Help with Oriole old-Timers Team Photo (plus Honus)
 

All,

I recently picked up a very interesting baseball photo from the family of Old Oriole Hall-of-Famer Joe Kelley. It contains 19 ball players, at least 10 of which are wearing Orioles uniforms (not all from the same year). This appears to be when the old Baltimore Orioles came back on an "Old Timers" Day along with some other former big leaguers, including Honus Wagner.

I'm hoping to get some help in identifying the players. Also, the approximate year of this reunion (in Baltimore?). The back of the photo indicates a few of the names already:

Top Row (Left to right):
1. Hans Wagner
2. Butcher Boy Schmidt (this makes sense as he was born and died in Baltimore. Additionally, he played on the minor league Baltimore Orioles teams from 1907-1912).
3. Ed Walsh
4. Alan Russell
5. ? Left Russell ?
6. Bill Bradley
7. Joe Kelley (in the hat and bow tie)
8. Bernard Gough
9. ? Steve Brodie?
10. Rube Parnham (played for Baltimore 1917-1926)

Middle Row (Left to right):
1. Clark Griffith
2. Lew Ritter
3. Bill Byers
4. George Maisel
5. Fritz Maisel (born and died in Baltimore. Played with Baltimore 1911-1913, 1919-1928)
6. Al Shacht (seems like quite a character)

Bottom Row (Left to right):
1. Jimmy Collins
2. Doc Kerr
3. Buck Herzog (in his NY uniform, also born and died in Baltimore)
4. Nick Altrock
5. Rube Oldring


THANK YOU!!!

It's Al Schacht, not Shack.

Fantastic piece


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks
 

Spec, thanks for the correction.

oldtimers ID
 

Jimmy Collins could be the man sitting at the far left. Bresnahan could be the man standing next to Rube Parnham. Late 1930s?
Great image.
lumberjack

thanks
 

Thanks for chiming in. I think your guess of late 1930's is a good one. Out of the players positively ID'ed, Joe Kelley passed away first in 1943. I'm alson looking at what the fans are wearing in the stands.

Mid to late 30's based on the hats in the crowd. I wanna say that's Rabbit Maranville middle back row but he was never with the O's.

Kinda looks like Clark Griffith far left middle row.

Closer shots
 

Here's a couple of close ups....

I agree with the ID of Collins. Here is a 1930 photo of him with the 1903 Boston infield:

old guys ID
 

The man next to Maisel is wearing a 1919 Cubs uni. I think it's Charlie Pick, who lived in Virginia and would have been semi-close to Baltimore.
The hatless guy is the back row is Ed Walsh. I'm sure of it.
What I don't understand is how they brought this disparate group of men together for a on-field reunion. Some have Baltimore connections, others nothing.
lumberjack

Keep 'em coming!
 

This is great! Thanks lumberjack and RUKen. What an interesting gathering of baseball players, especially on the all-star side.

I agree.

Thanks
 

Thanks for all the contributions, I've tried to update the original post.

The jerseys are also interesting. It looks like Rube Parnham is wearing his original Baltimore uniform from the late teens-early 1920's. Buck Herzog and Charlie Pick are too. Someone (still unidentified so far) is wearing an A's uniform in the front row. Then, there are 10 former players with identical "Baltimore" jerseys. This includes some who never played for Baltimore. I can't pin this design to a specific year (although someone else may be able to) and think they may be generic. So, maybe these were given out for the occasion. I can see some had different hats though. Wish I knew my hat identifications better.

Rube Oldring first row far right :)

Dazzy Vance second row, second from left

thanks
 

Thanks, Sean. I've added Vance and Oldring. I see Oldring is wearing his old Brooklyn cap.

Clark Griffith is not in this photo.

maybe, maybe not
 

Hank, I'll put a question mark by his name in the OP since it's not unanimous the guy on the far left in the middle row is Clark Griffith or not.

There is some resemblance, so I'll give it 90-10 it's not him. Also, what would be his connection to Baltimore? Don't know that I'd bet my house on it, but it's not Griffith.

I agree I dont think its Griffith though there is a resemblance. Its driving me crazy whom it is because he is very familiar. Same with the player 5 from the left on top row. Someone please figure this out so ai can sleep tonight

photo ID
 

No, that's not Clark Griffith, who by this time looked rather frail. I don't think that's Dazzy Vance, either. He was this big, red-faced guy who always looked old, but that is not him.
lumberjack

The thing that makes me lean towards that being Vance is that appears to be a Brooklyn hat and not a Baltimore one. Could just he a resemblance again though

Baltimore connections
 

I know of no Baltimore connections for Griffith. Then again, some of the other players (Honus Wagner, Jimmy Collins) don't have a Baltimore connection either. I have no idea how it was decided who should attend the "Old Timers" Day. Some make sense, some don't - at least not initially.

