Certainly much history has been lost to those passing 12 decades, especially since it was a city league, and surely at the time, nobody was considering that some of their own may go on to star for a Major League baseball team. Technically, I suppose, the MLB as we know it today, didn't even exist then.
But every now and again, something surprising happens.
Back in January of last year, Marty and I were at The University of Western Ontario researching George Gibson and trying to learn about his connections with the Labatt family. Among the archived items we looked at was a magazine about baseball in London.
There was nothing in the magazine that helped us further our research that day, but there was one thing: A picture of a rather old, somewhat ornate, looking baseball trophy: The Beck Cup.
Marty and I immediately recognized it as the trophy awarded annually to the team that won the London City League. More specifically, this trophy was won by George Gibson, and his team, in 1902. We were immediately intrigued.
Credit for the photo was given to Museum London, a museum that, as you can probably imagine, is located in London. The museum isn't open every day, but as luck would have it, it was set to open at noon on this day. We wrapped up our research, set the destination in our GPS, and headed out on a spontaneous little adventure.

Our pace down the stairs picked up, and as we arrived in front of the case, there it was: The Beck Cup!
Less than an hour earlier, we had no idea this trophy still existed. But, thanks to an otherwise random photo in an otherwise random magazine, we were standing five feet away from it.
To think that some 117 years earlier, George Gibson and his teammates raised this trophy in celebration is pretty cool -- there certainly can't be much other memorabilia left from the early days of the London City League.
nice!
ReplyDeleteNow if we could just happen upon a museum that has the pocket watch Gibson was given by Dreyfuss in 1909!
DeleteSounds like a fun adventure, but am I only one who thinks it's odd that employee's at a museum wouldn't know what was on display in said museum?
ReplyDeleteIt's a fair question, Jon. Maybe they were caught off guard by us asking for something so specific by name. Either way, they were very friendly about it all. Though it does make me wonder what other baseball stuff they might have just not out on display...
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