22 September 2014

a black armband for charles ebbetts

dodgers' owner charles ebbets passed away in april of 1925.  ebbets, who also managed the team for part of one season, was featured in yesterday's sunday morning target dodger post so i figured today would be a good day to post about the memorial that the team wore in his honor.  believe it or not, both the robins (as the brooklyn club was then known) and the new york giants wore black armbands during the 1925 season in ebbets' memory according to the hall of fame's website.  here's a 2002 upper deck sp legendary cuts card of dazzy vance showing the robins' version of the memorial 
i've been unable to find even a photo of a giants' player wearing an armband in 1925, let alone a card.  it is possible that the giants wore the armband for just a short time or even a single game.  anyway, i'm glad to have the vance card in the collection.  the patch on the front of the jersey, by the way, was worn by all national league teams in 1925.  it recognizes the 50th year of national league baseball.

ebbets worked his way up the brooklyn organization from a bookkeeper to director of baseball operations, naming himself manager for the latter part of the 1898 season.  he bought out ned hanlon (the former owner of the baltimore orioles) in 1902 and began his ownership tenure; a tenure that included financing and building ebbets field, the home of the dodgers from 1913 through 1957.  ebbets was 65 years old when he died.

No comments: