Need help with ID of So. League player

[Michael Peich]

All--

I acquired this cabinet card at the National, but have no idea on the ID of the player. The 1907 Spalding Guide shows two Savannah players wearing this uniform, so I am fairly certain that my unknown guy played for them in either `06 or `05. Beyond that, I have nothing. The cabinet measures 5 X 7.

If anyone has any suggestions please email me: mpeich12@gmail.com.

Thanks,
Mike

[mybuddyinc]

Mike,

Man, I would love to figure it out also. I can tell you dozens of players who it is NOT, but he's someone that I "think" can be found.

Got a slow and boring afternoon ahead, I'll give it a shot.

Great image not matter what !!!!!

Scott

[mybuddyinc]

OK, this probably pushing it, but the best I could do:

Walter Morris.

"Dead / drooped" eyes, heavy chin/jaw, comparable nose shape and location to eyes and mouth. Ear placement bothers me, but he is leaning slightly forward (less formal) in grainy photo (and they're not to clear).

Everyday second baseman for Savannah 1906-08. The K on uniform is probably from 1909 Charleston/Knoxville (Charleston folded mid-season).

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=morris010joh


201153

[Michael Peich]

Sean--Just saw your post. Many, many thanks! I'll keep digging around on Walter Morris.

Does anyone else have a clearer photo/image of Morris?

Thanks, again, Sean.

Cheers,
Mike

[mybuddyinc]

Mike,

The more I look at it the more I like it.

BTW, I'm not into it, but genealogy is very popular on the web. I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't find a site that might be able to help you out. Morris died in 1961, so there may be just a generation or two to go through. Maybe even find a relative.

Good luck, Scott (not Sean :rolleyes:)

[mattsey9]

Mike,

The more I look at it the more I like it.

BTW, I'm not into it, but genealogy is very popular on the web. I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't find a site that might be able to help you out. Morris died in 1961, so there may be just a generation or two to go through. Maybe even find a relative.

Good luck, Scott (not Sean :rolleyes:)

From putzing around on Ancestry.com...

His house where lived in Dallas until passing in 1961: Morris Home built in 1938 (http://www.trulia.com/homes/Texas/Dallas/sold/20963891-6232-Victor-St-Dallas-TX-75214)

According to his death certificate, Morris' daughter listed his primary occupation as a professional baseball manager. I can't find him right off the bat in any census past 1900 when he was still living at home with his parents. His father, George Morris, was a practicing attorney in Rockwall, TX when he was born in 1881 and was still listed as an attorney in 1930 in Dallas. Walter likely had a comfortable, such as the term can be used to describe 1880s Texas, upbringing.

The Texas Sports Historical Association lists this bio on their webpage under JERRY Walter Morris.

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fmo58

MORRIS, JERRY WALTER (1880–1961). Jerry Walter Morris, baseball player, promoter, and executive, was born on January 30, 1880, at Rockwall, Texas. He left the University of Texas in 1902 to play with Corsicana of the Texas League, a league in which he spent the next twenty-six years as player, manager, club executive, and, for five years, league president. He was one of the earliest collegians to leap directly into organized baseball. Headlines and records seemed to follow Morris. In his first season at Corsicana his club had baseball's highest winning percentage (.793), set a world record for consecutive victories (twenty-seven), never relieved a pitcher all season, and figured in the game's greatest slaughter-a 51–3 victory over Texarkana. All this was done with an eleven-man squad. While a student at the University of Texas, where he frequently played without shoes, Morris had been known as the "Barefoot Boy at Texas." He received a law degree from the University of Texas in 1906 and tried to combine law and baseball careers until 1910, when he decided that baseball was his life's work. In 1916 he became president of the Texas League and helped to arrange the Dixie Series, a thirty-seven-year match between the Texas League and the Southern Association champions. For several years he owned half interest in the Fort Worth Cats, and again, after 1922, he was part owner and secretary-business manager for six years of the Dallas baseball team. He also served as business manager for the Shreveport, Tyler, and Fort Worth teams. He held the following personal records: club manager in his third year of organized baseball; organizer of more leagues (fourteen) and president of more (seven) than any other man on record; at one time president of three leagues concurrently-the East Texas, Evangeline, and Cotton States; builder of nine baseball parks; developer of numerous baseball players for the major leagues, including Rogers Hornsby; and once, in an emergency, Texas League president and umpire simultaneously. He died on August 2, 1961, of a heart attack following a surgical operation. In December 1966 he was elected to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

