Political Base-Ball Match of 1872

The woodwork has been active and this Political Base-Ball Match of 1872 is a fine example.  I actually don’t know how things come out of the woodwork, but I know for sure they do!Here is an extremely obscure, perhaps one-of-a-kind, publication concerning the Presidential election of 1872 using baseball as the humorous context in which to tell the story.  The title does not show up in Grobani, the bibliographic source for early baseball books, nor in any other available list.  The piece must have been produced in small numbers, with few survivors.The topic is the political race between Ulysses S. Grant, the incumbent,and the challenger Horace Greeley, of “Go West, young man” fame.The pair are ridiculously dressed in baseball garb in most of the many woodcut images within the booklet.The text starts merrily:  “THE GREAT NATIONAL GAME - It has long been conceded that base-ball is a national mania, affecting high and low, from presidents to bootblacks on the street corners.  Even babies cry for it. Our language has become vaccinated with base-ball slang, and we look with pride upon our primeval forests, contemplating the vast number of bats that can be made from them, while yarn, rubber, thread and leather are influenced by the demand for balls, and the making of spiked shoes has become a great and growing branch of our national industry.  It is thought the game will never be interfered with by the invention of machinery.”The most fun is in reading the flowery language and the use of baseball lingo throughout the story, which chronicles an imaginary game between the Grants and the Greeleys, with rosters listed on page three.  The teams are composed of party loyalists, political hacks, and long-forgotten side-men who aided either of the candidates.  The book was authored by Bricktop and published by Winchell and Small of Washington, DC.Have you seen anything like these political baseball illustrations?