[cyseymour]

Troy,

While the photos were may have been taken in April, 1888, the McCreachery card was most likely published after the season for the reasons outlined by Joe G. The card is a joke, and there are several other joke cards in the set.

There are no other cards with riddles, but clearly the name is fictional. No other person in the world has that name, so it was most likely a very deliberate choice. Most people using a pseudonym haphazardly would choose from the multitude of already known names. The fact that they created their own name suggests there is a hidden meaning.

In addition to the double-entendre, it is still possible that they were also still trying to poke fun at White by making the name sound Irish. There was very little PC-ness and I doubt they were too concerned about offending Irish customers simply by putting the name on there. Or if it did offend, perhaps that is the reason for such a small print run (only one card known to exist).

Including both the double-entendre and simultaneously making the name sound Irish required some brilliant linguistic engineering, but it is not outside their capacity since, of course, they had the license to use whatever fake name they wished and did not have to stay within the bounds of conventional names.

But the double-entendre of "Sweet Son of God/Fall from Grace" is very, very on target, not only with the life and times of Deacon White, his poor play, and his religiosity, and the demise of his team, but also consistent with the joke of calling him a manager of Indianapolis. The narrative makes perfect sense.

As far as whether Boston wanted him, I wouldn't know, but whether did they did or not, it doesn't change the story that he had fallen very hard from his championship days just a year earlier. He had gone from "preacher" to "creacher" very quickly. That is the reflection that the card is commenting on.