I agree with the guy 5 from left on the top row - he's got a very unique look. Those ears stick out further than Eddie Collins.

I'll put a question mark by Vance too. I do think it's a Brooklyn cap, even if it's not Vance.

Well this was likely an actual Old Timers Game with one team of Orioles and the other various Old Timers. A quick search I found such a game in Baltimore on 8-8-1931 with Wagner participating. Will check to see if there is a box score (upload failed for the one article I have found so far)

"Nick Altrock and Al Schacht, comedians de luxe, will be the masters of ceremonies."

Ya newspaper articles are too big to upload I guess. But this photo is from that game

Lew Ritter
 

Lew Ritter is middle row, 2nd from left

Butch Schmidt
 

Butch Schmidt is top row 2nd from left

Rube Parnham
 

Rube Parnham is Top row 1st on the right

Bill Byers
 

Bill Byers is middle row 3rd from the left (center)

A blurb from the New York Times mentions the game and identifies a handful of participants, all but one of whom is listed in this thread--- Steve Brodie. I leave it to you all to find him.

Might be hard to rule Griffith out
 

When somebody first mentioned Griffith, just looking at the mystery photo, I said to myself: "No way". But then I pulled up this 1931 Senators Photo Pack picture and said: "Well, maybe".

Altrock and Schacht worked for Griffith. Griffith's only connection to the Orioles, besides proximity, was taking over the Highlanders for their first season after they replaced Baltimore in the AL.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1627671333
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1627671341

Other said to be on hand for this game:

Jimmy Collins, Ed Walsh, Bill Bradley, Ned Hanlon, Steve Brodie, Joe Kelley, Jack Doyle, Buck Herzog, Clark Griffith, Red Kronau, Alan Russell, Bill Rapp, Gene McCann, Harry Frank, "Runt" Walsh...guessing Ed Walsh Jr, George Maisel, Buck Freeman, Bernard Gough who was a bat boy but guessing became Magistrate of Baltimore?

Clark Griffith was on hand so yes he could be in the photo

Joe Kelley...guessing he is one of the men in a suit

Article in the Baltimore Sun (8-7-31) a few days before the game with a list of people expected to attend

They had a keg of beer off of third base...really wish could upload the pics from the newspaper

Well that confirms that is Griffith and that is not Vance. I'm wondering if the guy I thought was Vance is Dan Brouthers one year before his death?

Who you have as Roger Breshnahan could be Steve Brodie

Also I dont see Charlie Pick as being mentioned in any of the article surrounding this game and I dont think he is in this picture.

No middle row 2nd from left is Lew Ritter...there was a picture of four of these players in the newspaper IDed and he is one of them

Alan Russell
 

Alan Russell is top row 4th from left

good call! Thus the Brooklyn hat. I wondered whatever happened to that hat

Definetly not Bresnahan. I agree that could be Brodie

I am having trouble finding a picture of him as an old man but I THINK Buck Freeman is Top Row 5th from left

Some guys I cant find photos of including the Magistrate Gough (who could be the other guy in a suit maybe?)

Here's what I have and Im 100% sure on the ones that dont have ???

Top Row (Left to right):
1. Hans Wagner
2. Butch Schmidt
3. Ed Walsh
4. Alan Russell
5. ?Buck Freeman?
6. Bill Bradley
7. Joe Kelley
8.
9. ?Steve Brodie?
10. Rube Parnham

Middle Row (Left to right):
1. Clark Griffith
2. Lew Ritter
3. Bill Byers
4. George Maisel
5. Fritz Maisel
6. Al Schacht

Bottom Row (Left to right):
1. Jimmy Collins
2. ?Doc Kerr?
3. Buck Herzog
4. Nick Altrock
5. Rube Oldring

Thank you for IDs
 

Thank you much for the research and the added IDs. Only a few unknowns left. Also thank you for pinpointing the date of the game and photo. That would have been some game to witness.

For those who wonder why the famous comedy team of Altrock and Schacht aren't posing together, and are basically ignoring each other, here's this from retrosheet:

Ironically, in the midst of this success Altrock and Schacht stopped speaking to each other in 1927. Although Altrock never spoke about the specific reasons for it, their rift was often attributed to a fake prizefight routine that got a little too real. The story is that Schacht thought it would be funnier if he actually hit Nick and so punched the older comic unexpectedly and knocked him to the ground. Altrock got revenge a few days later during a routine where he would normally fire a hard baseball at Schacht for him to dodge and follow it with a soft baseball that Schacht took on the head. Altrock switched the baseballs, and Schacht took a hard blow to the skull and hit the turf.

my bad
 

I was extremely wrong about Pick and Bresnahan. Bill Bradley is the man standing next to our right of Rubberarm Russell. Pretty sure about that.
lumberjack

I can see that and ya Bradley is either top 5th from left or 6th from left...those dudes look like brothers

Here is Bill Bradley from a 1930 Old Timers' Day in Boston. He appears to be a match for the 6th man from the left in the top row:

Everyone here is like Sherlock Holmes

Amazing how you help solve these mysteries

George Maisel is in the middle row in the Cubs uniform. (He played for the Cubs in 1921 and 1922.) Fritz Maisel is probably not in this photo; he is not mentioned among the attendees.

