Hand in Glove

Martin Chandler | 8:56am BST 19 July 2026

Published: 2026
Pages: 139
Author: Musk, Stephen
Publisher: Red Rose Books
Rating: 3.5 stars

As is often the case with Red Rose Books publications it is the sub-title that tells you what the book is all about, and in this case George Patterson and Cricket in Philadelphia marks Hand in Glove out as a biography.

In truth Patterson’s name will be immediately recognised by few, but then that of Bart King has long been the only name from the heyday of Philadelphian cricket to have any continuing impact. Having taken considerable interest in North American cricket as a result of the many recent books and monographs that have appeared on the subject Patterson’s is a name I recalled seeing several times, but I put it no higher than that.

But I now know all about George Patterson. The son of a successful lawyer and businessman Patterson followed his father into the law and into business and replicated his success. Patterson senior also had an interest in cricket and whilst his playing days were over by the time the Halifax Cup began, the trophy the Philadelphian teams contested amongst themselves each year, his brother and two other sons as well as George were to appear in the tournament.

George was by far the most successful cricketer in the family and, in addition to playing in most of the First Class matches played in Philadelphia between 1885 and 1897, he also toured England in 1889 and 1897.

In terms of the style in which he played Patterson was an all-rounder, a right handed batsman and bowler. His medium paced bowling was clearly a second string to his bow, although he enjoyed days of success. His stronger suit was his batting where his strengths were watchfulness and durability rather than the power or frequency of his attacking strokes.

There was extensive coverage of Philadelphian cricket on both sides of the Atlantic in those days so Stephen Musk has plenty of material with which to compile a detailed account of George’s playing career, one which certainly had some highlights even if at times it was a struggle, in so small part due to a succession of hand injuries, the story of one of which gives rise to the book’s title.

A chronological account of a man’s playing career on its own is of interest, but will never on its own a great book make, but Musk’s account goes much further than that. There is a full statistical analysis of George’s performances and indeed those of the rest of his family.

Far more important, in terms of demonstrating what sort of a character George was, are the reproduction of a number of articles that bear his name or are concerned with him and in particular one from 1899, so after he had left the First Class game, setting out his concerns for the future of cricket in Philadelphia.

Personally however I felt the best part of the book had very little to do with cricket. The black sheep of the Patterson family was George’s youngest brother, another lawyer who was known as Chippy. Very much the black sheep of the family Chippy had serious issues with alcohol and loose women. He never quite got over the latter, but in time the yearning for alcohol was replaced with one for justice and the altruistic Chippy made a career out of successfully defending the indigent, with thoughts of remuneration very low on his list of priorities.

The first of the ten appendices in the book is a summary of Chippy’s life, a story very well told and I for one will be looking to follow Musk’s advice and acquire a copy of his biography The Worlds of Chippy Patterson, published 28 years after his untimely death in 1933 at the age of 58.

All in all Hand in Glove is an excellent addition to the literature that chronicles the game in Philadelphia, and should be on the shopping list of anyone who values that particular genre.