Fantastic 1889 Brooklyn Bridegrooms Scorecard at Goodwin & Co. Auctions

Here is something you don't see everyday.

Featured here is a 1889 Brooklyn Bridegrooms scorecard.  As you may know, this year was the franchises last as a member of the American Association.  The following season they would join the National League where they continue to this day.  BTW, the Bridegrooms moniker is one of the many different nicknames given to the Brooklyn club.  At the time, teams did not have official names.  As for how Bridegrooms became popular, as the story goes several of the teams players got engaged at the same time, so naturally the fans (and the press) chose what was most suitable. (If you're interested in reading a biography focused on the club when they were known as the Bridegrooms I suggest reading Ronald Shafer's book called "When the Dodgers were Bridegrooms."  Check out my interview with the author here.)

This scorecards is one of the earliest artifacts of its kind from the Dodgers franchise.  Best yet, Goodwin & Co. auction house was kind enough to share pics of several of the pages within it in their auction listing.  I've captured all of those photos below, and included the biographies created for each individual player so that you may learn a little bit more about a few of the earliest Dodger players.  Since the pics provided aren't particularly clear I've done my best to recreate them.  Check out these pics and biographies below the fold.

As you can see below, the club was playing their games at Washington Park; their very first home and onetime headquarters for General George Washington during the Revolutionary War.  I had previously written extensively about this ballpark here. 

Legendary Auctions: Brooklyn Old Judge Cabinets

Legendary Auctions recently completed their most recent auction. It included the below two rare Old Judge cabinet cards featuring 19th Century Brooklyn players.

Both of the large sized (4 1/4" x 6 1/2") cards are from 1888-1889 and are referenced with the ACC number N173. They are photographs affixed onto a cardboard backing. These were produced by Old Judge Cigarettes and were attained by exchanging coupons inserted within packs of smokes.

Below, James "Hardie" Harderson shows off his wind-up. Hardie played 6 years of Major League ball; including two years with the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. It sold for a healthy $4,147.50. Photos on black colored backings are much scarcer than the typical yellow backings.

(Auction Link)

This Old Judge features two Bridegrooms; catcher Bob Clark tagging Mickey Hughes. Bob Clark was the backup catcher on the team. In 5 season in Brooklyn he batted .241. Mickey Hughes was an excellent starting pitcher for Brooklyn. He only played 3 Major League season, two of which for Brooklyn. His rookie year he went 25-13 with a ERA of 2.13. He also finished all 40 games he started- pitching a total of 363 innings. It sold for $3,555.00.

(Auction Link)