19th Century Dan Brouthers John Clarkson Ball and Pins Game

[vintagesportflips]

Hey guys,
I wanted to share images of a piece that came up for auction at an auction house near me earlier today, and see if anyone had ever seen one before. I saw this same game in an estate auction about 8 months ago around the corner from me, and I left what I thought was a pretty decent absentee bid (I had to work), but I got blown away. Then I noticed it show up at the catalog auction of a bigger local auction house and went up for sale earlier today. I didn't win it this time either, and the final hammer price for it was $9000.00 before the commission.

The item in question was a leather ball, and 6 pins each with a different painted rendering of a baseball player on it. The leather ball was closer to the size of a softball than a baseball (it could have actually been a softball), and the ball had a little give to it when pressed. It did not have any stitching present, and the seam had more of the look of an early softball with a stitchless seam. The ball had 2 silver medallions some how attached to it, 1 on each side. One had an image of Dan Brouthers with the engraving World Champion Batter, the other an image of John Clarkson with World Champion Pitcher. I know Hunts had a game they auction several years ago called The Champion Game that had Brouthers and Clarkson on the cover (image below), but that appeared to be a spinner type game, so I am not sure if there is any connection.

I was just curious if anyone had ever seen this ball and pin game before, and as to the possible date of it. The ball doesn't look like an 1880s or early 90s ball to me, but I could definetly be wrong.