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Old Timers’ Games:
A Transformation from Player Benefits Events to Clubs’ Historical
Celebrations and the Rise of a Baseball Goodwill Communion.
2015 Cooperstown Symposium of Baseball and American Culture
Keith Spalding Robbins

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John McGraw famously quipped a century ago that baseball is about one thing: “The
main idea is to win”1 Yet that is not the purpose of Old Timers Games, the ceremonial and
celebratory exhibitions by retired professional players whose ages and elapsed times since
retirement may vary widely. The purposes and functions of the Old Timers’ Game evolved
from one-off independent charitable fund-raising events to club-based traditions focused on
marketing and public relations for the sport. Fund-raising agendas dominated the earliest Old
Timers’ Games, particularly from the Civil War Era to the middle of the Great Depression.
Beneficiaries included individual ballplayers, war efforts, and civic charities such as local
hospitals. Emulating these fundraising successes, the MLB clubs and the Hall of Fame
incorporated an Old Timer’s Game into their portfolio of special events to spur ticket sales. Old
Timers exhibitions for the most part do not honor single players (as do player appreciation
events), nor do they pursue victory so much as they express general love of the game by ritual
embrace of ceremony and celebration. A common theme, regardless of the specific purpose of a
particular game, is that Old Timers Games function as a secular baseball communion for
remembering heroes past and generating Baseball Goodwill.
Of the 30 current MLB teams, only the Yankees continue to stage an Old Timers’ Game.
This study covers roughly the first century of baseball history, beginning with the New York
Knickerbockers who wrote the first rules in 1840’s to 1947,the year the Yankees staged their
first Old Timers’ Day. For purposes of this study, to be counted as an Old Timer Game, an event
had to have a connection to MLB players or a clear baseball significance. Using this definition,
perhaps as few as 11 Old Timer’s Games were played in the 19th Century, and there were as few
as 44 Old Timer’s Games in the subsequent half-century through 1947 (see details in
Appendices One and Two).2 In contrast, there were more than 80,000 regular major league, post
season, spring training, and in-season exhibition games in the same period. Thus, Old Timers’
games represent an infinitesimal proportion of all games played, perhaps 1 in 1,500.
There is no official database for Old Timers Games. The Glossary of Baseball-
reference.com does not include a listing for Old Timers’ Games,3 and since these games are

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unofficial exhibitions they are not listed in comprehensive Retrosheet.org data base nor in any
of the online regular season compilations of box scores.
19th Century Old Timer’s Games
The rough and tough 19th century produced an estimated dozen scheduled Old Timer’s
Games, of which 10 were actually played. As the game evolved, so too did the concept of the
Old Timers Game. Some games were against other professional teams, while other were against
selected amateur teams who served as likeable and easily beaten opponents. The games went a
full nine innings except with the intervention of inclement weather, cold or rain.
Given the challenges of defining an Old Timers’ Game, and the overlap in early baseball
history between amateur and professional activities, it is not surprising that declaring which
game was the first Old Timers’ Game is subject to debate. There are four 19th century games that
might claim to be the ‘first’ Old-Timers’ Game: [1] William Ryczek, in Baseball’s First Inning,
proposes that the first Old Timers Game took place on October 14, 1864 when the old Brooklyn
played their newer replacement Atlantics. The Brooklyn Eagle of October 14,1864 used the term
“old-fellers” to describe the players.4 [2] John Thorne in, Baseball in The Garden of Eden, argues
that the first Old Timers’ Game was staged by the non-professional amateur dues-paying
gentlemen Knickerbockers on the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey on September 26,
1875.5 The October 9, 1875 edition of the New York Clipper used the term “old duffers”6. [3] The
first all-professional baseball Old Timer’s Game featured players from both the National
Association and the National League fame was played at the Polo Grounds on July 29, 1881. [4]
Finally the first Old Timers’ Game played by Major League players is recorded by Sporting Life
as having taken place in Boston on September15,1887, using the specific phrase “Old-Timer’s
Game.”7
The Brooklyn Atlantics: October 14,1864. The claim that this game was baseball’s first
old timer’s game rests with the research of William Ryczek, as presented in his book, Baseball’s
First Inning: A History of the National Pastime Through the Civil War. The Brooklyn Eagle used
phrases as the “Old Fellers”, “Old Nine”, “Veterans”, and “Old Style,” to describe the old
Atlantic team, and described the new Atlantic team as “boys”, “youngsters” and “new nine”.

