April 2011 Pick Up Thread

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

Unbelievable!!

I had the tremendous good fortune to make a GREAT pickup today that I'm really excited about. I unearthed the only known extant ticket stub and scorecard to Chicago White Sox HOF great Ted Lyons' no-hitter that he pitched against the Red Sox at historic Fenway Park on August 21, 1926.

The patron that attended Lyon's big game was a local and he scored this game as well as several others at Fenway during the 1926-1927era. Additionally, there are some Hyde Park (Mass) High School baseball games scored in the scorebook.

What makes this extra special for me is that I'll be able to supply retrosheet.org with a copy of the play by play to the game so they can add it to their great database of scored games. It's always been a goal of mine to try to return the favor to retrosheet. It's been such a wonderful resource and tool that I've used extensively through the years. This is the 1st time that I've ever been able to find a scoresheet to a historic game that they can use.

I'm a happy camper!

As a follow up to my earlier post, I just received the Ted Lyons no-hitter and scorebook in today's mail. The scorebook itself is truly remarkable piece. It is a hardbound Spalding Official Base Ball Score Book which is beautifully scored in fountain pen and pencil. For 85 years old the scorebook is in exceptional condition!!

To my surprise, in addition to the Lyons no-hitter, there are some other really neat games in the Score Book. The 15 year old patron scored the 1926 Fenway Opening Day game that was played on 4/13/26. The Red Sox hosted the Ruth/Gehrig led 1926 Bronx Bombers. In this game, Yanks HOF'er Tony Lazzeri makes his major league debut and also records his first hit and scores his first run.

Other games that were scored included a game vs. the Philadelphia A's in which HOF greats Ty Cobb, Jimmy Foxx and Eddie Collins all appear. Way too cool! Prior to this find, no play by play existed for ANY of the games scored in this book. Retrosheet.org can now knock off 10 new games from 1926 and 1927.

What a fun pickup!!