Photo help please

[3-2-count]

Do you think this is more than likely just a town team photo or does anyone see someone in here that rings a bell. And no, Babe Ruth and Moonlight Graham are not present. ;)
Has a Williams Bloomington stamp on the bottom of the mount. Thanks in advance.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95/andreatny/DSC00390.jpg

[Chris Counts]

On a whim, I did some Google searches for "Williams Bloomington." By far, the most interesting thing that came up were many hits for old postcards and photographs from the c. 1910 era, taken by a C.U. Williams of Bloomington, IL. Most date from 1908 to 1910, which seems like a dead ringer for your photo. Some depicted scenes from Bloomington, while others featured out-of-state subjects. Most are street scenes, but he did produce a popular studio shot of Billy Sunday. All, like your photograph, look like they were taken by a professional. I found several references to Williams describing his postcards as "highly sought after by collectors." Could the "B' stand for Bloomington? These guys look to me like more than just your typical c. 1910 town team.

[3-2-count]

Hi Chris and thanks for the reply. The "B" could in fact stand for Bloomington. Although not confirmed yet, the person I purchased this from mentions this may be a team photo of the Bloomington Bloomers. A minor league team who were members of the Illinois-Iowa-Indiana League based in Bloomington, Illinois that existed on-and-off from 1903 to 1939. Another interesting feature of this photo is the reverse. It displays a light image of a different team. It must have been stacked under this one while still wet and has left a ghost like image.
Can't quite make out the team name on this one though, but it looks like KEN_LAND or something of that nature. Still trying to get a good id.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95/andreatny/DSC00391.jpg

[Chris Counts]

This is a real long-shot, but it turns out that George Cutshaw, a decent major leaguer and an Obak card subject, played for the Bloomington Bloomers in 1908 and 1909. Anybody have a nice head shot of him? Another big leaguer, Les Nunamaker, played for them in 1910. Fred Beck, who has his very own T205 and T206, was a Bloomer from 1905 to 1908.

There's a wonderful website about the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League at www.three-eye.com. And for what's worth, there's a rural community called "Kentland" in Illinois.

By the way, that's a great-looking photo ...

[GoldenAge50s]

Chris---

That's a super job of info & research!

[slidekellyslide]

16 guys in the photo...very nice warmup jackets...this is undoubtedly a minor league club. Not sure if it's Bloomington or not, but that would be a good guess. I don't see Nunamaker in the photo, and nobody stands out.

[TheBig6]

Nice Cabinet Tony
Here's a Nunamaker card for comparision.
http://photos.imageevent.com/ruckers/ecards/nunamaker2.jpg

[slidekellyslide]

The guy in the dark sweater in the front row does bear some resemblance to Nunamaker, but he looks a bit small...hard to say with him crouching down, but Nunamaker was a pretty big guy.

[bmarlowe1]

This is the 1907 Bloomington 3-I League club. This is indicated by Bob Koestner, back row, 4th from the left (see photo below with Clev in 1910).

There were 4 other major leaguers on that club:
front row far left is likely Red Nelson, 3rd from left is likely Art Wilson.
back row left of Koestner is likely Fred Beck.

If you can put the photo down flat on a scanner at 600 dpi and email it to me, I can be more sure of those three.

Fred Donovan may be present - but the only images of him that I have aren't clear enough to be sure.

[3-2-count]

Hi Mark and thanks for jumping in. I've sent a scan as you requested to your email address and am attaching closeups of the players here as well.
Thanks to everyone who replied to the thread with what they know about this team. The knowledge here never ceases to amaze me and is appreciated.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95/andreatny/bloomers1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95/andreatny/bloomers2.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95/andreatny/bloomers3.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95/andreatny/bloomers4.jpg

[bmarlowe1]

The additional posts were helpful.

First - Fred Beck is confirmed:

[bmarlowe1]

Art Wilson is a bit more difficult because of the angle in the Bloomington photo. The camera is effectively looking down at his face from above quite a bit. There are plenty of pics of Art Wilson, but I found none from that angle.

