Women in Baseball Images Sought
 

I am working on a book on the history of women baseball players (1866-1909) for the University of Illinois Press. I am looking for never-before published images of women players and teams from this period. If you have any images that you would allow to be published, please contact me. Thank you.

Hi Deb, I have a few that you are welcome to use if you want them.

A Methodist/Episcopal church team from Niobrara, Nebraska in 1909.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...cniobrara8.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...cniobrara6.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...cniobrara5.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...cniobrara4.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...cniobrara3.jpg

I assume that this postcard is in the public domain now...

Deb, I sent you an email with contact info for someone you might want to talk to.


Jim VB

Great images, Dan. I am definitely interested in researching the nazi swastika image on the St. Louis Stars card. I have collected quite a few articles on that team and am searching for information on the players and on Gibbs. (The team was based out of Cincinnati, not St. Louis. It was not at all uncommon for Bloomer Girls teams to call themselves after some large city, like Boston or New York, rather than after their own home town.)

Thanks for the note, Jim. I have contacted the individual you mentioned.

Deb, I'm sure you already know this, but the swastika prior to being hijacked by the Nazis was a good luck symbol.

I tried to do a little research on Al Gibbs but couldn't find anything. I wonder if he had anything to do with the Bill Board magazine since you had to write to them to contact the team.

Here's an image of Julia St. Clair, team and date unknown.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/35/94...ddef8371b3.jpg

Max

Hi Jim,

Thanks so much for thinking of me for this thread and passing on my contact info. I've been traveling a ton the past four weeks and not keeping up with anything internet the way I usually do - I def would have missed the thread if you hadn't called it to my attention. Thanks much.

Deb,

I got your email and will try to shoot you a note tonight after work. I'm in DC later this week, so if I don't get it tonight then this weekend for sure. Exciting project. I have dozens of images - some are very common and some I've never seen anywhere else. Great project - very exciting.

Dan,

Cool postcard! Is it actually a postcard, or something else? This is one of the favorite items in my collection - def in the top 3. But it's not a postcard. It's oversized - almost like a premium or something. The image is a very thin piece of paper that is pasted to the card, so I think this is actually the reverse. The picture of the individual player is printed directly on the card, and I think that was originally the front. I really like the individual photo on the front. Where did you get the postcard from?

Will email you later, Deb. And thanks again Jim.

J

Police Gazette
 

Here's the cover of the July 1, 1899 issue...

Joann, I sent you an email. :)

1860 Lady Baseballer Ambrotype
 

Hi Deb,

To my knowledge, this is the earliest woman baseball image known. It is an ambrotype of an anonymous woman in a fancy dress holding a bat and ball from circa 1860.

I no longer own this image but I could get in touch with the new owner for you if desired.

Regards

Jason

The Methodist/Episcopal church team
 

I sure wish I understood how this forum works! Would you believe I just now found this response you made to my thread back in Nov 09? Is there some sort of setting I need to make so that I get e-mail advisories when people post to a thread I've started? I do get notices when people respond to responses I've made to other threads or to private messages but I didn't know anyone had responded to my thread. Also, I don't understand how to "subscribe" to threads. Can you explain that?

The photos you sent of the Methodist/Episcopal church team are wonderful! I expect I will use one of them because it represents another type of team I hadn't even considered previously--church teams. Can you tell me anything about the photos? Where did you get them? Are there any names associated with them?

Deb Shattuck

Police Gazette illustration
 

Sorry for my late delay in responding to this post, Doug. I still haven't gotten the hang of how to find responses to my posts. Great image of the female baseball players in the N.P.G. I hadn't seen it before.

Rare pre-bloomer 1870s tintype of a female player for the "LABBC". When you zoom in, you can see she is holding what appears to be an acorn or ball-knob bat and an early "belt-style" ball...

original broadside
 

original young ladies baseball club broadside . trying to find photo for this piece. there is one on ebay for 4500.00 dollars. this is from a pennsylvania collection and that is where they traveled through alot. you can use this piece if you would like.

Deb, I picked up the Methodist team postcards at a local auction years ago...I've since sold them, but I'm pretty sure I remember who I sold them to...they did have names written on the back of one of the cards. If you'd like I can contact the new owner to see if he still has them.

That would be great if it's not too much trouble. Getting the names might allow me to find out something about the players from census information or city directories. Sometimes I'm even able to track down living relatives of the players. I found the grandniece of Myrtle Rowe, the grandnephew of Alta Wiess and the grandnieces and grandnepher of Ruth Egan. Player names are a big help in my research.

Awesome image! Does it happen to say anything on the back or have a date on it?

http://images.ha.com/lf?source=url[file:images/inetpub/newnames/300/3/1/7/317136.jpg],continueonerror[true]&source=url[file:images/inetpub/webuse/no_image_available.gif],if[('global.source.error')]&sink=preservemd[true] this is the poster broadside also from 1890 that sold at auction from Doylestown, Pa.

women baseball
 

this is the poster that sold at auction from Doylestown, Pa. the pencil notation asks for 100 images for 1890.

Hey Deb,

Here's one I've always loved - and it's from the Library of Congress to boot!

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...ll10_10_19.jpg

Graig

Awesome photo! After I finish my first book, I hope to write a sequel which will cover the timeframe 1910-1954. Judging by the automobile in the background, I'm guessing this photo was taken in the 19-teens. I notice the players are wearing different color uniforms--could be two teams from a local school or, possibly, a barnstorming team. The Washington Post might have some articles if it is the latter.

Another great image! I have seen a digital version of this previously. It yielded all sorts of useful information for me. It was published by a man named Sylvester Franklin Wilson who organized numerous women's baseball teams between 1879 and 1903. He frequently used aliases to hide from the law because he was arrested and jailed dozens of times in his life for for crimes ranging from petty to felony. The latter included sexual molesting his players--some of whom were under age 16. He ended up dying in the New York State hospital for the criminally insane. I plan to include an entire chapter about Wilson in my book.