A McCreachery Card Theory

[cyseymour]

There has been some interesting speculation on why an Old Judge card with Deacon White on it had the name "McCreachery" underneath it. Some believe the theory that was a joke because White's playing had become so poor that he was presumed to be the manager. This is a great story, but I believe there is a more likely, and unfortunately, cynical reason for why White was given the name "McCreachery".

In the late 19th Century, there were many Irish immigrants coming to America. Seeing that by stealing jobs and resources from other Americans, they came to resent the Irish, and it lead to discrimination against them. It is hard to imagine in our country today, which is 25 percent Irish, but some Irishmen changed their names to rid themselves of prefixes like "O" or "Mc". For instance, Hall of Famer Jim O'Rourke briefly changed his name to "Rourke" when he entered the league, and reversed it back about a year later.

So the reason behind the "McCreachery" name given to Deacon White's card wasn't simply that it was a false name, but that it was an Irish one. My belief is that the slander made against White was mocking his religiosity, that the joke is that he was Catholic, as the Catholics had strict codes of behavior in regards to alcohol, etc. As such, the McCreachery card is derogatory in nature, towards both the Irish and White himself. This is most certainly the reason for its very low print run.

This doesn't mean that the card isn't an incredibly interesting card, especially seeing as it is a unique card of a Hall of Famer. Surely, it would reach 200k+ in auction, being probably the only known unique card of a HOFer in existence. I felt that it was time for the real story of the McCreachery card to come out, and it my strong belief that this story is an accurate interpretation of the card.