This vintage trophy cup from 1915 is the Eddie Collins Cup, awarded to the leading base runner in the Delaware County Baseball League. Typically, the award went to the player with the most stolen bases or best base-running performance.

The engraving reads:

Eddie Collins’s Cup
Won by Joseph Byrne
J.I. Brill Club
Leading Base Runner
Delaware County Base Ball League 
1915

Eddie Collins, a famous Major League Baseball player and Hall-of-Famer second baseman for the Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago White Sox, was known for his base-stealing and exceptional speed. In the 1910s, local amateur/semi-pro leagues in the Philadelphia area, especially Delaware County, Pennsylvania, occasionally named awards after Big League stars to add prestige to the honor. The Eddie Collins Cup was one such trophy, given annually in certain leagues for the top base stealer/runner.

The J.I. Brill Club refers to a team sponsored by or associated with the J.G. Brill Company, a major Philadelphia streetcar/railcar manufacturing firm, often written as “J.G. Brill & Co.” but sometimes abbreviated in engravings. Employee- or company-sponsored teams were common in that era’s industrial leagues around Philly and PA.

These old, engraved cups, now collectible baseball memorabilia from the dead-ball era, reflect local sports culture that tied into pro stars like Collins.

This cup, in particular, exemplifies the extraordinary history of the Delaware County Baseball League. The DCBL is the oldest incorporated baseball league in the country, and I must say that the award is a neat piece of early 20th-century baseball history! 

— Jim Vankoski, president of Sports Legends of Delaware County Museum

Note: The cup is on loan from the personal collection of Greg Jewitt. Additional information was provided by the SLDC Museum’s senior researcher, Steve Burman. Image photographer Brad Nau.