A McCreachery Card Theory

[cyseymour]

Let me chime in with one more etymological observation:

"Chreacher" is probably also the Gaelic for the English word "creature".

Definition of CREATURE

1
: something created either animate or inanimate: as
a : a lower animal; especially : a farm animal
b : a human being
c : a being of anomalous or uncertain aspect or nature
2
: one that is the servile dependent or tool of another :

So the word "creature" is really something that intends certain animalistic, earthly characterics, as opposed to the pure and divine. This lends even more creedence to that the idea that the McCreachery double-entendre is a study of opposites between the Divine and Earthly.

McCrea/Chery: Dear Son of God - Divine
Chreach: Fall from Grace - Earthly

This is completely consistent with the style humor that Old Judge displayed in many of their other joke cards, from the Whitney with Dog (loyal/disloyal) card to the Nicol and Reilly (tall/short) card. One could also argue that by putting the biggest superstars of their respective teams, Ewing and Williamson, in photos with their mascots is a study of opposites, at least in some degree.

They have also previously shown a penchant for wordplay, exhibit the Poor Man card.

This demonstrates that the double-entendre fits perfectly not only with the rest of the card, as well as the personality of Deacon White, but also with the comedic styled tendencies of the Old Judge producers.

[Troy Kirk]

Here is what the card is:

1) Portrait photo of Deacon White
2) 1888 Old Judge card
3) Wrong team name – Indianapolis instead of Detroit
4) Wrong position – Manager instead of 3rd base
5) Wrong player name – McGreachery instead of White

There are three errors on the card, team name, position, and player name.
Old Judge made errors in team names at times (Lady Baldwin with Cincinnati, Kid Baldwin with Detroit are examples). Offhand, I don’t know of any other examples of wrong positions for players, but there probably were some (Jay and Joe would know better than me on this). There were plenty of misspelled player names in the Old Judge set.

OK, let’s sum up the possibilities for this card.

1) Traditional theory – the card is an unintentional error card, explained as follows:

a. Picture was taken in Indianapolis, so wrong team name of Indianapolis was put on the card by mistake.
b. Picture is a portrait, which were usually (not always) reserved for managers, thus the manager designation.
c. Name was intended to be a real Indianapolis player name of McGeachy, which is close to McGreachery.

Pros for traditional theory:

• Each error is possible, based on other errors within the Old Judge set.

Cons for traditional theory:

• Hard to believe all of these errors were accidentally applied to the same card.

2) CySeymour’s theory – the card is an intentional error card, explained as follows:

a. The name is meant to be a riddle about Deacon White – CySeymour’s current breakdown of the riddle is that it was a double-entendre based on the root words McCrea/Chery and Creach, meaning "Dear Son of God/Fall from Grace".
b. The manager part was intended to be a joke, based on White’s old age.
c. No explanation for the team name of Indianapolis.

Pros for the riddle theory:

• Because there are so many errors on this card, maybe the made-up name was done intentionally and included some hidden meaning (whether CySeymour is right or not in his interpretation is still open to conjecture).

Cons for the riddle theory:

• There are no other riddles in the Old Judge set, so why would they do this for this card.

To me, the interesting part of CySeymour’s theory is that the card may have been an intentionally created error card. That is still a possibility.

I don’t think it was, and I don’t think his hidden meaning is correct even if it was (I think the card is spelled with a “G” and not a “C” after the Mc, which would throw off his hidden meanings), plus I really don’t believe someone would have thought White had fallen from grace at that point in time or any other for that matter. He was a Hall of Fame-calibre player, which is why he is finally in now.

All this riddle stuff sounds more like trying to turn an unusual Old Judge card into a Da Vinci Code or National Treasure riddle. Those made for good fiction, but I don’t see any basis of this in reality with this card.

[cyseymour]

I can't respond to every post of everyone who chooses to believe or disbelieve my theory, but let me just say that the idea it would be coincidence that the root words of a fake, created name used as a substitute for someone named "Deacon" - that those root words would randomly mean "Dear Son of Jesus" - is highly implausible. It almost must have been intentional.

Let me also add that Deacon White's extreme religiosity was far outside of the lock-step for what was the fashionable thinking at the time regarding Philosophy and Religion. Prior to the mid-19th century, philosophical thought stemmed mainly from the Greeks, with Socrates and Aristotle, who believed in a cool, dispassionate understanding of the world. They chose to believe in God, and used the Pythagorean Theorem as prove against skeptics that there was indeed an ultimate truth (God) that could remain constant, and that it portrayed itself in mathematics.

That all changed in the mid/late 19th century with the advent of the aetheist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who sided with the pre-Socratic philosophers and dramatists that passion, fire and emotion were valuable Dionysian traits and should not be discarded for the Apollonian traits or cool, calm and reason. Regard the following quote:

"In his first notable work, The Birth and Tragedy and the Spirit of Music (1872), Nietzsche contrasted the Apollonian and the Dionysian, these two faces of the Greek world... the Dionysian element means to give the fullest expression of pent-up emotions, passions, dread and madness... the Apollonian framework is of story, plot and coherence. Nietzsche said it was the fault of Socrates and Greek academic philosophers to give too much to the Apollonian at the expense of the Dionysian."

-Paraphrased quote of Daniel N. Robinson, Oxford University

Nietzsche was not only an atheist, but a philosophical rock star of the late 19th Century. France was known as "a country of 50 million atheists." Nietzsche had proclaimed "God is Dead". There are stories of what a huge deal it would be if he showed up to a cocktail party. He was the ultimate dinner guest, and his work was well-read around the world.

Since that was the fashionable thinking of the time, imagine just how far out of lock-step someone like Deacon White was, who still believed the world was flat. That's why he was so subject to ridicule. But it also supports the theory of "Dear Son of God/Fallen from Grace" as taking a jab at Deacon for his religiosity. It is as if to say, "Deacon, you think you are above us like Apollo, but really you are just another Dionysian creature of sin like the everyone else".

No one knows for certain whether the producers of the card read Nietzsche, but considering his fame, it would not be far-fetched to think they had, especially since they possessed the intellectual sophistication to create a riddle of this magnitude. Nevertheless, it shows just how far out of step the ideas of Deacon White were with the prevailing attitudes and ideas of his era.

[Matthew H]

Wow, its like the last two posts aren't even on he same planet. This is a cool thread

[cyseymour]

Originally Posted by Matthew H

Wow, its like the last two posts aren't even on he same planet. This is a cool thread

Matthew, I am just trying to create a coherent backdrop to show how the double-entendre fits in with the typical sense of humor of the OJ producers, as well as the prevailing attitudes of society at the time.

I liked your post, though

[Matthew H]

Cy, it's certainly very educational.

Troy, it's interesting that you think it's a G and not a C. I've thought that too, but I've never seen a hi-res scan so I've assumed it was a C. Looking at the McGeachy card with a loupe... The G looks very similar.

[RCMcKenzie]

Cy/Jaime

forgot to also recommend "Easy Money"

In one scene, a girl is playing piano. Joe Pesci walks into the room and says..
"What are you Playing?"

And the girl says, "Scales"

Pesci says, "Never heard of 'im"