Enjoy a sneak peek at never-before-seen cartoons from the Worcester Worcesters' 1880 season

UPDATE: John Thorn has posted the full gallery of images, which you can see here.

You could be forgiven if you haven't spent much time thinking about the Worcester Worcesters -- after all, they only played from 1880-82 before folding. (While you may not be impressed by the nicknaming prowess of the club, they were also known as the Brown Stockings, and perhaps the Ruby Legs, though the latter may be an "erroneous reading" of a 1881 Boston Herald headline.)

You should pay attention because this week, Major League Baseball's official historian, John Thorn, is taking an in-depth look at the club -- going far beyond that staff ace Lee Richmond somehow managed to go 32-32 in 1880 (along with the first perfect game in history), or that they had a player nicknamed Buttercup. 

Worcester NL sprang back to life for its 6 fans 9/28/82. This week, 3 stories on that club. http://t.co/96NVbU9oLu pic.twitter.com/iiQ4xk6R7R

- John Thorn (@thorn_john) May 11, 2015

After unveiling the scoresheet from Richmond's perfect game on Monday, including the interesting notation of "A" for first base and "M" for the center fielder, Thorn teased the online publication of Frederick E. Pollard's "Ups and Downs of the Worcester Base Ball Club: League Season 1880," a collection of cartoon art from the season. Today, we are lucky enough to offer a sneak peek at the online exhibition. 

Only one copy remains in existence, but thanks to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library (where the sole copy resides), we can finally take a look at this: 

That includes calling the Cincinnati Red Stockings "pork," because, as Thorn pointed out in an email, "Cincinnati was a hog-butchering capital in the 19th century, to the extent that its nickname was Porkopolis and that of its citizens Porkopolitans."

Baseball fans everywhere, hear my plea: Can we please bring back the nickname "Porkopolis?" 

The book also details the still relatable pain of watching your team be shutout: 

And even, perhaps, the first recorded use of Kiss Cam: 

It's a startling look at the day-to-day following of a ballclub that is almost forgotten to history. Be sure to check out Click here to check out the full gallery of images that will be on display for the first time at Thorn's blog, Our Game.