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While introducing the concept of “old feller” into the baseball lexicon, this game is more akin to
an intra-squad game to determine the best staring nine, as two of the old fellers; Dicky Pearce
and CJ Smith were starters of the 1865 “World Champion” Brooklyn Atlantics.8 This is the same
Dicky Pearce who continued to play in Old Timers’ events in Boston until 1907.
New York Knickerbockers: September 26,1875. There is a simple logic that baseball’s
fountainhead team should have baseball’s first Old Timers’ Game, simply because they had
been playing long enough to create “old timers” (Thorne 2012). A front page story from the
New York Sun noted:
“The old, original Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York will celebrate to-day, on the
groundsin Hoboken, thetwenty-first anniversary of JamesWhyte Davis’ active
membership.”9
Two teams were formed: one comprised of club players from the 1850’s, called “old duffers,”
and a second comprised of “youngsters of 1860,” including Davis himself. The old timers lost
in a 5-inning shutout (21-0), summarized by The Sun as:
The old boysthrew down their canesand went in to win, when play wascalled,but
their years were too many for them, and though they did some surprisingly good
playing they failed to score a run...By the timethe fifth inning was ended the sun had
sunk, and the damps of the evening began to settle... Let the youngsters finish the
game. It’s getting cold…10
Dick Pearce Benefit: July 29, 1881. Held at the old Polo Grounds of Manhattan, New
York Baseball held its first professional old timers game as a benefit for a retired popular player
in need. A few days before the game The Eagle ran a short story:
Dick hasever been ready with hisservicesin response to callsto give othersa benefit,
note-worthily asin the case of Jimmy Woods of the Eckfords, when thelatterbroke his
leg in Chicago some years ago, and now that Dick finds himself and family in
straightened circumstancesthere will, be no doubt, be a generousresponse on the part
of the base ball public to aid him.”11
As for the game itself, the Eagle noted, reported that the play was: “marked by no less than a
total of 26 errors” leaving the contest overall “unworthy of special description…”12 However,
cheering was enthusiastic, and after the game was final at 6-3 in favor of the Veterans, “the
crowd smiled, and Dick and the party came off the field as happy as larks in clover.” The game

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headline noted the Old Timers were victorious: “Get away with the Mets and handsomely
too….”13
Jack Manning Benefit, September 15, 1887. The first Boston old timer’s took place on
Peddock’s Island, a well-known Boston Harbor destination for summer cottages and day trip
excursions. The game attracted a large crowd of over 2000 fans and, as reported in Sporting Life,
raised over $1000 for Jack Manning. The teams included a locally picked group of semi-pro all-
stars called the Pioneers and a professional Old Timer’s team called Boston of ’76, including
Hall of Famers George Wright, Spink Award winner Murnane, and professional players from
the original National League season of 1876. Despite the star power of their opponents, and
unlike the earlier Old Timers’ games in New York, the picked team actually won 12 to 6. The
Old Timers, however did exhibit grace and skill and pulled off a triple play as Sporting Life
reported.14
The Failed Veteran’s Grand Match of 1879. The Brooklyn Eagle of February 27, 1879,
announced “A Veteran’s Grand Match” to be played sometime in May of that year, sponsored
by the Old Pastime Club of Brooklyn. The game was to be played under “old-time rules” using
equipment conforming to older regulation standards, with players required to be “veteran ball-
tossers of the club nines which were in existence in this city and Brooklyn from 1858 to 1860.”
On May 14, 1879 the Brooklyn Eagle reported,“now that the weather is fine and not too hot, the
meeting will be thoroughly enjoyed.”15 The next week, on May 19th edition of the Eagle, the
excitement for a game grew to a fever pitch with the inclusion of all of the New York baseball
community getting involved, as ‘Poor Old Davis,” of New York Knickerbocker fame entered
into the frame by stating he was ready to get a team together to “…knock spots out of any
Brooklyn veteran nine.…”16 Despite the advance publicity and build-up, the game apparently
never took place. There were no game reports found in the Brooklyn Eagle of May or June of 1879
until July, 28th, when the paper rhetorically asked:
What hasbecomeof the enthusiasm of the old boysof 1859 and ’60, who wanted so
eagerly to get up an old time ball match at the Park thisSummer? Are they too old,
or did the expense of the contemplated supper scare them? “We wait for a reply.”

