"Illustration of 1867 Harvard-Yale baseball game"

From a two-page spread titled, "THE COLLEGE REGATTA AND BALL MATCH AT WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, July 19, 1867.——From Sketches by Charles G. Bush and Photographs by Black of Boston.——[See Page 487.]"

INTERPRETING ILLUSTRATIONS: Period journal and newspaper illustrations are notorious for attempting to squeeze in as much information as possible in the given space. Therefore it is never a good idea to use them to judge distance and space. However, they can provide useful clues.

COMMENTARY: Dean Thilgen, Paul Hunkele, Glenn "Geezer" Drinkwater and Devon Kurtz offer some observations on this game illustration:

Regarding the players' clothing: The player trouser legs are strapped at the ankles. This can be seen in a number of photos and illustrations from this same time period, 1866-1869. Paul Hunkele writes, "The weight of the wool-flannel fabric, particularly when damp, draped across the knees and sort-of binding as they ran. Having it strapped at the ankle bloused it and kept it looser on the upper leg." The natural progression to knickers is logical. The headwear appears to be of the jockey-style cap.

The National Base Ball Hall of Fame has a uniform history article posted: Dressed to the Nines: A History of the Baseball Uniform.

Regarding the spectators and their clothing: Women are off to the far-right. Some of the caps almost look like kepis. Most of the spectators appear to be wearing a slouch hat or a beehive hat of some kind; there are not too many top hats in the crowd. There are 9, maybe 11 top hats in the illustration, so 1867 vintage base ball groups are somewhat justified in using them in our interpretations, but some think the vintage community over-represents them. More slouch hats, straw hats, and even bowlers would be nice.

Regarding the player stances: That striker's stance is even more exaggerated than other illustrations of the time. His feet are very far apart with the typical open, spread feet stance with nearly all the weight on the back foot and the front foot pointed toward the pitcher. Note also the pitcher's stance; standing full sideways, as opposed to facing the batsman square as is softball. This pitcher's sideways stance appears repeatedly in other period illustrations. There is a fellow lying on the ground with an excellent view of the game. In the Harvard illustration the 2nd baseman is ready to receive the ball, a throw from the pitcher or catcher perhaps?? The baserunner at second appears ready to run.

Regarding the field arrangement: The two scorers tables are clearly depicted, both along the third base line. It appears the umpire is the fellow at far-left. There appears to be no accomodations for the spectators at all... they all appear to be standing. As would be the players that are not in the field - as there are not commonly yet any player benches.

ABOUT THE GAME: Newspaper coverage of this game outside of Boston is mostly non-existant. The traditional Harvard-Yale regatta held at the same time overshadowed the ball game, by far. Prior to the game the New York Times ran this July 18, 1867:
"On Thursday the Freshman and Sophomore nines of Yale and Harvard will play match gtames of base ball at Worcester, the former in the forenoon and the latter in the afternoon. The Yale nine of '70 are as follows: McClintock, p.; Buck, c; Shattuck, 1st b.; selder 2d base; McClure, 3d b.; Lewis, l. f.; Coffin, r. f.; Faulkner, s. s.; Trumbull, c. f.. McCutchin, the cather and best player in the Club is disabled, and cannot play. The following are the members of the '69 nine of Yale: Hocker, p.; Cunningham, s. s.; Van Wyck, 1st b.; McLean, 2d b.; Terry, l. f.; Burrell, c. f.; Childs, 3d b.; DeGrove, r. f.; Condict, c.
"Both Clubs are composed of nine players, and they give promise of being more than a match for the Harvard nines."

Old Yale: Yale and the Origins of Intercollegiate Baseball: A team from Yale played in the first truly modern intercollegiate baseball game.

Posted 13 May 2005.