Dodgers Blue Heaven: Memorabilia from the 1916 World Series

It's been 102 year since these two teams squared off in the Fall Classic, so naturally this memorabilia centered blog had to search around for some souvenir goodies from those games to share. BTW, if you want a great rundown on the play during the 1916 World Series I would suggest checking out John Thorn's piece at Our Game.

As you can imagine, there isn't a whole bunch of memorabilia out there to gawk out -- not only due to the passage of time, but also because the fan souvenir market had not yet been fully realized. Heck, it wasn't until Danny Goodman, the Vice President and Director of Advertising and Promotion for the Dodgers in Los Angeles, arrived in the late 50's did clubs understand that there were other ways to line their pocketbooks.

Fortunately, there are some things for us to look at. Featured at the very top is the Ebbets Field program for the series, and it features beloved Dodgers manager Wilbert "Uncle Robbie" Robinson on the cover. It says at the very bottom, (under "Robbie") "A regular manager, a regular fellow and a credit to the national game."

Notably, the header specifically refers to the team as the Dodgers -- unlike just about everyone else who scream that they were known as the "Robins". As you may know, many sportswriters did nickname the club the "Robins" -- out of respect to Uncle Robbie -- but by this time in the franchise's history Brooklyn was already being called the Dodgers.

To the right is the Red Sox program for the 1916 World Series. This has a more classical look to it. It features portraits of both the team's owners and managers surrounded by ornate framing. Furthermore, this program doesn't refer to the Dodgers as the Dodgers or Robins. Instead it uses the moniker "Brooklyn National League".

Below are examples of ticket stubs for both Ebbets Field and Braves Field -- Boston's games were played at the home park of the Boston Braves instead of Fenway Park. Directly below is a game ticket for Ebbets Field (both front and back). Click on any pic to embiggen.

Below is a ticket from a game in Boston.

There is also a press pin issued for the event, but I am only aware of the Dodgers releasing one. You can see it directly below.

I also came across a 1916 Boston Red Sox America League Champions pennant that were, no doubt, sold during the series.

Unfortunately, I could find any Brooklyn pennants online, but I did come across this Bain News Service press photo (courtesy of the Library of Congress) from the 1916 series at Ebbets Field that features not only the wife of the Brooklyn Owner, Mrs. E.J. McKeever, but also a bunch of Dodger pennants. Note that the pennant on the right is very similar to the Red Sox pennant above.

As for fan-sold memorabilia this is pretty much it. There doesn't appear to be anything else out there, so I thought some press photos would be a fun way to end this post.

Above left is the opening handshake between skippers Wilbert Robinson and Bill Carrigan. As you can see, the Dodgers wore the checkerboard uniforms this season. To its right is the handshake between each teams respective mascots -- and yes, mascots during this age were kids.

Below is a pic that comes originally from the personal collection of Dodgers VP Danny Goodman. It is a 1916 press photo showing Dodger Hall of Famer Zack Wheat straddling second base. He had just stolen the base in the seventh inning of Game 3.

(Pic via BidAMI)

Below is the only World Series advertising piece I could find. It features a team photo of the Boston Redsox and was issued by Stag Brand Sweaters.

(Pic via BidAMI)

Below is a look at the Boston crowd for Game 2 of the World Series.

(Pic via Old Time Photos on twitter)

Incredibly, there is film footage from one of the games. It is from Game 1 in Boston. Per the youtube description:

Duffy Lewis' hit scores Dick Hoblitzel with the games first run to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the third inning. CU Duffy Lewis. Boston scores three runs in the big seventh inning, Janvrin doubles, Walker advances Janvrin to third and Janvrin then scores on Hoblitzel's single. Gardner singles scoring Walker. Hoblitzel scores on Scott's long fly ball. Crowd leaving after game.

Video Link:

UPDATE: I've now been able to grab a bunch of pics from the Boston World Series program, via a auction listing at Goldin Auctions. Check them all out below, and see if you can see Babe Ruth.