Hi guys,
Dan and I did discuss whether the guy in the front row was Wood. I don't remember the details of the quick search I did on it, but for some reason I think the timing was wrong for him to be in this particular photo. But Dan is definitely correct in that the price for this card was a clear indication that other bidders thought it was Wood. It was the most I've paid, by far, for any Bloomer Girls team PC.
I don't know that there are any published or easily available lists of players on any of the Bloomer teams. Someday when I retire, I think I will go to all of these towns and really try to do a newspaper deep dive and try to figure it out. I have a lot of images of Bloomer teams. I haven't sat down and studied them closely, but offhand it looks like some of the people are in the photos for different teams (although it's a little hard to tell b/c hairstyles are all similar - that's why I'd need to really sit down and look at it).
The confusion on the teams and league as a whole is increased by the fact that people use some of the terms generically. Some people use "Western Bloomers" to describe any Bloomer team, when in fact Western Bloomers were a specific team that was from SW Michigan. Also, some people use the phrase "Bloomer" to describe any female team image, when in fact the true Bloomer teams were loosely organized in a league at times, and at minimum specifically named themselves "Bloomer" teams. There were many, many female teams at that time that were not associated with any Bloomer teams.
So any research or even thinking I do is tied closely to the identification of the team on the image. (Meaning, I don't try to find info on a "Bloomer team" unless the image specifically says that it's a Bloomer team, etc.)
Any image with one or all of the players identified are quite tough, and I go after those in particular because some day it may make it easier to match names with faces. Maud Nelson (some think her last name was Olson) is probably the easiest to find identified, but there are a few others here and there.
Maud's husband founded the All-Nation's team (something like that) near Chicago at about that time. Maud played for a Chicago team and then started the Western Bloomers after she was either done playing or late in her career. I'm a bit rusty and doing this from memory, but I think some of the loosely organized Bloomer teams either pre-1900 or immediately after were generically Star Bloomer teams, but that was probably the last generic name?
And finally, john thorn, I LOVE that Bloomer Girl cartoon. Last year I rented ... what was it? Pollyanna, maybe? But it had a Mickey Mouse short at the front of the DVD, and the short had Mickey in the Gay 90's - all dressed in knickers, etc. It starts out with him walking through a park to meet a girl while "Merry Merry Month of May" is playing. At the side of the path is this HUGE billboard that I swear has that exact same cartoon image of the Bloomer Girls on it! Not the whole cartoon - just the part of the poster they are looking at. The players were facing left, so it would be mirror image, and it is in color and advertising a game. I don't know if it is an exact mirror match, but it is 100% the exact same style. That's one of the coolest things I've ever seen - Thanks so much for posting it.
A few things posted before, but not in awhile. I'm limited to five so I'll try to pick. You can see that there is some variation in how teams are named and what the uniform says.
Joann
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