Given the best comparison I could find, you do have to be able to visualize how his features would look rotated downward 15-20 degrees or so. In my judgement everything looks right, and ear matching is still very do-able. I am sure that it is Wilson.

[bmarlowe1]

As to Red Nelson, given the avaiable photos (Colgan's chip and 2 from the LoC Bain collection), and the added clarity of Tony's latest post, I am not convinced that the guy front row far left is him - just not sure.

[3-2-count]

Mark, your knowledge and expertise in this field is nothing short of amazing. Thanks for everything up to this point. Below is the team roster of the 1907 Bloomington Bloomers.
If anyone can add a picture to who already hasn't been confirmed to match more players up, please let myself know or simply add it to this thread.
Thanks much everyone,

1907 BLOOMINGTON BLOOMERS TEAM ROSTER
Fred Beck - Back row 3rd from left
Williams Connors
Frank Dang
Fred Donovan
A. Ebright
Earl Graham
John Herbert
Bob Koestner - Back row 4th from left
Albert Kuhns
Red Nelson
Roy Snyder
Harry Syfert - Top row 4th from right
Edward Thorsen
Art "Dutch" Wilson - Front row 4th from left
E. Winans

[Chris Counts]

Are these two photos a match? If they are, that's Harry Syfert in the top row, fourth from the right. This is from the Three-I League website:

"Syfert pitched for the Bloomers in 1904, Decatur the following two seasons, and then two more for Bloomington. Syfert's 52 appearances in 1907 remained the league's record high until 1957. After four years in Class B ball, he found himself playing for Nashville in the well-regarded Southern League. His career included stops in several other minor league circuits, culminating with a no-hitter for Winnipeg, Manitoba of the Northern League. In 1912, he returned from his continental wanderings to play for his hometown Bloomers, and the following year the club hired him to manage ..."

"In a 1939 article in the Bloomington Pantagraph, Syfert, then a grocer, reminisced about his youthful turn with the Bloomers. 'Our entire club was made up of boys who lived within a radius of 100 miles and the fans knew them personally and turned out to see their friends play ball,' he recalled. Once, after beating Dubuque on a Friday, Syfert received permission to spend all Saturday fishing. He returned Sunday to pitch 15 innings in a Bloomers win, a performance that included hitting the game's winning home run ..."

[3-2-count]

Chris, great job. I think you may be right. Sure looks like Syfert to me. Mark what do you think? In regards to a Fred Donovan match I found the following. Below is a team photo of the 1904 Bloomington team which Donovan played on and is pictured as the #7 player. Although it's tough to make out from this picture it's all I've been able to find at this point of pictures depicting Donovan. It does resemble this player though on my cabinet. Keep in mind my photo is 3 years later into his career than the team photo on the left.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95/andreatny/Bloomington1904donovan-1.jpg http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95/andreatny/freddonovan-2.jpg

[bmarlowe1]

Syfert - for sure.

I have that same Spalding Guide photo with Donovan. It don't think it's the guy Tony selected, but it's not clear enough for me to be sure of anythiing.

[bmarlowe1]

From the 1908 Spalding Guide (1907 team photo):

back row:
Donovan mgr, Brown, Beck, Koestner, Tharsen, Syfert, Connors, Herbert, Humes.
front row:
Dang, Seisson, Snyder, Wilson, Weinan, Philips, Lavelle.

[3-2-count]

From the 1908 Spalding Guide (1907 team photo):

back row:
Donovan mgr, Brown, Beck, Koestner, Tharsen, Syfert, Connors, Herbert, Humes.
front row:
Dang, Seisson, Snyder, Wilson, Weinan, Philips, Lavelle.


Mark you are definitely the man when it comes to this. Very impressive!! So if I'm understanding you correctly, are you saying that my cabinet is the picture that's used in the 1908 Spalding Guide? If so do you have a scan of the picture as it's shown in the 08 guide? Thanks much for matching up all the players.

Tony Andrea

[cincicards]

12813

[3-2-count]

Thanks Randall. Very cool.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95/andreatny/bloomersdpi-2.jpg http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95/andreatny/bloom-1.jpg