Only two old right cards were produced from Cap Anson, but there were five from Walter Bogart in 1888. Walter Wie? The Bogart maps stand out for two reasons. One, the images show us the somewhat unusual uniform of the Indianapolis NL club. And two, nobody knows today who Walter Bogart is.
The team shirt that Bogart wore that day was light blue in color and made of a knitted material, not the traditional flannel. It was close -fitting and therefore unsuitable for the hardships of baseball. So every photo of this short -lived item is worth mentioning. When I tried to visit Bogart in baseball reference, I could not find a player by that name on the Hoosier schedule of 1888 or, in fact, in a schedule of a pro-team somewhere. Who was this player and why was he missing over the years?
Who doesn’t like a good mystery?
Bogart’s life can indeed be hidden in newspaper archives. He was born in New York, where father is a flower shop on Sixth Avenue, and he played baseball for the Sylvans, an amateur team in Harlem, when he signed at Indianapolis via Manager Spence on January 4, 1888, at the age of twenty-two. The Indianapolis Journal Bogart mentioned for the first time on February 12, 1888, saying that ‘little is known about George Bogert [sic]The new first Honkman from the Indianapolis Club, except by manager Spence, whose Protegé he is. ‘Although the Magazine Mangel Bogart’s name, the newspaper noted that the player ‘had a number of offers last fall […] But because of his family, she refused to accept. “The paper described him as a” big man, six feet two centimeters high and with a weight of 190 pounds “and” remarkably active “.
Ok, so Walter Bogart was real, but why not a baseball record?
At the end of March 1888, the Magazine announced the arrival of the players who reported for work. “Buckley, Shreve, Hines, Esterbrook and Seery are here,” said the newspaper on March 25. “Boyle and Bogart are expected today.” The conventional wisdom is that Bogart lost the first base track the next month to Dude Esterbrook and Jumbo Schoeneck.
The truth is that Bogart lost its job to something much worse. The Magazine On April 8, “Walter Bogart, the young first Honkman secured by the Indianapolis Club, is very sick in his room in the English hotel. He caught cold in practicing, it seems that he was not fully recovered, looks like his illness last winter in New York City, and now has a bad fever.”
Six days later, on April 13, the Magazine said that Bogart “is dangerously ill in the hotel of English. His condition changed for the worse yesterday, and his doctor, last night, stated that there was doubt whether he could recover.” The Indianapolis News On the same day said that Bogart “is dangerously ill in his room in North Illinois Street with typus pneumonia.”
Six days is a long time to suffer with fever. On April 14 the Magazine stated that “Bogart’s mother and brother had left for Indianapolis” to attend him and that “Bogart was moved to St. Vincent Hospital.”
But this is not a tragic story.
Once Bogart came to the hospital, his condition is ‘improved’, so you wonder why he did not go to the hospital before? The only tragedy here was that it was now April 15 and the Indianapolis season started against Chicago on April 20. Bogart’s chance was closed.
On May 17, 1888, the Magazine reported that “Walter Bogart, the young first Honkman from New York City, who was so anxious manager, was so anxious to give a trial last spring, was seen yesterday. This was done, not because Bogart had been a disappointment, but because Bogart was sick in the time in which he was expected to give him a trial period. […] However, management could hardly afford to place him [in a] Championship match as long as men were regularly able to play in the team. “
The Magazine added that “the graceful young first baseman received his release without a single test. […] He is a promising first baseman for every club that a player needs for that position. “
Epitaph.
Returning to New York, Bogart recovered slowly and he was good enough to play with De Wiltons, an amateur team in New York, planned for July 22, 1888, however, manager Spence did not return to Indianapolis the following year and went with him the opportunity for Bogart to try again. New York newspapers showed that Bogart played at amateur clubs in the New York region in the mid-1890s.
The New York Sun It noted on February 17, 1890 that “Bogart would be useful for a large or minor League team.” Apparently that opportunity never arrived – and there is no record from Bogart who once plays in a professional league match. So consider the above page with an improvised baseball reference.
The Warhol-like quote is that everyone has 15 minutes of fame. Walter Bogart has never had his fifteen minutes. But he lives today – on records of old cardboard and in the hands of collectors. In one way or another, his fifteen minutes took more than 130 years.
—Bogart signing information of the New York SunJanuary 5, 1888. Reports about Bogart in Indianapolis of the Indianapolis Journal12 February, 25 March, April 8, 13-15 April and 17 May 1888, and the Indianapolis NewsApril 13, 1888. Report by Bogart plays for Wiltons van de New York SunJuly 21, 1888. Cabinet card image of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
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