Thread: 1st 5 HOF
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Old 01-01-2024, 04:43 PM
Hankphenom Hankphenom is offline
Hank Thomas
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Join Date: Jun 2009
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Originally Posted by h2oya311 View Post
It was actually a postcard from the Big Train’s rookie season (1907, away jersey) according to Hank. I think it was cut for a photo album or some other oval shaped display, although it does remind me of the shapes used for composite photos during that era. It’s definitely my favorite image of WaJo. And the fact that it’s on cardboard stock (postcard) makes it that much more appealing to me. Thanks for the nice words!
That spectacular piece was pasted to the bottom of a Type I photo of WaJo in his classic pitching form (the cover of my paperback, see Amazon.com) in a framed collage of photos I believe to have been assembled by my grandmother for a 1929 banquet to honor new Nationals manager Walter Johnson back from spring training to start that season. The collage hung in the den of the house I grew up in in Chevy Chase D.C. until Mom left the house several years ago after 60 years, at which time it was disassembled and most of the photos sold at auction. I kept this one for a while, then sold it on the B/S/T a couple years ago. I've always assumed it had been cut from a large 1907 team photo, although one cringes at the thought. I don't believe my grandmother would ever have done that, as she was quite the archivist of his career, more probably Walter himself as a callow youth, or his Mom at the request of some newspaperman for a photo, etc. I've always loved this image, and it's in my book. Quite the handsome young man, no? And oh, by the way, have you seen him throw the ball?
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