This beautiful antique advertising card shows a horse drawn trolley with the captions "High Bridge", "New Route to High Bridge", "Fare 5cts.", "To New Parks", "L D & C", "Base Ball Match this Afternoon", "Polo Grounds", "New York vs. Cleveland", and "225".
While the Giants were formed as a team in the National League in 1883, they did not move into the Polo Grounds near High Bridge Park until after the 1888 season. The Giants won the World Series in 1888 and 1889.
On the other hand, a Cleveland team was originally formed as part of the National League in 1882 and it was called the Cleveland Forest Citys. That same season the name was subsequently changed to the Cleveland Blues. The team had a mediocre record and ultimately merged with the St. Louis Maroons the following year, 1885. Cleveland then went without a major league baseball team for two years, and then, in 1887, they did form a new team, the Spiders, that was part of the American Association. Then, in 1889 when the American Association dissolved, the Spiders became part of the National League. They did not change their name to "The Indians" until 1915.
So, the fact that the trade card above makes reference to a game between New York vs. Cleveland at the Polo Grounds would indicate that that event took place in 1889 or later. The fact that the trolley is horse drawn would indicate that the event must have been between 1889 and about 1900.
For more information on this particular card click here.
The Harlem & Manhattanville trolley started service in 1885 traversing the route from downtown New York City up along the Harlem River to 125th St. and then via 10th Ave. to the Polo Grounds and finally ending up at Fort George.
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