Snapshots of Polo Grounds, 1912

[trdcrdkid]

I recently bought three snapshots of the Polo Grounds, taken in 1912. They're small, apparently Type 1, and kind of faded. I scanned them and improved the contrast with the photo software on my computer, and here they are. The first picture appears to depict game action, with the Giants in the field, while the second and third pictures show Giants players in the outfield before the game or between innings.





I was able to date them to 1912 from the grandstand and the uniforms. The first and second pictures depict the concrete grandstand that was built in 1911 after the old wooden one burned down, so they can't be any earlier than that year. The Giants players in the second and third pictures are wearing white uniforms with black caps and black and white striped socks. The only year between 1911 and 1919 that the Giants had home uniforms like that was 1912, as shown on the BBHOF's Dressed to the Nines web site. See below, compared with a blown-up version of the player in the center-left of the second picture. I'm not sure, but I think that might be Fred Merkle.

http://exhibits.baseballhalloffame.o...ar&increment=9

[milkit1]

Great pics and research! I think you could be right regarding Merkle too. It looks like he chased after a pop up perhaps in right field and is just walking back to first. Speculation on my part but very possible.

[chalupacollects]

Cool pics! Is that a silhouette of a cartoonish turtle or dragon in the first two pics? Or something on the originals?

[kmac32]

Amazing. Thanks for posting

[trdcrdkid]

Originally Posted by chalupacollects

Cool pics! Is that a silhouette of a cartoonish turtle or dragon in the first two pics? Or something on the originals?

That's in all three pics, along with two other things above and to the left of it. I assume they were on the camera lens.

[isaiab.nixon]

Wonderful pictures, thanks for sharing!

[RCMcKenzie]

Great photos. In the second picture, I think I count nine players, or maybe 8. It looks like 3 players in left field. Maybe between innings or before the game. Narrowing the uniforms to 1912, y'all should be able to figure out the players.

[trdcrdkid]

Here's a better look at the outfield signs in picture 2.

[GoCubsGo32]

Great snapshots!

[Bigdaddy]

Great postcards, thanks for sharing.

One question for PC collectors - would you rather have them addressed/written on/stamped/mailed/postmarked or without the writing and postmarks?

I've only got a few postcards, but I seem to have gravitated to the ones that went through the mail. To me, it's almost like the postcard is incomplete if it has not served its original intended purpose.

[trdcrdkid]

Actually, they’re not postcards, but snapshots, 3” x 3 7/8”.

[KaiserCurt]

Such awesome snapshots of such a iconic field and era!

[obcbeatle]

Wow, very cool. I didn't even know snapshot camera's existed in 1912!? I thought they were all those huge camera's like Conlon used to use, with long exposure times. Learn something new every day :-)

[trdcrdkid]

Yeah, the Brownie camera, which brought snapshots to the masses, first came out in 1901 and was a big hit.

[JollyElm]

Just a note. Fred Merkle was right handed. That player appears to be 'wearing' his glove on his right hand, making him a lefty. However, it's a slight (but perhaps doubtful) possibility that he's only carrying his mitt in that hand. Of course, the more you look at the photo, other things come to mind. Is that a glove tucked under his left arm? And, is it possible that what looks to be a glove in his right hand might be something else (because it looks to be the extreme size of today's mitts), like a warm up jacket or something?? Too much hazy info in that shot.

[RCMcKenzie]

Darren, good eye. Is it the pitcher? Is it Hooks Wiltse?

Here are the left-handed throwers on the 1912 Giants roster:

Marquard
Wiltse
Dave Robertson
Beals Becker
Moose McCormick

[trdcrdkid]

Guys, I think these pictures are actually from the 1912 World Series. Somebody contacted me to say that he used to have a bunch of photos taken at the 1912 World Series, and these have the same look and feel. More important is something I noticed when looking at the grandstand picture on my desktop computer. At the far right edge of the picture, just to the right of the end of the grandstand, is a sign with "NEW YORK" on the top and "BOSTON" on the bottom -- presumably a scoreboard. It should be easier to see in this blowup:



Now compare that to this picture of the Polo Grounds' first-base grandstand before game 1 of the 1912 World Series, taken from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912_W...lo_Grounds.jpg


Notice at the far left, just to the left of the end of the grandstand, is an identical sign with "NEW YORK" on top and "BOSTON" on the bottom. Also note the white boxes in the first few rows of the stands, from which the term "box seats" comes. In my grandstand photo, shown again below for reference, you can see the same kind of white boxes in the first few rows of the third-base grandstand. I'm not sure whether these boxes were always there at the Polo Grounds or whether they were installed especially for the Series.



In theory, this could be a regular-season game between the Giants and the Boston Nationals/Doves/Braves. What makes that unlikely is the size of the crowd. My picture and the Wikipedia picture show different parts of the grandstand, but the crowd in each looks the same -- the lower deck completely full, the upper deck mostly full but with some empty spots here and there. The outfield pictures show that the bleachers were also pretty full, except for some empty spots way out in center field. Now, each of the three World Series games played at the Polo Grounds in 1912 had an attendance of more than 30,000, close to the park's capacity at the time. According to baseball-reference.com, of all the Giants' regular-season home games against Boston in 1912, the highest attendance was 15,000, for a doubleheader on September 28. The crowd in these photos of mine look like way more than half capacity. So, it looks to me like a 1912 World Series game.

The Giants' starting pitchers for the three games at the Polo Grounds were Jeff Tesreau in games 1 and 4, and Rube Marquard in game 6. If the mystery player walking in from the outfield is the starting pitcher after warming up, and he's a lefty, then it's presumably Marquard. But those are some big assumptions that I don't think we can necessarily make.

[JollyElm]

Found this on-line, if it helps...

[RCMcKenzie]

This is a case for Hercule Poirot, I mean, Mark, the SABR facial recognition guy. I thought the profile looks like Wiltse, but it could very well be, Rube Marquard...

[JollyElm]

Here's one with the New York/Boston sign in it...

1912.jpg

[bmarlowe1]

It's Marquardt. More importantly nice research on the Polo Grounds photo.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by bmarlowe1

It's Marquardt. More importantly nice research on the Polo Grounds photo.

+ 1 on the research

and your expertise is always appreciated, Mark.