A hand-drawn and hand-painted invitation from the "Murphy Balsam" baseball team of Portland challenges the Poland Spring team to a baseball game.

The invitation notes that the Poland Spring team has lost its "pitcher." The Poland Spring newspaper, the Hill-Top, reported that pitcher Ralph Plaisted and two teammates left the team on July 30, alluding to reasons such as defection to another team and drunkenness.

The teams played on July 21 and July 28. The teams held a challenge match on Sept. 5. That game was shortened by rain and ended in a 16-16 tie.

"Plaiste" is written on a drawing of a ceramic pitcher. The invitation was in the collection of Ralph Plaisted, a Bowdoin College graduate and a lawyer.

Edward W. Murphy, a pharmacist who owned Murphy Bros. on Congress Street in Portland, owned the Murphy Balsam team.