The Man Who Wasn't Mike Tiernan

Mike Tiernan was a very good ballplayer. He patrolled the outfield for the New York Giants for over a dozen years (1887-1899), piling up 1,838 hits, 428 stolen bases, a .311 batting average and 106 home runs. The latter mark seems underwhelming, but one must remember that the long ball was an uncommon occurrence at the time. Indeed, Tiernan was one of just seven players to sock 100 or more home runs in the 19th century.

According to his obituary in The New York Times of November 9, 1918:

In the early days of the Giants the name of Mike Tiernan was on the lips of every baseball fan, and to this day the old-timers talk about the long drives which Silent Mike used to make in Harlem.

All-in-all, Tiernan put together quite a career on the diamond.

A number of photos of Tiernan can be found on the web. Here are a few from the Library of Congress's American Memory web site:


Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LOT 13163-05, no. 214


Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LOT 13163-05, no. 212

And in this photo found at the Baseball Fever web site, Tiernan can be seen sitting with his 1888 Giants teammates (he's two players to the right of Jim Mutrie, who sits at center in street clothes):


http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?41332-19th-Century-Historic-Photographic-Archive/page3

And this stunning image of Tiernan is found at the New York Public Library's Digital Gallery web site:


New York Public Library Digital Gallery, Image ID: 1227068

However, one image in particular intrigued me. It is the following photo found also from the New York Public Library's Digital Gallery web site:


New York Public Library Digital Gallery, Image ID: 55889

The individual in this latter image looks nothing like the other photographs of Mike Tiernan, yet under "Subjects and Names" the web site lists: "Baseball," "New York Giants" and "Tiernan, Mike."

The name of the photo studio and its location can be clearly seen on the reverse of the photograph: , J. Gurney & Son, 707 Broadway, N.Y. Here's an image of the reverse:


New York Public Library Digital Gallery, Image ID: 55889

But according to Craig's Daguerreian Registry, Gurney & Son was only in business at 707 Broadway from 1857 to 1869. Mike Tiernan wasn't even born until 1867, so clearly this cannot be our baseball star. Additionally, close examination of the photo shows that the individual's name as hand-written on the front appears to be Tieman, not Tiernan.

So who is this "Tieman?"

The photo of the mystery individual is actually one of a set of seven at the New York Public Library's Digital Gallery web site, each produced at the same photo studio and each listed as a baseball subject. Here are the other six photos:


New York Public Library Digital Gallery, Image ID: 55912


New York Public Library Digital Gallery, Image ID: 55903


New York Public Library Digital Gallery, Image ID: 55875


New York Public Library Digital Gallery, Image ID: 55893


New York Public Library Digital Gallery, Image ID: 55863


New York Public Library Digital Gallery, Image ID: 55861

So who are Fox, Kavanagh, Estephe, Foley, Goldthwait, Deery, and Tieman? Happily, the answer is revealed in a New York Times article of January 12, 1863, headlined:

CONCLUSION OF THE BILLIARD TOURNAMENT.
Dudley Kavanagh the Champion of America
Grand Match of the East Against the West

The article reads, in part:

Last evening the grand billiard tournament that has been held for the last eight or ten days at Irving Hall, came to a most brilliant conclusion by a grand match, entitled the East against the West, and played by the following gentlemen:

THE EAST.
Michael Phelan
Dudley Kavanagh
Wm. Goldthwait
Victor Estephe
Chris. Bird

THE WEST.
Philip Tieman
John Seereiter
Michael Foley
Louis Fox
John Deery

This match caused the greatest amount of enthusiasm, the hall being filled by both ladies and gentlemen, who manifested the liveliest interest in the game. After playing two hours and thirty-three minutes, the Eastern players were declared the victors by 162 points; the East had 70 innings; the West 69. The largest score was made by GOLDTHWAIT who counted 222; the smallest by FOX, who only made 54 for his side. PHELAN for the East strung 139, being beaten in point of numbers, both by KAVANAGH and GOLDTHWAITH [sic].

At the conclusion of the match the prizes were awarded to the conquerors by Mr. JAMES KELLY, who in a few, but most appropriate words, presented the winner of the greatest number of games during the tournament, DUDLEY KAVANAGH, with the richly inlaid billiard-table and the beautiful gold mounted cue, at the same time installing him as the Champion Billiard-player of America.

Mr. KAVANAGH, in returning thanks, hoped he should be enabled, and he would do his best, to keep the cue against all comers.

LOUIS FOX, as the second best player in America, was presented with a check for $250, which prize was suitably acknowledged by that gentleman.

Just how these photographs of top billiards players were misidentified as baseball players, including the specific err of Mike Tiernan, is a bit of a mystery. However, as the photos apparently originated from the collection of A.G. Spalding, the former baseball player, executive and sporting goods mogul, perhaps the assumption was that all of his images were baseball-related.