1910 RPPCs from West Side Grounds in Chicago

[Kris19]

I recently picked up two real photo post cards showing interior views of the West Side Grounds in Chicago. They’re beautiful images and show the view from inside the park of the iconic lettering and statues over the entrance to the stadium, so wonderfully depicted in this thread:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=247132


But there’s more to the story...

Part of the handwritten message on the back of the game action RPPC states:
"This shows the deciding game of the world's championship series played by the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia." That was game 5 on October 23, 1910 when Philadelphia won their first World Series by defeating the Cubs, 7-2, to win the series 4 games to 1!

Without the benefit of the scoreboard in the photo, it is difficult to nail down the exact point in the game captured. I believe the Cubs are in the field, wearing their home whites. Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown pitched a complete game for the Cubs, but you'll see that he is not on the mound. All players are looking towards first base and the outfielders are not moving. I speculate that it was a ground ball to first baseman Frank Chance, with Brown on the move toward first. You can also see second baseman Heinie Zimmerman, playing in place of Johnny Evers, breaking towards first base. The only ground ball hit to Chance in the game was in the 4th inning, when Eddie Collins "...pulled a curve on the ground to Chance..."

I would love to hear your thoughts on what you think might be happening in the action shown!

Also, I have found some newspaper articles from the Chicago Tribune describing fans descending to the field after the final out was made, shown in the second RPPC, and provided below.

[T206Jim]

Fantastic find Kris!

[WillowGrove]

Nice Kris!

I'll look again when I have more time.

[JeremyW]

Kris- Really great RPPC. It looks to me like it was a ground ball to Zimmerman who has already thrown or is about to underhand throw the ball to Chance.

[Kris19]

Thanks guys! Jeremy, I am now leaning towards your way of seeing it. In fact, when I blew up the high resolution scan on my PC, I believe the ball can be seen in flight between Zimmerman and Chance. In the third inning, the Chicago Tribune describes: “Hartsell hit a curve ball on the ground to Zimmerman, who tossed to Chance for an easy out.” There were three other balls hit to Zimmerman, but two were up the middle (one deflecting off of Brown) and on the third he threw home for an out.

[Leon]

Not sure what is going on...but those are crisp rppc's