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The Eagle and its readers would have to wait ‘til next year, and the next as well, for there was
nary an old timers’ game played in the summer of ‘79. And we are still waiting to this day.
Mike Henry Benefit, August 18, 1884. We mightcall this game Brooklyn’s first
professional Old Timers’ Game as the players on both sides were at this time paid to play
baseball. Mike Henry, the beneficiary, was not a player but rather the grounds keeper of the old
Capitoline Grounds. This game referred to the participants as a “Gathering of Veterans17 and
pitted a group of Old Timers (the “Veterans”) against the Buckeyes of Brooklyn. The Veterans
won, 12-0 and The New York Times called the game “Not Ready to be Shelved: The Veteran
Baseball Players Whitewash their Young Opponents.”18
Harry Wright Memorial Day Games: 1896. During the National League winter meetings
of 1895, the magnates developed a plan for a group of simultaneous exhibition games to be held
in 1896 in different cities for the purpose of memorializing Harry Wright who had recently died.
In addition to games held by collegiate and minor league teams, MLB Clubs staged thirteen
memorial games, but none by St. Louis. Four events were Old Timer games: Boston, Louisville,
Cincinnati and Rockford. The Harry Wright Memorial concept was not exceptionally popular,
with the average game attendance came to only about 1400 per contest, in comparison to
regular opening day (a few days later) games’ attendance numbers averaging over 14,000.19
In Boston, where manager Harry Wright assembled baseball’s first dynasty, a hand-
picked team organized by John Morrill played the varsity nine of Harvard. This game was not
well attended and it raised no more than about $100 for the memorial. About 500 fans some of
whom were credited with being loud omnipresent baseball cranks filled the South End grounds
outfield bleachers. This game featured three innings of old style underhand pitching by Arthur
Cummings, whose wildness confused the Harvard batters, leading The Boston Globe to report:
“When the old war horse did find the plate Harvard’s pets could only bat out a couple of
singles.”20 Despite a 14-10 final score, the competition was effectively over after two innings
when the old men racked up a 9-1 lead, and The Globe reporter noted that “…these college boys
who have been in training for weeks for this and coming contests were not in it.”

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In Louisville, tickets had been sold in advance, but rain and cold spring conditions
limited attendance to a small crowd of a mere 200. The second stringers of the National League
Colonels easily handled the locals by a score of 27-4. While many old timers were present and of
course knew Harry Wright, it was a failure as an Old Timers game. Fear rather than love of the
game ruled the day, and critic Oliver Perry Caylor (a/k/a “Newspaper Nincompoop”) wrote,
“Many old-timerswho had been invited to play declined forfear, they said, of being guyed by the crowd.21
The Cincinnati game, attended by a crowd of 1462 fans, featured a match between the
current team and old timers of 1882, who were Cincinnati’s only Pennant winning team at that
time. Perhaps because Cincinnati was Harry Wright’s former home town, this game proved
much more successful as compared to Louisville. More than just a game, the event was clearly
one of respect and gentlemanly honor and, in addition to the game itself, included an
exhibition, lecture, and elegant banquet. Prior to the game, as noted by the Boston Globe,
members of the Harry Wright Association put on a demonstration in which they “Played scrub,
illustrating the muffin game of 30 years ago.” The St. Paul Daily Globe called this exhibition, “…
irregular and amusing.”22 In the end, the Old Timers lost to the current team by a score of 7-3 23
and Sporting Life editors noted:
The Reds considerately refused to slaughter the heroesof the other days, and rested
content with seven runs and ten hits. The Vets were only one: behind on hits.
This one game set a precedent for the Reds to honor selected players, and the team later
held Old Timers benefit games for players Bid McPhee and Bug Hamilton, and staged at least
two more: one in 1919 and again in the early twenties. The Reds also are given credit for
holding the first Old Timers Night game event in 1936.
The Rockford Forest City’s reunion game was the grandest baseball and town
celebration of the day, and Sporting Life noted that it became a state wide event to put Rockford
back on the baseball map for the day, “… it seemed that every town and hamlet contributed to
the grand conclave of cranks.” School classes were cancelled, businesses closed, buildings were
decorated, and a magnificent mile-long parade preceded the game including circus elephants,

