| |
From 1951 to 1955 Al Schacht's
Restaurant the "Score Card" issued
metal advertising tokens that featured
the home schedule of one of the three
New York teams. The New York Giants,
New York Yankees or the Brooklyn
Dodgers. The coins were spinning disks,
made and patented by the
Bill-E-Company, of
Lexington, Ky. The patented "Spinning
Disk" no. 2638706, was filed in 1951,
and granted in May of 1953.
The tokens were produced to provide a
pocket-piece with balance and free
spinning properties. The flat top and
bottom faces were provided with
embossments which may be used so that
one face provides advertising-media for
the sponsor, and the other face
provides schedules for baseball games,
or similar events. Thus used as a token
the disk becomes a practical permanent
advertisement for those who sponsor it
and give it free of charge to their
customers.
The back of these New York Home Schedule tokens Reads: "When It Comes To
Food-I'm Not Clowning" at the very top,
and reading down, "Al Schacht's,
Restaurant, 102 E. 52'' Off Park,
N.Y.C., PL 9 - 8570" with three stars
below the phone number. The early
tokens do not have the Bill-E Co. U.S
Patent 2638706 in the
center as the later tokens
produced after 1953 do. These spinning
disks also have a "☆ -Night" indication
key in the center for night game on the
embossed schedule front.
Al Schacht was a Major League pitcher
for the Washington Senators from 1919
to 1921. He later became a 3rd base
coach, and his comedic antics from the
coaching lines with fellow Washington
coach Nick Altrock, earned him the
nickname of "The Clown Prince of
Baseball." During WWII, wearing a
battered top hat and ragged tails,
Schacht took his act on the road,
touring to entertain the troops
overseas. On the home front Schacht was
involved locally, attending events to
raise money through War Bonds. The
Clown Prince of Baseball entertained
the crowd of 50,000, at the 1944
Dodgers Yankees Giants Tri-Cornered
Baseball Game, a War Bond exhibition
played at the Polo Grounds.
In 1942 Schacht cited that tire and gas restrictions, rationing for the
war effort, forced him to abandon his
diamond antics and he decided to open a
cafe in New York. September of 1942, Al
Schacht Restaurant opened at 102 E. 52
Street, New York City, NY. It soon
became a popular destination for local
sports stars and celebrities. The Restaurant operated into the 1960's.
Because the restaurant featured a
baseball theme, Schacht decorated it
with various pieces of sports
memorabilia, including many game-used
garments. A gentleman passing by the
restaurant a short time after it had
closed witnessed workers bringing out
piles of garbage to a dumpster on the
street. Among the debris being carried
out were many old uniforms. Being a
baseball fan, he politely asked one of
the workers if he could take some of
the uniforms they were throwing away
and was told to help himself.
Rescued from the dumpster; a Circa 1930s/1940s Johnny Murphy Yankees home
jersey, a 1940s Johnny Lindell Yankees
home jersey, a 1955 Frank Leja Yankees
home jersey, a 1955 Jerry Coleman
Yankees home jersey, and a Circa
1940s-1950s New York Yankees Game-Used
Pants Collection of
4, with Turley and Dressen. We
live in different times.
|
|
