Base Ball! Fat vs. Lean.
Base Ball! Fat vs. Lean.
Marathon, NY: Independent Steam Print, 4 August 1885
Illustrated broadside, 23¾ x 17¾ inches; folds, uneven toning and light offsetting, minor wear including slight loss to upper corners and a one-inch closed tear, a few pencil doodles on verso.
"Fat vs. Lean" games were a bit of a trend in the baseball world of the 1880s, with extremely tall amateur players pitted against portly players for comic effect. We have not previously seen a broadside for one of these games. This one features two humorous woodcuts, and promises "a grand aggregation of animated awkwardness." Weights are given for the nine members of the "Abdominate Nine" (most ranging from 211 to 230 pounds, plus a 285-pounder), and heights for the "Vertaebrate Nine" (ranging from 6'1" to 6'6"). While these men were all large by 1885 standards, most of these heights and weights would not be terribly unusual for a major league field today. The players were accompanied by an umpire, scorer, and more unusually, both a surgeon and an undertaker. The proceeds from the 10-cent admission were to be "divided between the widows of the players who fail to survive the game."
The players seem to have been local men from the central New York village of Marathon, rather than a touring group of entertainers. Census records show that from the Fats, Corwin Burgess was a 35-year-old railroad clerk in Marathon; Charles Bouton was a 44-year old painter in Marathon; and 285-pound Sherman Woods was a 48-year-old butcher from nearby Freetown. From the Leans, the tallest player Russell Quinn was a 31-year-old carpenter in Marathon, measuring 6'6".
Base Ball! Fat vs. Lean.
Marathon, NY: Independent Steam Print, 4 August 1885
Illustrated broadside, 23¾ x 17¾ inches; folds, uneven toning and light offsetting, minor wear including slight loss to upper corners and a one-inch closed tear, a few pencil doodles on verso.
"Fat vs. Lean" games were a bit of a trend in the baseball world of the 1880s, with extremely tall amateur players pitted against portly players for comic effect. We have not previously seen a broadside for one of these games. This one features two humorous woodcuts, and promises "a grand aggregation of animated awkwardness." Weights are given for the nine members of the "Abdominate Nine" (most ranging from 211 to 230 pounds, plus a 285-pounder), and heights for the "Vertaebrate Nine" (ranging from 6'1" to 6'6"). While these men were all large by 1885 standards, most of these heights and weights would not be terribly unusual for a major league field today. The players were accompanied by an umpire, scorer, and more unusually, both a surgeon and an undertaker. The proceeds from the 10-cent admission were to be "divided between the widows of the players who fail to survive the game."
The players seem to have been local men from the central New York village of Marathon, rather than a touring group of entertainers. Census records show that from the Fats, Corwin Burgess was a 35-year-old railroad clerk in Marathon; Charles Bouton was a 44-year old painter in Marathon; and 285-pound Sherman Woods was a 48-year-old butcher from nearby Freetown. From the Leans, the tallest player Russell Quinn was a 31-year-old carpenter in Marathon, measuring 6'6".
