Cliff Sterrett - 1910 Baseball Drawing

I'm very pleased to welcome this early Cliff Sterrett drawing into the collection. Sterrett did spot cartoon work for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in 1909 and 1910. I checked to see if there was a baseball team in Rochester at that time, and found that the Rochester Bronchos were managed by player-manager John Ganzel (1874-1959) in 1910. Ganzel had a ten-year Major League Baseball career, and while he was a fairly average player, he does hold the distinction of hitting the first home run for the NY Yankees in 1903.

I'm not sure if the Ganzelle Bird was a mascot used by Sterrett during the 1910 season, or if it was just a one-off drawing, but this is the earliest original that I've ever seen by Sterrett.

It's interesting to note that some of Sterrett's forms are just rounding into shape in this drawing. You'd see the maturation of some of those forms in his classic Polly and Her Pals.