PERCY CROSBY ASPIRES TO PLAY IN THE MAJOR LEAGUE...

 

Now that the Whirled Series

Has Ended -- 

by Rick Marschall

Percy Leo Crosby was born in New York City, on the border between Queens (where the Mets now play) and Brooklyn (where the Dodgers first played). Ironically, he died within sight of his birthplace, sadly in a mental institution where he was cruelly and unjustly assigned by his wife and daughter -- which is a story I shall share in Yesterday's Papers and in the pages of the revived NEMO Magazine. I have inside stories from Crosby's cartoonist friends who pleaded his cause; documentary material in Crosby's hand; etc. 

For the moment, however, from the beginning of his career, not the end: Around 1910-1912, one step above amateur status, Crosby contributed to Judge magazine; the New York Sunday World's FUN supplement; and in postcards. He drew series of themed and titled cards -- "Who's Loony Now?" and "Do It Now," two such. Of these series, and a baseball-themed series, there are no copyrights or publishers indicated, and he might have produced and sold these as a private enterprise.

1905-1915 was the Golden Age of cartoon and comic-character postcards. I have more than 1250 of these in my collection -- major cartoonists, frequently drawing their major characters, or ongoing-themes and observances. Dwig (Clare Victor Dwiggins) was the first among equals, producing hundreds of first-rate drawings and clever ideas.

The young (and equally as little known as Crosby at the time) C A Voight was another cartoonist of the day who produced cartoon postcards with baseball themes -- as with Crosby's cards, usually built around awful puns and wordplay.

These cards I reckon are earlier than 1912, because by that year Crosby's signature on other cards actually was legible. Dik Browne once told me that the mark of an amateur is a cartoonist whose signature can barely be deciphered and sometimes is larger than the figures in the drawing (!) In any event, this selection of P L Crosby's baseball series is interesting regarding Crosby's origins but also sports history. "Cherchez la femme" is an eternal theme, if not an extra-inning game -- but the comment about players' salaries is dispositive in context. The best players of this time barely approached five-figure paychecks, and many stars worked mundane jobs in factories and butcher shops in the off-seasons...

But after his time in the "minor leagues" of cartooning, about a dozen years subsequently, Percy Crosby called up Skippy onto his team...