Here's a photo from the TSHOF of Morris as an adult:

http://tshof.org.ismmedia.com/ISM3/std-content/repos/Top/Staff/MorrisJWalter.jpg

[Laxcat]

I just checked my Cactus's and I don't have '00 or '01. The 1902 book didn't have a photo or mention of him. If anyone has either yearbook I am willing to bet that you could find a good photo comparison.

[Laxcat]

I thought this might be the same guy. This photo wasn't dated or named.

[Dto7]

Couldn't find a Walter Morris or a John Morris but a Morris played 3rd base on the 99-00 team

[bmarlowe1]

The faces in posts #6 and #8 for sure do not match the face in post #1.

[Laxcat]

The faces in posts #6 and #8 for sure do not match the face in post #1.

Hmm. The face in #6 #8 #9(sitting bottom left) are all the same guy. That guy is Walter Morris.

[BradH]

The faces in posts #6 and #8 for sure do not match the face in post #1.

I agree with Mark and don't see any resemblance between Post #1 and the older gentleman in Post #6.

I don't have a lot of hair on top myself, so I can't answer this from personal experience, but isn't it a bit unusual for someone to change which direction they part their hair midway through life? The hair is parted opposite ways for the guys in #1 and #6.

Also, the cleft chin for the older gentleman in #6 is way off from #1.

If we know for sure that #6 is Walter Morris, then I think that rules him out as the picture in question for the OP. Just my two cents.

[Michael Peich]

Thank you all for the sleuthing. I agree that the person in posts #6 and #8 is probably Walter Morris, but not the player in the photo I posted in #1. The later life comb-over could be an attempt to cover a follicle-challenged head, but I don't think the chin is the same.

I'll keep digging around, and hope that others will as well. Many thanks to everyone, including Scott--don't know why I called you Sean!

Cheers,
Mike

[bmarlowe1]

Hmm. The face in #6 #8 #9(sitting bottom left) are all the same guy. That guy is Walter Morris.

No - it's really pretty simple. The ears in #6, #8, and the guy lower left in #9 do not match, therefore they cannot possibly be the same person.

Forensics aside, what you are telling us is that the 2 images below depict the same person, which is ludicrous.

[mybuddyinc]

Well, Mr. Morris was certainly a "someone" in Texas baseball history.

I'd contact the Texas HOF and see if they could put you in contact with a relative. I'd be surprised if they couldn't.


Also, I agree that the two Texas college photos are the same guy, but they are not Morris. As far as the elder Morris compared to "my" Knoxville Morris, I can't tell.


Although there are very compelling arguments that the Savannah player is not Morris, I still think (for what's that's worth :rolleyes:) it's him.

Sean, oh, Scott :)


When a get a break in doing nothing, I will also check some local Savannah History establishments.

[bmarlowe1]

...Also, I agree that the two Texas college photos are the same guy..

The 2 college men are absolutely not the same person:

[Michael Peich]

Thank you, again, for the input folks. We may never learn who it is......

Cheers, Mike

[Dto7]

Walter Morris 1908 St. Louis Cardinals

[bmarlowe1]

The Savannah player originally in question at left, J. Walter Morris with San Antonio c1905 at center, and Morris about a decade or so later at right. Substantially different nose, ear, chin shape and lips indicates that the Savannah player is not Morris. That said, finding Morris in a St. Louis uniform is a nice find.