The New York Yankees, Knickerbocker Beer, and a St. Bernard Named Portia

GoldenEgg

In a recent bulk medal and token purchase, I happened upon an award medal that at first glance was uninteresting. The obverse's "THE NEW COUNTRY LIFE" had no meaning to me and in fact, it was rather ugly. It wasn't until I researched the engraving on the reverse of the medal that I knew it was something special.

The inscription on the reverse of the medal reads as follows:

OUR OWN DOG SHOW
HONORABLE MENTION
PORTIA
OWNED BY
JACOB RUPPERT
1918

Of course I turned to Google to see if I could find anything about Mr. Ruppert. And there sure is a lot! Jacob Ruppert (Jr.) is most known for being the owner of the New York Yankees from 1915 to 1939, but there is a lot more to him than just that. He served in the National Guard and later spent a four-term stint in Congress. Among many business pursuits, he worked for his wealthy family's brewery, beginning as a keg washer and later becoming president upon his father's death in 1915. Knickerbocker beer was a signature brand, but the company had to switch to near-beer during prohibition. Until prohibition, this business afforded him much of the capital to pursue his other interests.

Along with a business partner, Ruppert purchased the New York Yankees in 1915. At the time the team was unexceptional. Jacob Ruppert himself stated: "It was an orphan ball club, without a home of its own, without players of outstanding ability, without prestige." During his tenure as owner, he brought in Babe Ruth (and many other Hall of Famers), built the original Yankee Stadium with his own money, and won eight World Series titles! Ruth and Ruppert are seen in the Associated Press photo (from Legendary Auctions) below. Though they had public contract disputes, they were friends. Jacob Ruppert was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013.

Ruppert's other interests included first edition books, Chinese porcelain, Indian relics, monkeys, exotic birds, horses, and St. Bernards. His St. Bernards were considered some of the finest at the time. Many were award winning dogs, including Oh Boy, Boy Blue, Bulgaria, and Portia, among many others.

Portia was said to have been purchased and imported by Ruppert for $3500 in 1917 or so. She was likely entered into many shows, including the Our Own Dog Show, which issued the above medal. Only five medals were awarded: one gold; one silver; and three bronze. Being that Portia only won bronze, Jacob was likely disappointed, as he always wanted to win the blue ribbon. How this particular medal ended up in a bulk lot of exonumia is a mystery.

I couldn't find much information about Portia, however there was a color drawing in the same 1918 "The New Country Life" magazine that announced her winning honorable mention.

Before finding and researching this medal, I knew very little about the early history of the New York Yankees or St. Bernards, and I had never heard of Knickerbocker beer or Jacob Ruppert. But now I know a little. Hopefully the exonumists (and Yankee, beer, and dog fans) of the forum enjoyed this! Post something dog, beer, or baseball related, if you'd like!

Zoins

That's super cool! Always great to learn something about the award recipients and this is an exceptional one.

UnclePennyBags

This was very cool.... This is why I come here... Dogs, Baseball and beer in a coin forum and it all ties together perfectly... Thanks for sharing, I love it

tradedollarnut

Awesome post

CaptHenway

Excellent research!

steelielee

Nice post, thanks. hits some of my favorite things....yankees, beer & coins/medals.

tommy44

I'm so old I actually remember drinking Knickerbocker beer.

DDR

Great research, very interesting.

BigMoose

GoldenEgg, fantastic post! The historical tie-ins to that medal are remarkable.

ricko

Great post... I grew up in NYS (born in Brooklyn - grew up in the Catskills) so I am very familiar with the Yankees (a family favorite), Knickerbocker beer (Dad's favorite) and we had a St. Bernard when I was very young. So this evoked pleasurable memories of my youth in many areas. The medal is a great find and demonstrates the occasional treasures that appear in assemblages of miscellany....Thanks for a great post.... Cheers, RickO

WillieBoyd2

Interesting historical story!

lkeigwin

I'm not sure Knickerbocker was our favorite beer but it was readily available when my friends and I arrived of age in NY in the late '60's. The photo below is of a worker sampling beer after filtration, circa 1938.
Lance.