Need Help ID-ing 1926 Yankees-Tigers Players

[timzcardz]

I recently picked up the glass negative for the following picture, knowing only that it was Yankees at Tigers from 1926.




Started first with trying to ID the Yankees player based on what appears to be an unusually long face and I think that it is Garland Braxton.



Garland Braxton:



1926 Yankees with Braxton circled:



If it is Braxton, then the only game that he played in at Detroit and reached base was June 9, 1926, in which he got the win pitching the 8th and 9th. (I checked retrosheet.org and they didn't have the play byplay for any of the games that may have enabled me to determine exactly who had reached third in the games.)

If that is true, and assuming that the Detroit player is the third baseman, that would make the Detroit player Jack Warner. Does that look like him?






If it is not Braxton/Warner, the other Detroit players at third against the Yankees in 1926 were O'Rourke and Gehringer.

I like the image. Figuring out definitively who the players are, and possibly when the game was played, will just add to the enjoyment.

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

[jacksons]

My guess on the Yankee player is Joe Dugan.

Largish rump, legs with slender upper body and sloping shoulders.

The face in the negative would have more of the skeletal, sunken features of Braxtons face.

My first reaction on seeing the image without reading your post was "that's a cool action shot of Dugan".

Just one opinion though.

[timzcardz]

Thanks for the input.

I guess that I could see it as Dugan. If it is, then at best I am probably only going to be able to pin it to the players and not an actual game.

I look forward to others weighin in.

[Jaybird]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it looks like the bag has to be either first or second base. You can see the outfielder in the distance and the grandstands behind. If this was third base the stands would be much closer.

Unless the image is reversed?

There's also an umpire on the play behind the runner so I'm guessing second base?


another guess, this looks like a tag-up. Ball hit up alley between 2nd and 3rd. Player on 2nd goes back to the base to avoid a double play? Or ball hit up first base line, player on first runs back for same reason.

[timzcardz]

Jaybird, First, thanks for the input. I don't agree, but it did make me re-evaluate why I thought this was at third base. If you see something wrong in my logic below, please point it out.



Quotes taken out of order . . .

Originally Posted by Jaybird

Unless the image is reversed?

I know that the image is not reversed. If the image was reversed "New York" across the front of the jersey would be backwards.

Originally Posted by Jaybird

Maybe I'm wrong, but it looks like the bag has to be either first or second base. You can see the outfielder in the distance and the grandstands behind. If this was third base the stands would be much closer.

I don't believe that it can be first base.

I believe the axis of the photo taken is as indicated by the red arrow in the image below. This would be consistent with the angle of the stands in the background. Also, the player in the backgournd could be either the pitcher or first baseman.

As for the possibility of it being second base, for the stands to line up the way that they do with the base, I believe the axis of the photo would be as indicated by the yellow arrow in the image below, but would put the photographer quite a distance from the players to be off the playing field. The image, to me at least, looks like the photographer is closer to the players.

Originally Posted by Jaybird

There's also an umpire on the play behind the runner so I'm guessing second base?

The umpire behind the runner also threw me. Maybe something earlier in the play pulled umpire out of position? I am also not too familiar with the ways umpires used to position themselves. I am reminded though of the classic image of Cobb stealing 3rd with the umpire on the field behind them.

Originally Posted by Jaybird

another guess, this looks like a tag-up. Ball hit up alley between 2nd and 3rd. Player on 2nd goes back to the base to avoid a double play? Or ball hit up first base line, player on first runs back for same reason.

With the orientation of the photo (Based on the stands) if it was a tag-up back to 2nd, then we would be looking at the back of the runner. Same goes for tag-up back to 1st.

[jacksons]

I agree that this is 3rd base.

And I still think it's Dugan.

Can you make out what the script at the top of the image reads?

Very impressed with your research on this, Tim. Love that shot of Navin - where did you find it?

[jacksons]

Now I'm a little backwards on it, after having reversed the image.

First off, the text reads "????? ?? Navin Field 1926"

When a negative is reversed like this, is it it's true orientation then?

Isn't this the orientation the photographer sees when he scribbles his notes at the top of the negative, which would make this first base, a likely missed pick-off???

Anyone else?

[timzcardz]

At the top, not sure what the first word is, but continues "Navin Field 1926"

I'll pull the negative out tonight to see what the first word is.



As for the Navin Field image:

http://www.suntala.com/evodet.html
http://www.suntala.com/evol_images/navin_660w.jpg

[timzcardz]

Originally Posted by jacksons

Now I'm a little backwards on it, after having reversed the image.

First off, the text reads "????? ?? Navin Field 1926"

When a negative is reversed like this, is it it's true orientation then?

Isn't this the orientation the photographer sees when he scribbles his notes at the top of the negative, which would make this first base, a likely missed pick-off???

Anyone else?

No, Now the runner's jersey has "New York" backwards.