I suggest Paul Krichell as the man in the middle row, fifth from the left. Edited to add: ThomasL has made a good case (below) that this is Fritz Maisel.

Doc Kerr is in the bottom row, second from the left.

Bill Bradley
 

Bradley, sixth from left, for sure. Fifth from left is just too old. Well done.
lumberjack

Bradly is 6th from left Im with ya on that one.

RUKen good find of Doc Kerr photo I didnt find one of him yesterday...have to look at it closely now....I was also thinking George is the guy in Cubs uniform but was wanting to look for the other guys as well bc he has a fatter face in 1931 so wasnt very sure with so many other options out there

Thought I saw Fritz was there somewhere...let me look again

RuKen - It is Fritz, he was the current manager of the Orioles and is wearing a 1931 Orioles uniform and cap and would have been there and stands to reason there would be good odds he would be next to his brother.

Orioles played Buffalo that same day at the same field

I think you might be right about George his brother

Fritz Maisel
Pretty much every detail matches up; large forehead, ears, lines from nose to mouth, lips, chin, length of face. Time has added some fullness but this is Fritz.

even wearing his cap exactly the same way (thats by no means something to go by but still pretty cool to see)

Fritz (sorry forgot to attach it to the last post)

Ya looking back over and with a few other images I think Ruken help confirmed Bradley as 6th from left and I think you are right about George and maybe right about Kerr as well (with so many other possibles mentioned in the paper I always like crossing all the others off just to be 100% sure)

2nd man in a suit which my first guess is the bat boy/Baltimore Magistrate Gough but I cant find a picture of him...

Top Row (Left to right):
1. Hans Wagner
2. Butch Schmidt
3. Ed Walsh
4. Alan Russell
5. ?Walter Fewster? Lefty Russell?
6. Bill Bradley
7. Joe Kelley
8. Bernard B Gough
9. ?Steve Brodie? Jimmy Walsh?
10. Rube Parnham

Middle Row (Left to right):
1. Clark Griffith
2. Lew Ritter
3. Bill Byers
4. George Maisel
5. Fritz Maisel
6. Al Schacht

Bottom Row (Left to right):
1. Jimmy Collins
2. ?Doc Kerr?
3. Buck Herzog
4. Nick Altrock
5. Rube Oldring

OK; you've made a good case for Fritz Maisel.

#5 from the left in the top row is not Buck Freeman. I've attached images of Freeman from 1930 (left) and 1947 (right) next to the image of the player at the Orioles' Old Timers Game:

Absolutely awesome detective job guys. You've identified 19 of the 21.

ThomasL was kind enough to send me some newspaper articles with pictures of this event. I'll see if I can post them later.

Thank you much to all.

Good job finding photos of Freeman as an old man (I saw the 1930 one but really was hoping to find another.

Ya agree I dont think that is Freeman just based on the ears and longer chin...idk

Bernard B Gough
 

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner...bat boy turned Baltimore socialite/politician ...found this picture from 1925 newspaper article and Top Row 3rd from right safe to say is the old bat boy

A Maybe?
 

looking through old Spaulding Baseball Guides at team pictures of old Orioles teams. Came up with a possible...former Orioles trainer Walter Fewster...thoughts?

Will see if I can find a better photo of Fewster

Also just learned that "Runt" Walsh was Jimmy Walsh - might be top row 2nd from right

Well another good looking candidate for top row 5th from left is Clarence Lefty Russell
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/lefty-russell/

Idk
 

Ok so first photo is from sabr bio of Clarence Lefty Russell, second is our mystery man, photo on the right is from 1919 Orioles team pic and is trainer Walter Fewster...you be the judge

They both bear a strong facial resemblance, but it seems more likely to me that Lefty Russell would have gotten into a uniform for the game. The newspaper clipping that is posted earlier in this thread mentions Allen Russell (Lefty's brother), but perhaps there was some confusion about which Russell brother was coming for the game.

That stands to reason or if one brother showed up the other might as well.

Looking at Doc Kerr and Jimmy Walsh photos both are in a 1914 Baltimore Terrapins team photo over on REA archives. Steve Brodie and Runt Walsh were mentioned in papers after the game so Im wondering if Kerr was there or not

Baltimore Sun August 9, 1931
 

Here's a newspaper article about it from the Baltimore Sun the next day (8/9/1931) (Thanks ThomasL)....

Thanks ThomasL
 

Here's another one from the day of the game (in the Baltimore Sun)...