Thanks to Paul's article, I was inspired to try and crack this case and confirm Jim Britt's death date. I had a breakthrough yesterday and was able to push it over the line. Here's a quick thread explaining my process. - ThreadSky

justmckinney.bsky.social • 5 days ago

Thanks to Paul's article, I was inspired to try and crack this case and confirm Jim Britt's death date. I had a breakthrough yesterday and was able to push it over the line. Here's a quick thread explaining my process.

Reposted from Paul Proia

I wrote this today because I had long believed that Jim Britt was born #OTD in 1856. It's more likely in April (1849). But the story was fun to dig into.

mightycaseybaseball.com/2025/02/26/j...

Comments

paulproia.bsky.social•5 days ago

That’s why I’m a very good researcher and you are a great one.

Cheers…

justmckinney.bsky.social•5 days ago

Thank you for the compliment but you are no slouch. If anything I am a one trick pony, incredibly persistent in this one very specific niche.

paulproia.bsky.social•5 days ago

I learned something from your thread - something that I think about or notice from time to time but never chased which is who lives where. I see it with families but using teammates was a great idea.

justmckinney.bsky.social•5 days ago

Oh, it's been a great help to me, especially with the Brooklyn guys. The Clipper has a lot of addresses for various amateur teams and I've discovered quite a guys through mapping them out. It's fun using Google Maps to figure out where these guys were living.

buckweaver.bsky.social•5 days ago

You found a clue that helped finally crack this case … a case that has eluded generations of researchers. That’s huge!

paulproia.bsky.social•5 days ago

Thanks, Jacob. I know I’ve contributed here or there on stuff but this time felt especially cool for some reason, which was nice. I appreciate this group.

Cheers!

justmckinney.bsky.social•5 days ago

1. For many years Jim Britt was thought to be the father of Jim Britt a well known boxer at the turn of the 20th century. This man was born 1856 and died 1923. The confusion arose from fact that a Jim Britt from New York was playing ball in California around 1880, so researchers made the leap.

justmckinney.bsky.social•5 days ago

2. This ID made some sense, but had one significant flaw. It would have made Jim Britt 16 years old during his first big league season in 1872, when he pitched 336 innings. As bad as the Atlantics were in that era, a 16 year old workhorse would have been highly unusual.

justmckinney.bsky.social•5 days ago

3. Peter Morris and Richard Malatzky discovered another candidate named James Eugene Britt who was born 1849 and died 1882 in Brooklyn. He worked as a glassblower and a clerk. The age was much better, but there was a decided lack of proof to connect him to baseball. Thus it was a circumstantial case

justmckinney.bsky.social•5 days ago

4. The building blocks of a case like this are trying find any clues that connect the candidate to the player. In this case there were three promising clues. Same initials - candidate was James E. Britt and so was ballplayer. Age - candidate was 23 in 1872. Location - candidate was from Brooklyn

justmckinney.bsky.social•5 days ago

5. Anyone who has done this kind of research knows it's not enough though. Britt was fairly uncommon last name, but not so unusual that an ID could be reliable. My preferred tactic to build a case is to try and connect the ballplayer to an address or profession.

justmckinney.bsky.social•5 days ago

6. Address - the candidate lived on Hudson avenue in 5th Ward of Brooklyn. In 1876, the ballplayer was on the Nassau club, whose headquarters was at 98 Livingston - about 15 minute walk from where our candidate lived. So he was in the right neighborhood.

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