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marching bands and militia, fire engines, equestrians, hundreds of cyclists, and other
spectacles.24
Not surprisingly, given the grand build-up, Rockford’s was the most attended of the old
timers games, with a sold-out capacity crowd of over 2500, according to the Rockford Republican.
With both teams comprised of old timers and baseball professionals, Sporting Life called it, ”the
most unique game in history of base ball.”25 The ‘visiting team’ was led by the old Red George
Wright who wore a replica Cincinnati uniform and other Forest City National Association stars,
the hometown team was led by AG Spalding and his teammates of 1869 Forest City’s fame
attired in their old Forest City Green and White. The game was played under special Old
Timers’ rules, with high and low pitches being called for by the batter, nine balls needed to be
granted first, fair and foul fly first bounces and base overruns disallowed, the pitchers’ box
would be the old rule of 45 feet, and of course pitches served underhand. At the end of the first
inning, the Forest City nine were up 4 to 0. Then, after a single at-bat in the top of the second,
the game-ending rains came. The Rockford Republic witnessed the scene reporting:26
…the rain swept acrossthe diamond and the game of the year,asthe old boysplay it,
was lost and won.”
Officially the game lasted a total of 20 minutes it was a rain out. The majority of the crowd
headed for shelter without Umpire Waldo calling the game. Rockfords’ first and only Old
Timers’ game is possibly baseballs longest unofficial rain delay, 119 years, 40 days and counting
as of this writing. Of course, even such a magnificent and historically faithful effort was not
with its critics, and the curmudgeon Caylor with axes to grind against Spalding and Wright
whined: “Even the primitive style would have been burlesqued without intention had not a
merciful rainstorm interposed and cut the absurdity short.”27
Bobby Matthews Benefit: August 11,1897. Bobby Mathews was credited as the first
pitcher whose mastery of the curve ball lead to a successful career. He is quite possibly the
greatest pitcher not in the Hall of Fame given his number of wins, and status as the best pitcher
on teams that were not pennant winners. But by 1897, as reported in the July 17, 1897 edition of
Sporting Life, he was destitute laying near death in a hospital 28 and soon the call came out for a

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benefit game. To be held in Philadelphia, this event became the first Old Timers’ Game in that
city. Although slimly attended given the cause, some 2000 tickets were sold with numerous out
of town subscriptions and over $1000 was raised to the aid of Matthews. On October5 of 1897
he was removed from the hospital and taken to his parent’s home for hospice care, where he
died on April 17, 1898, after a long and debilitating illness, at the mere age of 46.29
Old Timers vs Australia: June 21, 1897. The last noted 19th century Old Timers Game
was perhaps the most unusual international baseball exhibition ever played. Held on Boston’s
South End Grounds, this game pitted well-known old timers against a visiting Australian
baseball team, and co-starred a mechanical pitching contraption known as the ‘Princeton
Pitching Gun.’ The pitching machine was used in relief and operated by its inventor, then
Princeton Mathematics professor Charles Howard “Bull” Hinton. It was a fear inducing device
that propelled baseballs via a gun-powder explosive towards unsuspecting batters. One version
was mounted on a cannon base while another version was hand held shotgun. The box score
notes “the Gun” was credited for a wild pitch.30 Even though no Australians were injured by
“the Gun,” the Australian media declared, “American Trip a Failure.”31
20th Century Old Timers’ Games
The 19th century established a pattern of benefit games for popular and respected
players. The Harry Wright Memorial Fund games represented success of the National League
and expanded the Old Timers game concept to more of baseball and promoted these games as
larger civic ceremonies of sportsmanship, goodwill, respect, and love of the game. The honoring
of baseball’s players and positive heroes of the game of the 19th century set the foundation for
20th Century Baseball’s refinement of the Old Timer’s Game.
A partial list of old timer’s games played in the first half of the 20th Century nets around
40 games played across the country. Two men led the cause of the Old Timers game in this
period: Boston’s sportswriter and minor league magnate, Tim Murnane, who proposed Old
Timers Games as a means of institutionalized player benefits, and the indomitable Hall of Fame
Baseball Executive, Larry MacPhail, who transformed the Old Timer’s Game into a team-based
civic event and baseball communion of remembrance,honor and pride. The Yankees began

