26 January 2015

an indians' black armband for team president (and owner) jim dunn

jim dunn was the owner of the cleveland indians from 1916 until the time of his death in june of 1922.  as such, it was on his watch that the indians won their first world series in 1920 against the brooklyn robins.  following his passing, the team added black armbands to their left sleeves in dunn's honor.  tris speaker is wearing the armband on this 2002 fleer greats of the game card
even though fleer considers this to be a red sox card (he began his career in boston and won his mvp award there in 1912).  continuing the tie to the red sox, dunn and his partners had purchased the indians from charles somers, who at one time was the owner of the bosox.

that same photo of speaker, although more tightly cropped, also shows up on a 2003 upper deck sp legendary cuts card
with speaker identified as a member of the cleveland indians.  still, i've got the 2002 fleer greats card in my memorials binder for this one.

later today, i'll post another black armband worn by the indians in the 1920's - worn for ray chapman, to be specific.  while speaker was on that team (he hit .320 in the world series against the robins), we know that the photo on these two cards comes from 1922 thanks to the font of 'cleveland' on his jersey. the 1920 indian away jerseys used more of a block lettering style.  

No comments: