Members related to Pre-War Ballplayers?

[aquarius31]

Originally Posted by HexsHeroes

Hey, George M.

Have you located any photos to support the cabinet photo you recently purchased on eBay is an 1880's Michigan Ag College team? I ask, because after doing alittle research, I sent the following inquiry to the seller (who did not reply, or post question to eBay listing before end of auction):

Dear detroitbaseballclub,

I might have agreed with your hypothesis that this image is of the Michigan Agricultural College, except that in the 1880's, this college was still formally know as State Agricultural College (beginning in 1861). It did not formally become Michigan Agricultural College (MAC) until 1909. I would have guessed that a college sponsored team would have the formal abbreviation on it's uniform (SAC), especially since this team predated the renaming of the college by 20+ years.


It was the uncovering of this info, and the inability to locate a 19th century image of the SAC/MAC football team, that influenced my decision not to bid on that particular item. Just curious whether you have located such an image for confirmation purposes ?

Hi Vincent, yes I did find the 1889 MAC baseball image which was an exact match to the photo I purchased off ebay! It took a lot of data mining but it was well worth the effort. In reviewing the 19th century MSU Speculum newsletter I found many references to 'MAC' which I found odd given that it did not officially change it names until 1909 as you've already pointed out. In a few of the Speculum newsletters, I was able to find detailed accounts of games played against rivals such as Albion and Olivet college along with the rosters. Further research lead me to the MSU Archives and this image of the 1888 MSU baseball team (clearly with MAC on the jerseys). Some of the players and the manager (Professor Carpenter) from the 1888 team matched those on the 1889 team so I knew that I was heading in the right direction. The MSU archives was able to do a little more research for me and find the exact photo of the team which was printed in the 1889 Harrow yearbook. The yearbook even identified all the players and while I'm unable to match up all the names with the players, they are definitely the same image! If you want more details, send me a PM.

Photograph 1 = 1888 MSU baseball team
Photograph 2 = 1889 MSU baseball team (the one I purchased)
Photograph 3 = 1889 MSU baseball team from the Harrow yearbook