[benjulmag]

"All that being said, the presented piece is without question the earliest known image of "Cap" Anson in a baseball setting, and is absolutely deserving of a place in the collection of even the most discriminating memorabilia enthusiast." (emphais added)


Those are the words from the Mile High catalog description. WOW!!

Hard to know where to begin on this one. For starters, how to we know it is even the Notre Dame baseball team? From an inscription added 80 years later?!

Second, even if it is that team, how does one date it to the specific period Anson was on the team?

Third, resemblance alone, in the absence of detailed photo facial comparison (most of which end up being inconclusive even if through external means there is known to be a match), is insufficient to make a positive ID.

Fourth, there's no provenance.

Fifth, doesn't the description say that Anson played at Notre Dame after playing at Marshalltown? So since there is a known image of him with Marshalltown, even if this was Anson with Notre Dame, how could it be his earliest?

And with all this it's described as being the earliest known image of Anson without question?!