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Posted By: Anonymous

Thought that these images would be interesting. As you can see Esterbrook is still wearing his Giant shirt (see Dorgan vs Mays) when he posed for his Met picture (Mets have no hats, Giants have hats for K-Bats)so the photo session at the Jos Wood studio (see cabinet) was probably shortly after he joined the Mets. If the Old Judge spotted ties were issued after this I would guess that they would have included this Esterbrook image in the group. The fact that Esterbrook does not have a spotted tie suggests that they were issued prior to this; I would guess some time early in the fourth quarter of 1886. My guess is that the Mets Kalamazoo Bats were issued in late-1886, possibly early 1887. All of the Giants K-Bats could not have been issued prior to this or Esterbrook would have had a Giants card. Whether the issue was spread out over 1886 (and possibly into 1887) we may never know, but the Corcoran card (he last played for the Giants in 1885) makes you wonder.





edited scan size