FS 1868 Ontarios of Oswego NY CDV-SOLD

[GaryPassamonte]

The Ontarios of Oswego were one of the prominent early base ball clubs of western and central New York. For sale is an 1868 image of this team. Interestingly, the player seated bottom right is named George Coohen. I've been unable to locate the surname Coohen, but there are plenty of Cohens. This leaves us with the possibility that Coohen is in fact Jewish, making this one of the earliest images with a Jewish ballplayer. Some interesting bats in this one, also. This cdv is probably unique. $1725. OBO PP.

Coohen is Cooper and not Jewish. See post below.

Please email me at garypass57@yahoo.com for larger scans.

[Leon]

a little bigger pics....great cdv...

[GaryPassamonte]

Thank you to Judson Hamlin for clarifying the identity of our George Coohen. His real last name was Cooper and he was not Jewish. Judson pointed me to "Baseball Pioneers 1850-1870". Fortunately, I had the book. Peter Morris wrote a nice piece on the Ontarios. They were, as I previously said, one of the better teams of western and central New York. They were founded in 1859. The 1868 team was the winner of a gold ball match against the Central City Club of Syracuse. Over the next couple years the Ontarios would play matches against the Eckfords of Brooklyn, Niagaras of Buffalo, Alerts of Rochester, Olympics of Washington, White Stockings of Chicago, and Red Stockings of Cincinnati. They would not win any of these contests, but nontheless were deemed good enough to play these national powers. I believe the Ontarios would cease play as the amateur era came to a close.

[GaryPassamonte]

I've had a couple offers, but not quite there yet. This is not a low level team. The Ontarios played top flight competition in the 1860s.

[GaryPassamonte]

$1725

[Old Hoss]

Gary,

I just emailed you about this one. Please hold it for me at that price.

Thanks,
Charles

[GaryPassamonte]

Thanks, Charles. Sale Pending.

[GaryPassamonte]

Sold