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sponsoring Old Timers’ Games to establish the club as the moral leader of baseball, the bastion
of baseball’s conquering heroes and remembrance of winning pennants past. It is the during
historic and meaningful season of 1947, as baseball anticipated a better future with the signing
of Jackie Robinson, that it also respected the players, traditions, and goodwill of the baseball’s
past with the inaugural Old Timers’ Day.
Selected Critical Games 1900- 1947
Peddock’s Island Reunions. Based upon the success of the 1887 game, former members
of the Original Red Stockings of Boston staged a series of celebratory Old Timers games on
Peddock’s Island from 1906 to 1912. Both organized teams were comprised of “old timer’s”
invited from all former teams. The games recorded were nine-inning exhibitions played under
old rules featuring under-handed tossing from a distance less than a 60”-6” pitcher’s mound,
one-bounce outs, and a liberal strike zone. No tickets were sold, and newspaper accounts
invited all lovers of game to attend via special steam launches readied to ferry the crowd to the
island. Sporting Life stated the attendance figures ranged from 500 to 2500 during those years.
This events were punctuated by the appearances of State and Municipal politicians and
other prominent civic leaders. For the duration of these games, Peddock’s Island was the place
and time, “When Good Fellows Meet.” (Sporting Life, 1911). The games ceased when Peddock’s
Island was converted for military purposes before World War One, although the Braves
continued a limited tradition of charitable Old Timer’s Games from the mid-1920’s until the
team left town.
1908 Boston Red Sox Old Timers Game. Having won the first World Series of 1903 and
the AL Pennant again in 1904 and winning the hearts and voice of the Royal Rooters, the only
item left for the Red Sox was to win the battle of legitimacy and baseball legacy. To claim the
baseball birthright of Boston, the Red Sox sought to hold an official Old Timers Game by
inviting former National Leaguers to appear in their American League ball park. One attempt
failed in 1905 (former players of the New York Giants and the Boston Beaneaters), but on
September 23,1908, in front of nearly 10,000 fans a group of former National leaguers played a

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team of select collegiate players to the praise of the all the Boston media, in which the players
were declared “celebrities.”32
With former National League professional playing former collegiate amateurs in front of
school age children, three generations of Boston were present to witness a successful and
entertaining exhibition baseball game sponsored by the American League Red Sox. In doing so,
the Red Sox used an Old Timers game to claim the past heritage of Professional Baseball, past
and current collegiate baseball, current professional baseball and future baseball of Boston and
New England in one singular well received staged event. It was the day the Red Sox claimed
the baseball birthright for itself and all of New England from the older more established Braves.
War Benefit Exhibitions. Old timer’s games staged as wartime benefit were staged
across the country both during WWI and again in WWII. One of the more unique games was
sponsored by former NL President A.F. Sheehan and staged with Chicago’s semi-pro players at
Garden City Park to raise funds for needed supplies for the troops, including tobacco products.
(Chicago Tribune July 7, 1918.) Old Timer Baseball games patriotically supported the American
Red Cross role in WWI with two Old Timers Games staged in Chicago on July 21th, 1917 at
Wrigley Field and on May 10th, 1918 at Comiskey Park. The teams were comprised of retired
players from both the Nationals and Americans. Admission required a donation to the Red
Cross of twenty-five cents, except for servicemen in uniform who were admitted free.
Additional funds were raised from auction of game balls signed by the old timers. Other
entertainment included Army and Navy teams competing in athletic contests such as relay and
sprint races and camp-like stretcher and carrying races by local Boy Scout troops. A by-product
of these war benefit games was the creation of the Old Timers’ Baseball Association, an
organization that supported former players prior to development of formal player support and
pension programs by the Players’ Association and MLB.
1921 & 1925 Christy Mathewson Testimonial Games. On the last day of the 1921 season,
the Giants held “Matty Day” a fundraiser Old Timers Game named for their former pitcher who
was suffering the ill-effects of World War One poison gas exposure. Interestingly the Giants
opponent was the old Boston Braves, whose regular season game was officially rained out

