Galbreath's Teams + Joe Wood
I've been reviewing my notes and have a couple more tidbits of info to share. Galbreath organized a team called the "Cleveland Bloomer Girls" in 1905. In July of that year he signed 12-year old pitcher, Ruth Egan, to play for him. Egan had been featured in a number of newspaper articles in the Kansas City area where Galbreath lived. Articles about the Cleveland Bloomer Girls state that Galbreath was "the former Missouri Valley League magnate." In 1906, Galbreath's team is called alternately the "Kansas City Bloomer Girls," the "National Bloomer Girls" and the "Boston Bloomer Girls." I also have information on a "Kansas City Bloomer Girls" team which was playing in 1903 but I don't think Galbreath was affiliated with that team. Interestingly, even as Galbreath's new "National Bloomer Girls" team was playing games in 1906, another "Cleveland Bloomer Girls" team was playing. A box score from one of its games lists only two female players. It seems likely this was a copy-cat team trying to capitalize on the success of other Bloomer teams like Maud Nelson's Star Bloomers, W.P. Neeham's Boston Bloomers, and Galbreath's National Bloomers which were all playing that year.
As for Joe Wood, as best I can tell, Galbreath came to Ness City with his team on August 27, 1906 and hired Wood to play the last 3 weeks of the season. Wood later recalled he had played with Egan. It appears Wood only played a very short time with Galbreath's team since other biographical information on him shows the following:
[Wood went on to play for the Hutchinson Salt Packers in 1907. That fall he signed with the American Association Kansas City Blues. He pitched 24 games for them in the 1908 season before the Boston Red Sox bought his contract. He played for Boston and Cleveland until 1922.]
If he only played with Galbreath's team for 3 weeks in 1906, it seems unlikely that the postcards discussed above depict Wood. The one showing the "National Bloomer Girls" MIGHT be Wood, but the others which were likely taken after 1906 probably don't include him unless he played part of the year with Galbreath's team before signing with the Hutchinson Salt Packers.
Ain't history fun?
Deb Shattuck
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