1910 letter inside "Legends & Tales of Old Munich"

This letter, dated May 27, 1910, in Munich, was typed and placed inside a gift copy of Legends & Tales of Old Munich, told by Franz Trautmann (1813-1887) and translated by Amelia Curtis Stahl. 

The letter states: 

"To one who knows, loves, and embellishes the ancient, historic, and beautiful City round which the legends therein contained cluster, THIS BOOK is offered, for her gracious acceptance, by Her sincere friend,"

The last name on the signature looks like Soltau.

As to the recipient, it may be the name written on the title page (see below). I can't figure out the first letter, so it could be Meülholtz or Neülholtz or Heülholtz, or ... 

But none of those is a common German last name, so I'm clearly misinterpreting the century-old German cursive. If we toss out the first "L," the most likely name would be Neüholtz. Anyone wish to weigh in?

The chapter titles include: Concerning the Origin of the City of Munich, The Cross in the Wieskapelle, The Little Faust Tower at Sendling Gate, Dragon Corner on the Market-Place, The Spoon Landlord behind the Rathhaus, The Black Footprint under the Organ of Unser Franen, The Monkey on St. Laurenz, The Hunger Bell in Theatine Monastery and the Theatine Clock, and Concerning Ghosts and Apparitions in Munich. 

There are no online reviews of this 1910 book, but, just last summer, Lunte Books in Eugene, Oregon, did a 23-minute examination of the book on its YouTube channel. Very cool and valuable for the historic record! 

A commenter on the video states: "Now this is the kind of travel book that I truly enjoy — To learn about a country's culture, and not just see sites or read descriptions of buildings — This fuller picture makes the destination much more compelling. Thanks for discussing this book, and for giving so many fascinating details."

Phillies Opening Day 2025

It's Opening Day for Major League Baseball, but it's hard to get truly excited at this moment, given the unsettling nature of how things are unfolding in the United States, on multiple fronts.¹  But I'll be a trouper and take a swing at it.

Sitting atop the desk in my bedroom were these old Philadelphia Phillies media guides, which may or may not end up on eBay (they wouldn't fetch much). 

Media guides were incredible handy for sportswriters back in the days before the internet began to fill up with our accumulated human knowledge and history (now being replaced by our accumulated misinformation, disinformation, AI garbage and alternative history).

Decades-old media guide sell for a couple dollars apiece, usually in bulk lots. Folks mostly don't want them, and they'd rather have other things taking up shelf space. I get it. They're no different than old encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, atlases, etc. Curiosities that add to clutter. I reckon that, in my case, one or two aren't a huge space commitment, though.

Here are some images from inside these guides (from 1981 and 1988).

The Phillies open their 2025 season against the Washington Nationals this afternoon. One thing I do like about Arizona is getting Phillies games earlier in the day (three-hour time difference). It's especially nice with weekend afternoon games, which may start at 10 a.m. my time and be over before lunch, leaving the rest of the day open.

The Phillies' lineup today will be:

SS Trea Turner

1B Bryce Harper

3B Alec Bohm

DH Kyle Schwarber

C J.T. Realmuto

LF Max Kepler

RF Nick Castellanos

2B Bryson Stott

CF Brandon Marsh

SP Zack Wheeler

They have a very good team this year. I'm more optimistic than the average Philadelphia sports fan, who thinks the Phillies should have gutted the team after losing to the New York Mets last October. I guess I can be bold like John Doll 96 years ago and make some predictions for the upcoming season:

DIVISION WINNERS:

AL East: Baltimore

AL Central: Detroit

AL West: Texas

NL East: Philadelphia

NL Central: Chicago

NL West: Los Angeles

WILD CARDS:

AL: New York, Boston, Cleveland

NL: Atlanta, New York, Milwaukee

AL Pennant: Baltimore over New York

NL Pennant: Los Angeles over Philadelphia

World Series: Los Angeles over Baltimore

Not exactly going out on a limb there, of course.

Maybe, in a weird way, it will be nice to have a predictable summer on the baseball diamonds across the United States, when much else is in disarray and despair. Then, this autumn, we'll have One Battle After Another.

Some previous baseball posts

• A neat piece of Phillies history (1970 hex sign giveaway)
• John Doll's 1929 baseball predictions
• Down memory lane with 1983 Topps Baseball Sticker Album
• Collection of Phillies ticket stubs
• Baseball-themed advertisements from a 1953 Phillies scorecard
• Inside the 1973 Spartanburg Phillies program
• Some Phillies Fever from the Bicentennial summer of 1976
• It's been five years since Harry Kalas, the Voice of the Phillies, died [2014]
• Steve Jeltz's greatest day (Phillies 15, Pirates 11)
• Connie Mack has some advice for the 2013 Philadelphia Phillies
• For Opening Day, great Phillies hairstyles of the late 1970s
• Ches Crist, baseball player
• It's Opening Day! Do you have Phillies Phever?
• Philadelphia Phillies spring training photos from March 1984
• 1959 Fleer baseball card showing the "Ted Williams Shift"
• Baseball program ads for Coca-Cola and Hires
• An all-star lineup of Camel smokers from 1954
• Postcard: The haunted hotel that spooks Bryce Harper

Grim footnote

1. For example:

• Charlotte Clymer: "If you think what happened to Rumeysa Ozturk can't happen to you because you're a citizen and she's not, you are sorely mistaken. Ozturk was snatched off the street not for being a national security threat but for having a wrong opinion. If we don't put a stop to this, it's coming for all of us."
• Gillian Branstetter: "No matter your station in life, there is astoundingly little separating you from those men in that cage behind Kristi Noem. No charges, no attorneys, no hearings, no trial. Just conjecture and brute force could be enough to justify completely dehumanizing you, too."
• Erin Reed: "It’s not just trans and gender nonconforming people who should be worried — most every marginalized group will be impacted by this measure, as well as huge impacts on married women."
• Prem Thakker: "So the position of the Trump-Vance administration — and every member of Congress unless they explicitly say otherwise — is quite literally you do not have guaranteed free speech rights in America if you say things they don't like. That is the headline."
• Andrea Pitzer: "As long as thugs in hoodies can disappear people from our streets, we do not have a functioning democracy."

James Baldwin, 62 years ago

In light of the weekend headlines¹, I thought I'd share this compelling passage at the start of an essay that James Baldwin penned for The Saturday Review of December 21, 1963 ("A Talk to Teachers").

 Footnote

1. For example:

• Greenland is hard to defend. As Trump threatens, the Danes are trying.
• New Trump memo seen as threat to lawyers, attempt to scare off lawsuits
• Autocrats worldwide rolling back rights and rule of law — and citing Trump's example
• Musk and Trump ratchet up involvement in Wisconsin Supreme Court race
• Musk Is Positioned to Profit Off Billions in New Government Contracts
• IRS nears deal with ICE to share addresses of suspect undocumented immigrants
• ICE in Florida detaining Cubans during immigration appointments
• White House seeks corporate sponsorships for Easter event
• After losing millions in federal funds, Texas food banks must now rely on donors 
• Trump turbulence leads allies to rethink reliance on U.S. weapons
• Germany unlocking billions to supercharge military
• Russia launches massive drone attack on Kyiv ahead of ceasefire talks
• Bernie Sanders is drawing record crowds as he pushes Democrats to 'fight oligarchy'
• Bernie Sanders and AOC draw huge crowd to Tucson’s Catalina High School
• Iowans Are Backing Trans People After Lawmakers Legalized Discrimination
• RFK Jr. Vows To Make Measles Deaths So Common They Won’t Be Upsetting Anymore [The Onion, but not wrong]