 4th double header.
(On a side note, notice the pointing finger, similar to the one found on my ticket)
There was only one double header played at home before July 5th. It was the July 4th double header against NY referenced above. Initially, I thought double headers were a great treat for the fans with one ticket allowing them to enjoy two games. How very wrong I was, double headers required two tickets if you were inclined to watch both games.
The first clue comes from the fact that most double headers were scheduled with an AM & PM start of 11:00 & 4:00. In 1888, the typical game lasted approximately 2 hours which means 3 hours of dead time between games. The second clue was from looking at attendance records which sometimes indicate very different attendance for both games as referenced below.
July 4th was (and still is) a big day for baseball with many double headers scheduled. Detroit wasn’t the only scheduled July 4th double header in 1888. Chicago hosted Philadelphia for a pair of games and enjoyed 8000 fans in the morning and, after winning, drew 12,000 for the afternoon affair which they lost. Other double headers for the day saw 1500 fans in the morning contest between Boston and Indy (in Indy) and 4,000 for the afternoon contest while Pittsburgh hosted Washington with 2500 in attendance for the morning game and 4600 for the afternoon.
Going back to Detroit, the city was hoping for a repeat of two years previous when Detroit beat NY’s Keefe & Welch on a glorious July 4th double header. A good crowd of 6000 showed up for the morning match-up only to watch their home team fail on offense and lose 1-4 to Keefe. The Detroit Free Press reports that a very similar size crowd of 6000 witnessed the second game only to see Smiling Mickey Welch hold the Wolverines to the same score. The papers reported that had the Wolverines won the morning event, a larger crowd would have likely found their way to Recreation Park for the afternoon affair. Note that 6000 spectators nearly filled all available seats at Recreation Park and meant spectators were forced to start filling in the standing room beyond the outfield ropes. The newspapers were very colorful with headlines reading “RAW BEEFSTEAK PLEASE. Place it Tenderly on Detroit’s Two Lovely Black Eyes.” and “Getzien and Gruber Pitch Superbly, But the Fielding and Batting are Frightful.” Others stories talked about the fan’s dismay over Ewing and his forceful ways behind the plate, making foul ball calls long before umpire Daniels would make them and forcefully asking what was wrong with called ball pitches. In the end, Keefe & Welch returned the favor Detroit handed them two years earlier.
All of this leads to the 27th played home game for which I believe the ticket belongs. After the poor July 4th double header performance only 800-900 fans made it to the July 5th game against the same NY club. And many of those came to see the long time Detroit Pitcher, Stump Weidman, return to Recreation Park for the first time since leaving Detroit. Weidman had been with Detroit from 1881-1885 and again for a time in 1887. The small crowd witnessed a great offensive attack by both teams with Detroit taking the win 18-13 after hitting Weidman for 10 runs in the 3rd alone. A great game I’d love to see if only I had a time machine & ticket in hand.
On a side note, the July 5th contest would be the last game Sam Thompson would play for Detroit due to soreness in his right arm that had been ailing him since April (preseason). Sam’s performance was on the decline (although he was still leading the team in some offensive categories) and couldn’t make the throw from RF to home plate. The best he could muster was a weak throw to 2nd base. To address the issue, Detroit signed Count Campau who took over for Thompson in RF. A sad day for Detroit; the fans regarded a healthy Thompson as the best right fielder in the world. Thankfully, Sam would return to greatness with Philadelphia after Detroit folded.
In closing, I would like to suggest a theory why 19th century ticket stubs are scarce. I’ll do so by showing what my ticket would look like as a used ticket, a ticket stub.
As you can see, the remaining stub is not very exciting with no mention of any team, date, or even sport. This stub likely would have been discarded long ago without the basic information that would allow the collector to associate it with the game of baseball. Don’t worry, I didn’t actually separate my ticket, the above was accomplished with photo editing:) Other clubs, years, non-season pass tickets, etc. might be different, but that is how my 1888 ticket would look.
I'll keep gathering evidence as it becomes available, but for now will consider my unused ticket as being for the July 5th contest. Comments, theories, anything & everything welcome.
Best Regards,
Joe Gonsowski
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