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I
got this broadside poster from Mark Rucker about fifteen to
seventeen years ago; I think I paid $500.00. I remember when I
was trying to negotiate a better deal; Mark said he hadn't shown
it to the ephemera collectors and that they would like the
eagle. That did it, I bought it on the spot. I wasn't taking any
chances losing it. It was a better deal than I even realized at
the time, as I don't think I've seen a college baseball poster
this early and nice since.
I
never knew anything about the Delawares team advertised on the
poster all these years until I looked into it for this article.
I posted an enquiry
on Net54 Vintage Baseball Memorabilia forum to see if anyone
knew anything about the them. I received a tip from a
Net54 member named timzcardz about a book titled "Cap Anson 2" By Howard W. Rosenberg
which is on-line. Amazingly on page
19 paragraph 2 the book gives an account of a game between
Cornell University and the Delawares in June 1877. Moreover,
according to the book, Hall
of Famer Mike "King" Kelly 1857-1894 played for
the Delawares and the book gives an account  of Kelly playing
catcher and dropping a
ball after tagging the runner. The Cornell runner scored but
the Delawares won. Also gleaned from Net54 research well, member
Shawn England posted a photo of an
1876 card which announces a dance in honor of the Delawares.
Addenda
Wend. June 10, 2009
Since
the initial posting of this  article
I've received two additional bits of background on the
Delawares. Shawn England from the Net54 Vintage Baseball
Memorabilia forum posted on that site, a quote from the c1888
book "Play Ball: Stories of the Diamond Field" By Mike
Kelly. The quote which you can read in full here
indicates Kelly only played a few games with the Delawares
before moving on, and that he "didn't care much
for the place" .
I
also got an email from baseball historian and researcher Bob
Mayer of New York state which indicated the Delawares existed by
at least 1866, see email quote below.
"The
Delawares of Port Jervis were an opponent of a team I did some
research on a few years ago. The team was already organized by
1866 and was the first team the Wallkills of Middletown played
that year. PJ won the first game and the Wallkills won the
second. In the early 1880's Fred Nyce who later played
some in the Minors pitched for the Delawares"
From
Shawn England's post I made the most amazing discovery that BaseballChronology.com
posts classic baseball books on their site. And not just the
text; the layouts include original photos and graphics so you
get the feel of reading the original volume. These are rare
books you could take years searching for. Naturally, reading
them on line doesn't have the status of owning the originals .
However, if you go to a thrift store and buy some old worthless
antique books, you can open them up around your computer so you
get the musty smell while you're reading BaseballChronology's
books on line. But seriously, if you truly enjoy the read, and
don't have to have the originals to show off, these on line
volumes are fantastic.
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