A McCreachery Card Theory

[cyseymour]

Interesting. Based on the article Tim posts, Deacon White was very unlikely to have been big drinker. Which goes back to the theory in my original post that it was somehow a joke about his religiosity and ideas of the world.

They lived in a time when there was a lot of discrimination against the Irish, so for the OJ producers to have intentionally given him a fake name with both an Irish prefix ("Mc") and suffix ("y") could hardly have been a coincidence or something haphazard or unintentional. People were very aware of the last names and what they meant, whether they were Irish or English, Jewish or German (i.e. "Germany Shafer", "Pretzel Getchen") etc. Seeing that Jim O"Rourke had removed the "O" before his name to make his name seem less Irish, clearly people were very conscious of last names and the different ethnic backgrounds they reflected.

So I definitely think that the fact he was given a faux-Irish name means that he was being called Irish. Whether to poke fun at his drinking, religion or ideas of the world, I am not 100% sure, but I still think a Mc-creature would be "creature of Irish descent". The name would be too much of a coincidence not to have been, especially considering the context of the rampant discrimination against the Irish in the 19th Cent, and people being very well aware of the different ethnic heritages deriving from names.

[novakjr]

With minimal reasearch. The word "creach" can be roughly translated to the Old English "Hyre", meaning a downfall, descent or ruin. Is there any chance that Creach, Creacher, or Creachery, could in reference to his association with the National Brotherhood of Professional Baseball Players, and their opposition to the reserve clause? Also maybe combined the Buffalo incident in late 1888, where he refused to report to Pittsburgh(whom he'd been traded to) because he wanted to play for Buffalo(a team that he had purchased)? Perhaps his actions were viewed as destructive to the game by some people? This could also possibly have led to the Mc being added in a derogatory manner.

The Buffalo incident is briefly discussed in this article..
http://research.sabr.org/journals/james-deacon-white

[cyseymour]

Fantastic research, David. From that article, we can see that the downfall came in 1888.

"In 1888 the Wolverines dropped from first to fifth, and then at season's end, dropped right out of the league."

So the term "creach" could very well have been in response to the rapid downfall of the Detroit Wolverines. Also, the card is dated to 1888 based on its design, which has the white block with text at the bottom, not 1887, since the photo lacks the "flying sausage" advertisement known on 1887 cards.

So it seems that they were calling him Irish via blaming him for the downfall of the Detroit Wolverines. Wow.

[cyseymour]

Hmm... having thought this through, it is also true that at the close of the 1888 season, White was sold to Boston, who wound up releasing him because he was too old. So probably the card is a joke on a number of levels.

a) White was too old and thus tabbed a manager of Indianapolis.
b) "Creach" being that his poor performance in 1888 was responsible for Detroit's downfall.
c) "McCreachery" - labelled as being Irish in a derogatory manner as a result of it.

So Joe's original interpretation of him being called a manager because he was too old was probably correct. However, this thread does unveil the mystery of the "McCreachery" name and add another layer to the card's meaning

[Matthew H]

David, thanks for posting that SABR Journal. That was a very informative read. It seems that Deacon Whites enshrinement was long overdue.

[novakjr]

my main point, wasn't necessarily that poor performance led to the downfall of the Wolverines, but that his actions and views could eventually be very destructive to the game in general, if other players were to follow suit(basically unionization)..Although the same could possibly be applied in terms of being a clubhouse distraction to the Wolverines..

"creachery" would be collective actions or views(and/or the practice of) that are perceived to be destructive or distractive(in this case depending on your views, to either just the Wolverines or on a larger scale the whole league). Maybe it's just a case of "deacon being manny"?

Or maybe we're all over thinking it...

Just looked at the article again. I completely missed a key sentence.
"Just as White had been present at the temporary demise of Cincinnati as a major league city, so was he to be a part of Buffalo's departure." Combine that with Detroit's downfall. Maybe the joke is that he was viewed as the "kiss of death" for a team?

Co-incidentally, after jokingly appearing on this card as the manager for "Indianapolis", they also folded in 1889. Now wouldn't that be the ultimate joke..

[cyseymour]

Originally Posted by novakjr

my main point, wasn't necessarily that poor performance led to the downfall of the Wolverines, but that his actions and views could eventually be very destructive to the game in general, if other players were to follow suit(basically unionization)..Although the same could possibly be applied in terms of being a clubhouse distraction to the Wolverines..

"creachery" would be collective actions or views(and/or the practice of) that are perceived to be destructive or distractive(in this case depending on your views, to either just the Wolverines or on a larger scale the whole league). Maybe it's just a case of "deacon being manny"?

Or maybe we're all over thinking it...

Just looked at the article again. I completely missed a key sentence.
"Just as White had been present at the temporary demise of Cincinnati as a major league city, so was he to be a part of Buffalo's departure." Combine that with Detroit's downfall. Maybe the joke is that he was viewed as the "kiss of death" for a team?

Co-incidentally, after jokingly appearing on this card as the manager for "Indianapolis", they also folded in 1889. Now wouldn't that be the ultimate joke..

Maybe they knew Indianapolis was about to go under, and that's why they choose that team!

[oldjudge]

David--that is an interesting theory and it makes quite a bit of sense. A unique card now has a great story to go with it.