anonymous Lancaster Ironsides baseballer (1884?)

Click to embiggen.

Grabbed from the New York Public Library's photo image collection.

I love the Buffalo Bill Cody style button front of this jersey and the sheer manly charisma of this dapper gent who fills out his uniform. The Lancaster Ironsides of the Eastern League seemed to only exist for the 1884 season, where they competed with the ingeniously named Lancaster Lancasters for the hearts of Lancasterers.

According to the Lancaster Historical Society's website:

"At the end of the 1884 season, the teams finally agreed to a play-off series. The event brought thousands of fans to Lancaster's ballparks. After seven close games, the Ironsides took the title as Lancaster's best professional team. In the following days, the two teams joined for celebration and even played a game to benefit one of the Ironsides players who had fallen on hard times. In the end, the players showed little animosity toward one another, but the owners and the fans found that having two baseball teams in Lancaster strained their love of the game. Only the Lancasters continued into the 1885 season."