Genesis of an Old Judge Team Change

[oldjudge]

During the 1889 season, Goodwin changed Klusman's team designation from Milwaukee to Denver to reflect a team change. At first they just wrote the new team name in on the negative. Later they formally changed it in the name plate. Note: they never made a change to the Milwaukee name on the jersey.

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Does the final version say "Denvers"?

[oldjudge]

Yes

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

That's interesting. I wonder why they changed from Denver to Denvers?

[oldjudge]

It is not unusual for the team designation to be either singular or plural.

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Thanks for sharing.

[Joe_G.]

Neat trio, I like the middle one. I wonder if the 3rd version would have appeared if the "N" were correctly scribed on the negative. Someone needed more practice writing backwards.

[HRBAKER]

Good stuff as always Jay.

[barrysloate]

What's really interesting, at least to me, is that the trade of an obscure player from Milwaukee to Denver was not exactly a seismic event. The average baseball fan probably didn't even have a clue. But the design department got word of it, and had to quickly make the change for the next round of production. That they were so fastidious with something like this is really amazing. The trade could only have mattered to a fan from either Milwaukee or Denver. Why would one in Brooklyn, for example, care if Klusman's card still read "Milwaukee"? It's fascinating to think of what was going on in the production room at the time.

[z28jd]

As an interesting side note, Klusman played his first game for Denver on May 4,1889....exactly 125 years (to the day) before you posted this card change.

Two other things on this. He homered in his first game and he was a bum at the time due to a shoulder injury, so he really bounced around that season as teams were willing to give him a shot based on name alone. He wasn't traded at all, just signed and released often. Even played for another team from Denver, which is why I searched for info on him. Seeing if the name change could actually be a new team in the OJ set. He finished the year for the Denver Solis of the Colorado State League