Charming 1888 scorecard that was meticulously hand-scored for the May 5, 1988, American Association game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Brooklyn Bridgegrooms. The scorecard is a folded 7x8.5" and thus comprises four pages at 7x4.25" each. The cover of the scorecard features a beautiful color illustration of a catcher of an even earlier era than 1888, with his mask thrown off and sans shinguards (they weren't invented yet), vainly looking in the air for a pop-up. Titled "It's Over Your Head," it provided some humor. Inside, the scorecard shows that Brooklyn triumphed 8-5 that day. Of course, in 1888, men being men, both pitchers threw complete games. The Bridegrooms were the Brooklyn team that eventually joined the National League and became the Dodgers. In 1887 they were called the Grays. But because four of their bachelors became married in the off-season after 1887, for 1888 they were known as the Bridegrooms, a name they kept for 11 years, as either Bridegrooms or as Grooms. Nicknames then were usually unofficial and often quite amorphous, and over the years the team became the Superbas, the Robins, and finally the Dodgers. Brooklyn finished at 88-52 in 1988, in second place and Baltimore ended up at 57-80, in seventh place. It was still of a time when players were sometimes both position players as well as pitchers. Brooklyn's Bob Caruthers led the Bridegroom's with five home runs (it was a dead ball era, and parks were big), and he also went 29-15 on the mound. Scorecard also contains fascinating advertisements, such as one for Old Judge Cigarettes which says, "Photographs of the Brooklyn Club and Every Player in the Base Ball Profession Packed in Every Box...." The scorecard does have some paper loss down the spine of the fold and some minor loss near both top corners. There are a few very minor stains and some slight chipping. Overall good satisfactory condition with the cover illustration and the line-ups and hand-scoring in good condition.