"Kin" Hubbard - Rare Sports Cartoon - Baseball - Circa 1920

Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard (1868-1930) was one of the great Midwestern humorists from the early part of the 20th century. Hubbard was mainstay at the Indianapolis News, starting at the paper in 1891, leaving for a spell, and then returning to the paper in 1901 until his 1930 passing. Hubbard created his famous Abe Martin series in 1904, which he drew six days a week for 26 years. The feature was syndicated to 200 newspapers across the country. In addition to Abe Martin, Hubbard also originated and illustrated a once-a-week humor essay for the "Short Furrows" column in the Sunday edition of the newspaper that went into syndication in 1911. The self-taught artist and writer made more than eight thousand drawings for the Indianapolis News and wrote and illustrated about a thousand essays for the "Short Furrows" column. Humorist Will Rogers penned a sweet and eloquent memorial about his friend in the The New York Times the day after Hubbard passed away. It is pictured in the additional images.

This rare Kin Hubbard sports cartoon appeared in the Indianapolis News sometime around 1920. It must have been published in April or so, as the subject matter has to do with the freezing baseball fan. The drawing is quite humorous, especially the main circular image in the center.

From the Murray A. Harry collection.