The actual image on the glass surface, is reversed. The writing is on the same side of the glass as the image.

[D. Broughman]

Is the runner going back to first?

[timzcardz]

Originally Posted by D. Broughman

Is the runner going back to first?

This is the second time that someone has suggested that it could be first base.

In post #5 above, I went through why I believed it to be at 3rd base, and not 1st or 2nd.

Is there something specific that you see that makes you think otherwise?




[Note: This started out with me buying what I thought was a rather cool and affordable negative, and has now become a full blown research project.

I thought that I had figured out who the Yankee runner may have been, which would then also yield the game and one of two innings, and now am at the point that I think I can only confidently rule out Ruth and Gehrig as possibiites!

At least I am still sure that it is the Tigers and Yankees. ]

[jacksons]

Tim -

Your point is that it cannot be first base, since the reversed original image shows the lettering on the Yankee player's uniform short as backwards, correct?

I still don't understand the photographic process enough to make sense of that, but if that's accurate, then it's third base.

Isn't this fun?!

[jacksons]

OK Tim - I'm going to get back to work real soon, but before I do, had to leave you with one more hint...

I got to thinking, if this was third base, then it could be the shortstop in the image, should the third baseman have been behind the bag covering a throw, or charged a bunt, fielded to first which was then relayed to the SS at third to get Dugan racing to the corner bag.

If it was the SS, then it would be Jackie Tavener, who played the bulk of games at SS in 1926.

Here's an image of Jackie - sure looks like him to me.

[Jaybird]

I see your point on the third base and agree with you on that. Thanks for the illustration and clarification.

I agree with Jacksons and think the player does look like the SS Jackie Tavener . Broad nose at the tip, deep set eyes, longish ears. bit of a protruding or defined chin.

[timzcardz]

Writing at top of negative reads . . .


"Play at Navin Field 1926"


.

[Kawika]

My non-scientific first impression of this picture and some random thoughts: Yankee baserunner advanced (sacrifice fly maybe) to third. Throw late and off, no need slide. Maybe a triple. Who knows? Dugan had five in '26. Either way ump had time to position himself clear of the play. Is it Dugan? Looks like a burn victim to me or the guy from The Scream. Guy just to the right of runner's left knee has gotta be the pitcher; you can even make out the mound. Either that or the first sacker is eleven feet tall. First I thought he was a lefty based on the black blob at his right knee - that would have made it either Whitehill, Wells or reliever Johns. Then I considered that if it were his glove he'd have had to have had Marfan's Syndrome - arms would be abnormally long. Probably just a patch of dark background and so much for the "lefty" theory. The Detroiter making the play at third? Tavener is listed as having been 5'5". Our guy looks taller. Warner is listed as 5'9". Can you make this thumbnail of Warner equate? Nose looks more like Tavener. Mark F. would accuse me of hallucinatory wishful science if I said I thought it was one or the other. Jacksons got one thing right: This is fun!

Jack Warner per Baseball-Reference.com

[timzcardz]

David,

Thanks for the input, and I'm glad that you are finding this to be fun.

The left handed pitcher theory is something that I hadn't thought of and would certainly narrow the potential number of games. I'll have to go back to the negative for a better look, or the original scan that I did at 600dpi that even picked up fingerprints on the negative that I didn't realize were there.

I am actually on the train on my way home from work with the box scores from all 11 Yankee games at Navin Field in 1926.

Interstingly, one lists the attendance at one of the games at 40,000 vs. the 30,000 seating capacity, so I think that I can safely eliminate that game based on the apparent emptiness of the stands.

As for the umpire positioning discussed previously, depending on which game it is the umpiring crew consisted of either 2 or 3 umpires.

As for a Dugan triple, he didn't hit any in Detroit that year. Triples were hit though by Collins, Lazzeri, and Meusel, but according to the NY Times writeup, Meusel's was a ground rules triple into the centerield seats. (I don't know the 1926 rules so I assume that is what would be a ground rule double today?)

Thanks again, and I certainly welcome any and all ideas.

[Kawika]

I think the runner advancing on a sac fly is more likely than a stand-up triple. This crude blow-up neither supports or debunks the lefty theory. If a solution is to be had for this photo often the answer is hiding in plain sight. My guess is that would be to try to put a positive ID on the Detroit infielder, and for that I'd defer to the ear, nose and throat men. If you need the New York Times sports page accounts let me know and I can look them up. Just need the game dates (and hopefully not all 11 as I am kind of swamped for time right now, which is why I am posting so much lately in order to procrastinate more pressing urgencies).

[perezfan]

Through exhausting research, I have positively identified the New York player. It is not a Yankee at all, and is in fact a New York Giant. It is none other than the Willard Mullin Giants Mascot.

The photographic evidence is indisputable and the camera doesn't lie. This pin-headed, pear-shaped man can not be positively identified as anyone else. Now I'll work on solving the Detroit Player's identity, which will be admittedly more difficult....