“Spalding’s Official Base Ball Guide,” 1908 advertisement.
“Edited by Henry Chadwick, the ‘Father of Baseball.’
“The best Guide Ever Published
“Containing the New Rules; pictures of all the leading teams in the major and minor leagues, as well as individual action pictures of prominent players. The World’s Championship, 1907; complete review of the year in the National, American and all minor leagues. All-American selections; schedules; averages and interesting baseball data, found only in Spalding’s Guide.”
The 1908 edition also promised:
“The origin of base ball settled” with the guide’s “exclusive” publication of the Mills Commission report.
The guide also included interviews with the members of the 1907 Chicago Cubs, on “How we Won the World’s Championship.”
The ad featured part of the interview with right fielder Frank Schulte, who used his World Series money to buy a racehorse:
“I was far from pleased with my own work, but there were spots that seemed bright, and so I have no misgivings about spending my share of the winnings for a great piece of horse-flesh…”
Other comments from members of the Cubs that appeared in the guide included:
Joe Tinker—“We failed to see that brilliancy that the American League boasted of, and when the good old West side machine got under way, it seldom failed.”
Orval Overall—“I expected a harder time with the Tigers.”
Mordecai Brown—“Never more confident of victory in my life. I almost made a hit in my three times at bat.
Jack Pfiester (who won game two 3 to 1 while giving up 10 hits)—“After the two base hits in the first inning, I knew by some overpowering sense that I could not explain that I would be successful.”
Orval Overall – one of the best player names in Major League history!