Back to the Future of Baseball

Do you like a mystery? A reader, Shawn England, recently sent me some pictures and asked if I had any information on the depicted event:

I believe the picture was taken in the Chicago area due to the fact that the Policeman has CCP on his belt buckle. I have found photos of Chicago police with the same buckle and attire. I am hoping someone may be able to identify the exact location or the guys pictured. I have exhausted all of my go to locations in trying to pin down the names that are written on the back, with no success.

My take on the photos representation, is that it is some sort of parody on baseball. Perhaps showing the future of baseball in (a hundred years from now" in "1999" as the game was fairly rough in the days of which this picture was taken. Anyway, any help or direction you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Here are the pictures:







Fascinating shots! Shawn also posed the question on the Net54Baseball Forum so there are a few additional clues over there. There is what appears to be a rifle on the ground and one forum member noted, "this was a very rough period in baseball...lots of fighting and problems...lots of drinkers and high livers...actually what led to the founding of the American League...perhaps this was a clever play on the idea that by 1999 baseball would be played by thugs with guns...much like the NBA of modern day." OK, that last comment was tongue-in-cheek, but I think the forum members have some great observations. It certainly sounds/appears to be a Chicago event, but is it? If anyone has some additional information on these "Marty McFlyball pics," please post in the comments.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Received from a reader: My take on the baseball mystery is that it was a promotional advertisement scheme for one of the teams playing that day. I was able to magnify the scoreboard and although it is not crystal clear, it appears that the name of the visiting team was the Criminals. I can definitely make out a CRIM. This would account for all the criminal related dress of the various individuals. A clown act perhaps designed to promote the team and playfully intimidate the opposing team or fan base.

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Chicago: A Satire

"Farewell, Chicago! Ruin fall on you!
I hate, despise, and loathe you through and through.
I hate the tricks of this intemperate clime,
The dust in summer and in spring the slime;
Nature is here on one perpetual spree;
She shifts from hot to cold with devilish glee;
From flare to frost so quick the vile jade turns,
Your left hand freezes while your right hand burns.
Sometimes you stroll forth. May in all your veins;
You turn a corner and December reigns."

These lines, accurately describing Chicago's unpredictable weather, were published in a 1901 poem titled, "Chicago: A Satire." The author is listed as Thomas P. Johnson, but don't bother revving up the Google search engine. This little poem first appeared in "The Inlander," a University of Michigan student publication established in 1890, and it doesn't appear that Mr. Johnson continued writing.

In the poem, the author is saying goodbye to his friend, Jack, at the train station. It seems Jack has not done very well in Chicago and laments, "When stocks is watered, somebody gets soaked." Jack doesn't like Chicago's air, the trains, feels the city is crime-ridden, hates the people and immigrants. In fact, he is just glad to be getting out of Chicago. His friend, the author, counters the arguments, and reminds the reader that Chicago is a different sort of city:

"And even this filth, are blessings in disguise.
The former drive the weak forth in dismay;
The latter keeps the gilded drone away;
Hence our proud energy, our manners free.
Our ways of kindly hospitality.
This is no place, my boy, to whine or shirk;
This soil is sacred to the god of work.
The deep low song the laboring city sings
Is full of discords to the ears of kings.
I love the people's insolence and pride;
Long be the rich by their stern hate defied."

It's a wonderful oddity; a little gem of prairie prose poetry. Enjoy.

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Birth of a New Year

It's New Year's Day and I'm guessing not many people are going to be feeling up to reading much, so I'll make this brief. I want to wish all my readers and supporters a very Happy New Year. Without you The Journal would have not survived these past three years and I am forever grateful. Last year was rough; I'm glad it is now in the history books. But, the first of January brings hope and new opportunities for better days. The Quaker poet Bernard Barton called New Year's Day the "birthday for all mankind; a very fitting label for John T. McCutcheon's January 1, 1911 Chicago Tribune editorial cartoon. (I do take exception to McCutcheon saying the New Year is a boy, but who am I to criticize the master?) Barton's poem, "A New Year's Eve," is not a particularly cheerful poem, so I'll leave you this New Year's Day with the following, as you make that list of resolutions...

"New Year's Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual." - Mark Twain

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