1916 Baseball postcard - Clayton - Brooklyn World Series

Okay...

Looking for someone who knows baseball memorabilia.

It's an interesting postcard that mentions a World Series, what that has to do with Clayton University, I don't know - but I also don't know know enough about baseball to formulate a context. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!


St. Paul Minnesota
October 9 – 1 PM - 1916

Mr. Joe Hofler
Box 195
Bridgewater, So. Dakota

Hello Joe

Well here we are for a second time. Isn't Joe cutting some fun. ha!ha!

We played a World Series here last week. I pitched for Brooklyn and won every game I pitched. The second & third I did not pitch & we lost those, but won the fourth, fifth and sixth. ha!ha! I got the % mark on [the] money, but nevertheless we won all the games. No place like Clayton. ha!ha! Am right good and busy with Greek, Latin, Hebrew, English, German & then some. ha!ha! Tobias (?)

Photograph labeled: 1000% TEAM

Sadly, the photograph has been bent somewhat...

 

I did not know there was a Bridgewater, SD.

Those socks look like the ones on that guy in the old tintype.

 

I have a theory. The 1916 World Series was played between the Boston Red Sox and the Brooklyn Robins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1916_World_Series

The Clayton students played their own version - intramural perhaps?

 

I guess there is no Clayton University - I got hooked into that idea because of his studies. Clayton as a city never made it much past 1900, so stumped there, too.

I looked through BaseballReference.com, but couldn't find any mention of Tobias _____, pitching for Brooklyn in leagues other than Major - American, National - then realized there are more leagues and got discouraged.

If there's anyone who can easily identify this team, and how Tobias _____ figures in as a great pitcher in any league that participated in a World Series?? That'd be cool!

 

Hm. I just noticed that the "team" doesn't have enough players and one of them is dressed in a different uniform with a big S instead of Clayton. Is there another local (relatively) college that starts with S? Rival schools?

 

I really don't think it has anything to do with a professional ballplayer.

Ah! Look at the top of the message - Concordia College in St. Paul. A dorm there called Clayton Hall?

 

Here's the school - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concordia_University_(Saint_Paul,_Minnesota)

 

I agree, not professional - I researched this quite a while ago, and now remember I found this on Concordia College sports 1916, but nothing about a team name

http://dept.cord.edu/sports/sportsbackup/finn/ch2a16.html

 

That seems to only be about varsity sports - football and basketball - nothing about baseball (which implies to me that they didn't have a varsity level team in baseball.)

Again, think "intramural" where the teams are made up by dorms or other kinds of groups. Thinking back to my own college days, there were many more "casual" sports opportunities than there were "varsity" sports.

 

...or why someone from Clayton or Concordia University would pitch for Brooklyn?

Here's this from Concordia University Athletic History page:

...Our tradition of athletic excellence has grown significantly since the founding of the college in 1891.

In the early years of the 20th century, attending college was considered very serious business as families had to work hard to afford such a luxury. At Concordia, where stern Scandinavian farm family's predominately sent their children, playing sports was initially considered frivolous and was slow to catch on with students.

Baseball was the main sport played at the college, beginning in the spring of 1903 when a team was organized to play other schools in the region. In 1907, when Main Hall (today's Old Main) was completed, a basement gymnasium enabled the introduction of basketball, which could be played throughout the fall and winter months. The spring baseball season was short and frequently handicapped by inclement weather.

All sports were suspended during World War I, but in 1919 baseball was revived...

I'm in the red zone on this - I feel like I've spent way too much time on it, although the photo and story is kind of neat.

Someone who knows more about college baseball, etc. could clear it up in a minute, probably...

 

I think that Clayton is the key to this, if only it could be figured out.

The fact that the writer was a student at Concordia College may or may not have anything to do with the team. All he was doing was writing the location at the top of the note in a header, meaning that he was writing the note from there. Doesn't mean the baseball game had anything to do with the college. In fact, I think that any college baseball team would have ended their season long before October. Most of them play in the late spring or early summer, I think.

Oh, and in the middle of this page are baseball scores from Concordia College for the 1916 season. http://dept.cord.edu/sports/sportsbackup/finn/ch2a15.html

Only four scores listed.

The note is dated October 8, 1916 and that is the day after the 1916 World Series began. I think this group was playing a game in emulation of the "real" World Series... sort of a fantasy game played by these college-age guys.

I notice that he wrote "No place like Clayton. Ha ha!" -- So just wonder what in the world Clayton was. A real place? Or just the name of a pretend city for the team?

Puzzling... and thus, intriguing as well.

Fig

 

I've found some references to the phrase "1000 percent team." I think it has something to do with being undefeated. In the 'teens and '20s of the 20th century, some Midwestern sports teams were referred to that way. One page states that there was a Purdue University basketball team in 1911-1912 that was referred to that way. This is a transcript from a 1971 article, though... not a period reference.
It's a little way down this page:

http://www.fulco.lib.in.us/genealogy-files/trivia/Trivia-1971-1975.htm

There are several references to the phrase "1000 percent team" in publications of the University of Illinois in the 10 years or so after 1912:
https://books.google.com/books?id=U...nepage&q="1000 percent team" baseball&f=false

http://idnc.library.illinois.edu/cgi-bin/illinois?a=d&d=DIL19220520.2.59

http://idnc.library.illinois.edu/cgi-bin/illinois?a=d&d=DIL19150720.2.11

So that caption on the postcard may have either been real, that the team depicted won every game, or it may have been a joke. I wonder about the guy who wrote the postcard repeatedly writing "ha ha." (He could have used a few smileys, I guess. )

 

Looking again at the handwriting, I think, since he said that they lost the 2 games he did not pitch but won all the others, that line following should read "I got the % mark on here wrong..."

I had never heard of a 1000% team. Interesting find, Fig.

 

I think you are correct, Bakers... I had not noticed that he said they lost some games, so they couldn't be 1000%

 

The letter was went to Joe G Hofer (That is a Hutterite or Mennonite name)

I found an online newspaper, that lists Joe G Hofer attending Bridgewater High School in 1916.

Here is the link. It is on the right hand side about 1/4 of the way down. Interesting that right below it "Johannestal & Clayton is a headline

http://fre.stparchive.com/Archive/FRE/FRE09141916P08.php

 

Could Clayton be the name of their dorm? It wouldn't surprise me. Many college dorms are named and maybe the baseball team all lived in one dorm.

 

I love the old newspapers. We get to know that Mrs. Alfred Decombaz spent a few days with her folks and J.J. Walter sold a team for $300. Also, the Ice Cream Social was a big success.

 

Reading further, I see that if you have a plow that needs fixin', there's a first class blacksmith 1mile south and 2 miles west of Clayton, so there we have it. A little town outside of St. Paul.

 

You know, I might have the Historical Society put on an Ice Cream Social this summer. That's what's missing in our town.

 

I suggested that way back.