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earlier in the day. This was a five inning affair in which John McGraw instructed his current
pennant winning and ultimately World Series Championship team not to disrespect their elders
and, accordingly, the Old Timers’ defeated the 1921 Giants 2 to 0. While the New York Times
noted that some of the Old Timers were not in playing form, “… were a good bit removed from
the outlines of old. But, one and all, the old-timers still packed a punch and handled
themselves … with a liveness and assurance that many a budding regular mighty envy.”33 This
game featured live in-game auctioning of baseballs signed by both baseball stars and politicians
including President Warren Harding and Vice President Calvin Coolidge and signaled the
monetizing of baseball memorabilia that has since become a billion dollar industry. Five years
later in 1926, the Braves honored him posthumously with another Old Timer’s game. Although
raised in Mathewson’s memory, the monies raised went to a hospital for veterans.
Cleveland Civic Celebration. The City of Cleveland staged an Old Timers game on July
29th, 1921. Neither a benefit nor a charity event, this game was part of a panoply of pure
sporting events and civic festivals sponsored by the City of Cleveland, Ohio to celebrate its 125th
founding Anniversary. No current professional players participated in the game, which pitted
former Cleveland pros (the Old Timers) against ex-sandlot stars from Cleveland’s civic and
industrial leagues. This was a full, nine inning game that featured some 40 players and played
under current baseball rules. The Old Timers, headlined by 55 year-old Cy Young, and his
battery mate 60-year old Chief Zimmer prevailed in a thrilling 11-6 victory. “It was a great
homecoming for the heroes of other days on the diamond…” exclaimed Henry Edwards on a
Plain Dealer front page story.34
Rube Foster Memorial. On August 2, 1936, the Old Timer’s Baseball Association
collaborated with the Negro League Chicago American Giants and staged one of the first
integrated baseball contests comprised exclusively of Old Timers. This was a three inning
exhibition dedicated to Rube Foster, the founder and leader of the Negro National League. The
now 70-year old Giants Pitcher Fred Crazy Schmidt got the victory in a 6 to 5 game.35 This game
took place during the camouflaged racism of the Berlin summer Olympics taking place at the

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same time and stands as one of early signs that the time to end segregation in baseball was
drawing near.
60th Anniversary Celebration. In the midst of the Great Depression, the National League
staged a series of celebratory games to honor the league’s 60th season.36 All eight teams
participated in scripted ceremonies that honoring living retired players and staged Old Timers
game played under original National League rules of 1876. All the contestants of these games
wore replica bib-style uniforms with the year “1876” sewn on the front. However, these games
were re-enactments rather than true Old Timers games, as none of the contestants were
professional baseball players. In Boston, the “1876” re-enactors were members of the Parks
Department, in Chicago they were employees of the AG Spalding company; in St. Louis and
Philadelphia it was fire and police department teams. In New York over 10,000 high school
students tried out for 22 spots and their game was a recreation of the 1879 Old Timers Grand
Match that was never played, with the “New York Knickerbockers” defeating the “Brooklyn
Atlantics,” 2-1.
1939 Centennialof Baseball. The American League got into the Old Timers’ business in
1939 with a staged celebration of the fictional centennial of Abner Doubleday “inventing”
baseball.37 At the opening of the Hall of Fame, with the title of “Cavalcade of Baseball,” this was
a hybrid Old Timers game and ‘all-star’ game with recent Hall of Fame inductees, Ty Cobb,
Babe Ruth Walter Johnson etc. playing along with selected player from each MLB team.
Although well-attended by fans, the game was not received well by the players, league officials
nor Hall of Fame’s leadership, and thankfully this type of game has never again been staged
and more or less forgotten. Other notable 1939 American League Old Timer’s events were held
in Boston (for the first time since 1908),Philadelphia, and New York. The poorly attended
Boston game was preceded by a local celebrity charity softball game which might have kept the
rooters away. The game in Philadelphia on September 10th was a much more successful event
that nearly filled to capacity old Shibe Park. The event at Yankee Stadium on 4th of July in 1939,
although now part of the Old Timers’ Day Tradition, did not involve playing of an actual game.
It was, of course, the day that the Yankees and baseball honored Lou Gehrig, who in turn, gave

