[nolemmings]

I think DJ's point is a good one-- Wagner was not in Hot Springs for Spring Training in 1908. He is wearing a 1907 Pirates uniform. Either the photo is from 1907 and the middle subject is therefore not wearing a Pirates 1908 uniform, or the photo is post-1908 and Wagner is wearing the "old" uniform. Players often wore the preceding year's uniform in the Spring, with the new ones not put on display until the regular season. Thus, it seems less likely that Honus is wearing the "new" 1907 uniform in the photo; moreover, if he were, than how do you explain the other uniform? which would apparently have to be attributed to a college or minor league team in the area, unless Okkonen is wrong on the Brooklyn and Boston uniforms.

More likely this is from 1909, with Honus wearing a two year-old uniform. The further you get from 1909 the less likely he would be wearing an even older uniform. FWIW and since anything goes in this guessing game, let me throw out the wildest theory yet. There was an alderman/magistrate (low level judge) named Louis Alpern from Pittsburgh's 3rd ward in 1909, and there is a person by that name said by Ancestry.com to have been residing in the area in both 1920 and 1940 who was born around 1880, putting him in his late 20's -early 30's in 1909. It looks like he may have been the subject of corruption charges later on, and it's possible he considered himself quite the big shot. Could the photo be of a Pittsburgh politico who wanted his fantasy pic with the local boys of summer? And no, I have not been drinking.