Jerry Kuntz writes that he has studied the 1891 Cuban tour of the “All-Americans,” a team of U.S. professionals that included the young John McGraw. The organizer of the tour was English immigrant Alfred Lawson, briefly a National League pitcher, author of an early attempt at commercial flight, and, eventually, founder of his own religion (or “science,” or something), called Lawsonomy. (In addition to Jerry’s work on Lawson, see also this biography). Check out Jerry’s essay on the 1891 tour. A couple of his interesting discoveries:
1) There were really two separate tours, one in January and February, the other in December (which Lawson abandoned before it left for Cuba). McGraw was the only player on both teams.
2) The Cubans were still playing the 10-man game; the second batch of All-Americans hired the most famous of all Cuban players at the time, Antonio María García, “El Inglés” himself, to even up the sides.
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