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one of the most important speeches in all of American history, ending with the famous line: "So
I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for."38
Dodgers, 1940 & Yankees, 1947. The purpose of the game was redefined by Hall of Fame
Larry McPhail. McPhail in 1947 spearheaded a player’s pension fund, thus rendering obsolete
the fundraising benefit purpose of earlier Old Timer’s Games. The ‘Old Timer’s Game’ became
an ‘Old Timers’ Day’ and its purpose shifted from fundraising to remembrance and
entertainment. The first modern Old Timer’s Day appears with the Dodgers in 1940 and after
getting fired from the Dodgers in 1941, McPhail landed with the Yankees and in 1947 initiated
the Old Timer’s Day that is now part of the Yankees Tradition. McPhail removed the informal
and burlesque aspects of earlier Old Timer Games: gone were re-enactors, collegiate and
amateur teams, birthday cakes, celebrity softball games, dubious inventions such as the pitching
gun, and political causes and fundraising efforts of war and service related charities.
When McPhail takes this game to the Bronx, three additional elements are added: the
Yankees’ numerous World Series Championships; the dignified legacy of Lou Gehrig; and
honoring Babe Ruth. The Yankees, in fact, held two days to honor Babe Ruth in 1947, the first
one was held in April and called Babe Ruth Appreciation day.39 As the season was progressing
and Babe’s health deteriorated a second day called ‘Old Timers Day’ was held on the last day of
the season and advertised as fundraising event for Babe’s youth charities. What was initially
started in 1947 to honor Babe Ruth is still with us today. An attendance analysis of the Yankees
Old Timers Day shows a net increase of almost 900,000 tickets sold for an average of more
13,000 more fans in attendance to commune with their favorite Old Timers’.40 The Yankees
understand the proper way to honor their fans, Old Timers’, and respect of their traditions.
Summary and Conclusion
What stared with a simple game in Hoboken to honor the Knickerbockers Club Capitan
Doc Adams in 1875 began a baseball tradition of honoring its past leaders, champions and
favorite players continues to this day with an exhibition contest and ceremony known as Old
Timers’ Day. Over the decades this game has changed its purpose from a goodwill effort to
raise funds for sick or needy players into a larger ritual in which baseball clubs seek to

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formalize their fans adoration and memories of past winning teams and their iconic players.
Along the way Old Timers’ games introduced a method for generating tickets sales, created a
baseball memorabilia market, and allowed sports teams to become benefactors for larger
societal concerns. Thus Old Timers’ Games attempt to combine two disparate elements, one
profane and another sacred. One is the business of baseball, the of selling tickets and profiting
for the monetizing memorabilia; and, two is the higher moral purposes of honoring the baseball
heroics of past winning teams, the respectful remembrance of the unequivocal greatness of
former players, and honoring the legacy of recently deceased players.
The rarity of the event occurring throughout baseball history implies that Old Timers’
events require the club to assume a level of risk in sponsoring such an event. These games
require personal choices by their fans and former players: to forgive past errors and mistakes, to
forget past losses and the pain they brought, and to rememberand relive the unbridled joy of
past pennants heroics and championships.
Successfully staged Old Timers’ Day Games validate that the Club is acting as a worthy
caretaker of the public’s trust as a Goodwill Ambassador of Championship Baseball. It is the
way for the fans, players and administrators of the National Pastime to gather together say a
collective “Thank You.” As Lou Gehrig in speaking for all of baseball players past and present:41
“Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in
ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and
encouragement from you fans.”
Appendix One: 19th Century Old Timers Games
1864: October14,Brooklyn Atlantics “Old Fellows”
1875: September 27, Knickerbockers, “Old Duffers”
1879: May, Prospect Park Brooklyn,“Old Time Game” (Not Played)
1881: July 29, Dicky Pearce Benefit, Polo Grounds
1884: August 18, Mike Henry Benefit, Brooklyn
1887: September 15, Jack Manning Benefit, Boston

16. 16
1896: April 13,Harry Wright Memorial Fund Day
Boston: NL “Old Timers” vs Harvard
Cincinnati: Reds of ‘82 vs Reds of ‘96
Louisville: Colonels vs Louisville Athletic Club (Not Played)
Rockford: Forest City’s Reunion
1897: June 21, ‘Veterans’ vs Australians, Boston
1897: August 11, Bobby Matthews Benefits, Philadelphia
Appendix Two: Old Timers Games, 1900-1947
Boston Peddock’s Island (7): 1900, 1906-1911 (1912 Unconfirmed)
Boston Braves (4): 1922, 1926, 1930 & 1936
Boston Red Sox (2): 1908 & 939
Cincinnati (6): 1907, 1925,1931, 1932, 1933,& 1940
Chicago White Sox (1): 1918
Chicago Mills Stadium & Others (6): 1918, 1920, 1931, 1933,1936, 1937
Chicago Cubs (2): 1917 & 1936
Cleveland (3): 1921,1925, and 1938
New York (6): Giants 1921, 1925, 1936 & 1944; Yankees 1939 & 1947
Brooklyn (2): 1936 & 1940
Philadelphia (2): NL Anniversary (1936) & A’s Reunion 1939
Pittsburgh (1) 1936
St. Louis (1): Cardinals/Browns 1936
San Antonio (1): 1940 Old Timers Baseball Association Meeting
Kansas City (1): 1942 Old Timers’ Baseball Association Meeting
1 http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/quomcg2.shtml
2 From a variety of sources: Sporting Life Newspapers & Baseball Hall of Fame Giamatti Library.
3 As of writingthis paper on June 15, 2016. www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/category:Glossary
4 Brooklyn Eagle, Fri, Oct 14, 1864, theTeams were Veterans and Youngsters.
5 See http://docadamsbaseball.org/
6 New York Clipper, October 9, 1875.
7 Sporting Life, September 15, 1887.
8 The 1865 Atlantics induced Pearce, ss; CJ Smith, 3b; Norton,c; Pratt,P; Crane 2b; Sid Smith,rf; Start,1b;
Galvin cf; and Chapman, lf.
9 The New York Sun, Volume XLIII, No 23, Monday, September 27, 1875,page one.
10 The NY Sun, September 24, 1875.

