Show Your Pre-War Minor League Photos

[thecatspajamas]

With several threads relating to identifying early minor league teams from photos, I thought it would be fun to start an old minor league photo thread. Since I'm thinking this could also be helpful later to those trying to match uniforms other photos, please only post photos that you know the year and team pictured.

I'll start off with a couple of examples shot by George Burke:

1937 St. Paul Saints - Elmer Johnson


1936 Louisville Colonels - Wilbur Buchanan

[John V]

This shot includes a future HOFer and a future bat maker.
(Edited to add - This is a copy I have framed and hung in my cave, while I try to track down an original.)

[Marckus99]

1911 Oakland, PCL - Hetling, Gus

[bcbgcbrcb]

Here's one, a 1937 Rochester Red Wings premium w/Walter Alston (front row, second from right) a cool 15 years before Alston's first official "card", the 1952 Parkhurst..........

[thecatspajamas]

Bob Kennedy ca. 1937 in an odd uniform combination: Dallas Steers jersey and Vicksburg Hillbillies cap. I'm not sure of the circumstances of the photo, but presumably it was taken around the time he moved from Vicksburg to Dallas mid-season.


1908 Stockton Millers - Hal Chase


1938 Lubbock Hubbers - Tom Fleming

[baseballart]

Tom Downey, Toronto, c 1905

[Runscott]

Here's an unknown player I picked up last night in Clean Sweep. The back has a modern pencilled notation: 'Omaha, Western Association, 1888'. If correct, that would be the Omahogs or Lambs.

[bcbgcbrcb]

Someone out there might recognize this DiMaggio guy......1933 SF Seals........

[thekingofclout]

Originally Posted by bcbgcbrcb

Someone out there might recognize this DiMaggio guy......1933 SF Seals........

Here's another one Phil, except Joe is working on a unibrow in this one...

dimaggioheadshot.jpg

[thecatspajamas]

Wish I had more full-body shots, but here's some more head shots I was working with today:

1937 Indianapolis Indians - Elmer Riddle


1937 Kansas City Blues - Woody Salmon


1938 Toledo Mud Hens - Bob Linton


1929 Knoxville Smokies - Joe Schepner

[slidekellyslide]

1928 Lincoln -Ernie Krenk and 1933 Lincoln -Don Gutteridge

[slidekellyslide]

1921 Dazzy Vance..New Orleans (can't recall the name of the old dude, but I knew it at one time)

[bcbgcbrcb]

The only known 1924 Easton photo of Jimmy Foxx from his first professional baseball season.......

[tjb1952tjb]

Great 1924 Jimmy Foxx photo.......THANKS for sharing!

[bcbgcbrcb]

Thanks, Tim. Here are five more with a couple of post-war mixed in but they are very significant ones.........

1951 Willie Mays (Minneapolis)
1967 Nolan Ryan (Jacksonville)
1943 Red Schoendienst (Rochester)
1940 Warren Spahn (Burlington)
1931 Arky Vaughan (Wichita)

[bcbgcbrcb]

Last two individual photos (both post-war).......

1956 Bill Mazeroski (Hollywood)
1950 Hoyt Wilhelm (Minneapolis)

[ksfarmboy]

1904 Larry Milton Iola Gasbags, 1909 Carl Manda Lyons Lions, and 1909 Tex Westerzil Wichita Jobbers.

[Jaybird]

Composite photo of the Eastern League teams. Rochester, Buffalo, Baltimore, Toronto, Newark, Montreal

[thxforthebp]

1935 Scranton Miners photo, I have alot of items from the Scranton and Wilkes Barre team but is one of the earliest of VanderMeer, not to mention it is signed. Sorry for the bad pic, I just bought this one and dont have it as of yet.

[Joe Hunter]

1905 Oklahoma City Mets with John Halla(Played several years in the PCL and briefly with the Cleveland Naps).

[Solons42]

Here's an 1886 cabinet of Sacramento Alta Billy McLaughlin.

[cdn_collector]

Originally Posted by Jaybird

Composite photo of the Eastern League teams. Rochester, Buffalo, Baltimore, Toronto, Newark, Montreal

Jay that is AWESOME! What are the dimensions?


Richard.

[Bumpus Jones]

hey lance, here's a full body shot for you... lew riggs 1933-4 columbus redbirds.

[Jaybird]

Originally Posted by cdn_collector

Jay that is AWESOME! What are the dimensions?


Richard.

Thanks Richard. 13" x 16"

[thecatspajamas]

Nice photos guys! I love to see this thread popping back up to the top. Hopefully I can add some more this weekend.

[thxforthebp]

Just picked this one up. Looks to be 1943 Willkes Barre & Scranton game Managers are Nemo Leibold for Scranton and Tony Lazzeri on the Wilkes Barre side. Lazzeri was a player manager for the Barons one year only 1943

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by thxforthebp

Just picked this one up. Looks to be 1943 Willkes Barre & Scranton game Managers are Nemo Leibold for Scranton and Tony Lazzeri on the Wilkes Barre side. Lazzeri was a player manager for the Barons one year only 1943

Is it just me, or does that look more like a funeral gathering than them getting ready to play a game? Could they have been having a memorial service or something prior to the game?

[thecatspajamas]

1939 Kansas City Blues - Vince DiMaggio


1933 Toronto Maple Leafs - Luke Hamlin


And not exactly PRE-war, nor exactly minor league:

1943 Great Lakes (WWII Naval Training Station Baseball Team) - Eddie Pellagrini

[Bumpus Jones]

Hey Lance, in response to your observation about the Scranton photo, I'm pretty sure it was taken during Opening Day of the season. I've seen several big league photos similar to this and it was common practice back then to have an on field ceremony which would normally include large boquets of flowers. Also, notice that all of the dignitaries are wearing long coats, which probably indicates it was early in the season as well...

[thxforthebp]

The flowers on the first base line have a ribbon that says good luck so I would agree it is early in the season.

[DixieBaseball]

1913 catcher & roomate of Lefty Williams (Black Sox), Ed Noyes of the Nashville Volunteers. (Perhaps Lefty is in the background next to kid on bench to the right of 2 other Vols players in the bullpen)

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by ballist68

Hey Lance, in response to your observation about the Scranton photo, I'm pretty sure it was taken during Opening Day of the season. I've seen several big league photos similar to this and it was common practice back then to have an on field ceremony which would normally include large boquets of flowers. Also, notice that all of the dignitaries are wearing long coats, which probably indicates it was early in the season as well...

Ah, okay, that makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up for me

[smtjoy]

Awesome photos everyone, my only minor/winter league photo- 1954 Roberto Clemente -

[slidekellyslide]

Nellie Fox - 1948 Lincoln A's


Bobby Shantz and manager Jimmy DeShong - 1948 Lincoln A's


Dick Stuart in the middle of his 66 home run season - 1956 Lincoln Chiefs

[bcbgcbrcb]

Scott:

Love the Clemente Winter League photo.

Dan:

Great Fox photo!