1888 Bailey Championship Prize - Sterling Silver Plaque 18”x 15”

[CarltonHendricks]

Originally Posted by perezfan

Carlton:

A landmark acquisition, and congrats!

I had a question about the athlete depicted under the letters "pi". You said that neither Cricket nor Baseball were depicted, but it sure looks like a guy swingin' a bat of some type. Is it Jai Alai, or maybe something else?

Thanks for the great post!

Mark, It's a lacrosse player. I think there isn't a baseball player because the A.A.U. was not the governing body of baseball in 1888. Haven't had time to do any new research but here's a good synopsis below of the A.A.U.'s beginnings

In 1870 the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) was by far the best known athletic club in the United States. That year they started their series of athletic meets, known as the Spring Games and Fall Games of the NYAC – two per year. Early in 1876, it was decided that a national championship meet was necessary and desirable and the best known meet of the year was chosen to serve that purpose. Thus, in late 1876, the 7th Annual Fall Games of the NYAC became the first national championship meet. The NYAC sponsored the meet for three years.

In 1879, however, a national organization had been formed, composed of many member athletic clubs and known as the National Association of Amateur Athletes of America (NAAAA). They sponsored the 1879 meet and ran the meet through 1887.

In 1888 a rival organization to the NAAAA, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) came into being, quickly became the more powerful group, and held a national meeting in that year. The NAAAA, however, refused to fold immediately and also conducted a national championship in 1888 – thus there were two that year.

The national championship was held under the aegis of the AAU for almost a century. In 1978 the President's Commission on Amateur Sports was able to pass the Amateur Sports Act that delineated how amateur sports should be governed in this country. The AAU, which controlled the majority of the sports on the Olympic program, would see its powers severely crippled. A new organization, The Athletics Congress (TAC), was chosen to oversee track & field athletics. In 1980 TAC held its first national championship and control of the meet has rested there since.
Source http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/dis...cle.php?id=258