17. 17
11 Brooklyn Eagle, Tuesday, July 26, 1881 page 3.
12 Brooklyn Eagle, Friday,May 6, 1881,page 2.
13 “Old Timers on the Base Ball Field,” Brooklyn Eagle, Saturday July 30, 1881. Page 2.
14 “Old Timers in the Field Again,” Sporting Life, Volume 9 Number 24 1887.
15 Brooklyn Eagle, Wednesday May 14, 1879, page 3.
16 Brooklyn Eagle, Monday May 19, 1879,page 2.
17 Brooklyn Eagle, August 11, 1884,page 3.
18 Brooklyn Eagle Tuesday, August 19, 1884,page 3.
19 Sporting Life, Vol 27 Numbers 4 and 5. 1896,Average attendancefor Harry Wright Day Games were
1486,and Opening Day 1896 brought in 14,767 average fans.
20 Boston Daily Globe, April 14, 1896, page one.
21 The Roanoke Daily Times, April 14, 1896,Image 1. Library ofCongress.
22 The Saint Paul Daily Globe, Tuesday April 14, 1896,page 5.
23 Sporting Life, Volume 27, Number 4, April 18, 1986 page 16.
24 Ibid.,, “Chicago Gleanings,” page 8.
25 Ibid.,
26 Rockford Republic, page one.
27 See note 21.
28 Sporting Life, Volume 29, Number 17, July 17, 1897.
29 McKenna, Brian,“Bobby Matthews,”SABR BioProject, http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/e7ad641f.
30 Sporting Life, Volume 29 Number 14, June 26, 1897,page 7.
31 Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 24 July 1897, page 9.
32 Boston Post and Boston Globe, September 23 and 24, 1908. Numerous stories.
33 “20,000 Fans Pay Tributeto Matty,” New York Times, October 1, 1921 page 19.
34 “Young and Zimmer ! 1898 ? AH, NO, 1921!,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 30, 1921 p 1.
35 Baseball Line scores, Chicago Daily Tribune, August 3, 1936, page 24.
36 1936 Spalding Baseball Guide, pp 24-25,American Sports Publishers,1937:New York.
37 Katz, L., Baseball in 1939: The Watershed Season of the National Pastime. McFarland: Jefferson City NC
38 http://www.lougehrig.com/about/farewell.html.
39 Baseball-refrenece.com for season dates, Wikipedia, and NY Yankees.com on Yankees Old Timer Day
40 Baseball-refrence.com for attendance,NY Yankees from 1947 to 2008. The Yankees have played the
same opponent for the weekend series, with Old Timers game the signatureevent for that weekend. Old
Timer’s game attendanceincreaseover theother games was charted.For many years the Sunday game
was a Doubleheader and Old Timers’ game was on Saturday.Only threetimes did the Old Times game
not out draw theaverage for the Weekend Series: Cleveland 1948 (18,861), Baltimore1961 (-5412), and
Miami 2008 (-401) fans. The Miami was alsoa rainout rescheduled Sunday day game. The actual
numbers:overall 842,906 with an average game increase of 13,122.The attendanceratiowas as high as
400% 1970’s to a small 3% increase in themid 2000’s when team saw its attendancehit the 4,000,000 level
(when every game was a virtual sellout.)
41 See Note 38.