1908 Baseball Newspaper Guide: Pittsburgh
Is it Pittsburg or Pittsburgh?
1908 Baseball Newspaper Guide: Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh was also referred to as “Pittsburg” back in the early days. No, there was no “standard” or “right” way to spell it — and, yes, you’re going to see the difference in a second.
Let’s get on with it.
The Gazette Times
We’ll start off with the paper that later became The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
We’ve got another 2 page sports section here:
It’s a little bit different to capture the Pirates game here, since there are bits and pieces all over the place:
I’m guessing that left fielder Spike Shannon is probably not the first player you think of when you think of the 1908 Giants. Incidentally, Shannon ended the season — and his career — on the Pirates.
The standings, of course, are the really cool part here, including standings for a number of the Pennsylvania leagues that were active at the time.
Overall, it’s a nice paper, although the microfilm pictures are a bit dark.
The Pittsburgh Post
The Pittsburgh Post is a favorite of mine for researching these old seasons.
Though it’s not quite as informative as The Gazette Times, I really enjoy the daily cartoon, and find the presentation far more readable.
Once again, all I can say is that we’re really missing out by not having these kinds of cartoons all over our contemporary media. The switch to photography was not necessarily an improvement.
The Pittsburg Press
The huge “Allies Are Routed” headline apparently refers to Taft’s success at the Republican national convention the day before.
Unfortunately, I can’t give this sports section very high marks.
Oddly enough, this idle gossip piece with Frank Chance is more eye-catching than the story of the Pirates game. It’s certainly a creative way to run a sports section, I’ll give you that.
Now, here comes the fun part: trade rumors and reports.
William Hogg wound up staying with the Highlanders; in fact, if you hadn’t seen this article, you’d never know they were trying to get rid of him.
And here’s a real fun one:
Could you imagine Cy Young on the 1908 New York Giants? That would make for an interesting counterfactual replay.