OT: Flippin' the Bird
 

The appellate decision offers a rich thumbnail sketch of the history and significance of the raised middle finger, one that traces possibly the first recorded use of the gesture in the United States to 1886, “when a joint baseball team photograph of the Boston Beaneaters and the New York Giants showed a Boston pitcher giving the finger to the Giants.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/ny....html?hp&_r=1&

Yep, Old Hoss Radbourn. He would repeat the gesture on his 1887 Old Judge card...

Tabe

Hilarious.

Is there a known reason why he did this?