HOF Spink Award Winner Identification
 

Hi guys! Thought I'd let the recent Paul Waner thread wane for a bit, before posting about a little research project I've been pursuing. As a subset of my HOF collection, I try to obtain a period card/item of the HOF Award Honorees - Spink (writers), Frick (broadcasters), O'Neil (Lifetime achievement) - if the recipient actually PLAYED the game, professionally.

Now according to the HOF website and Wikipedia, the 1980 Spink Award winner, Milton Richman had a brief minor league career in the St. Louis Browns organization. But there is no mention of the actual teams or years, and interestingly I cannot find any minor league source which lists a Milton Richman playing anywhere?

But during his HOF acceptance speech (video posted on HOF website), he mentions his former manager, Frank Oceak. After some digging, I found that Frank Oceak managed three minor league teams for the Browns: The 1938 Lafayette, LA White Sox; The 1939 Fayetteville, AR Angels; & The 1940 Beaver Falls, PA Browns. After that, Oceak joined the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

Well... I recently found this photo (posted below), of the 1940 Beaver Falls team, from a Lawrence County, PA Historical website. They only mention Manager Oceak (kneeling 2nd from right) in the photo caption - none of the players are listed. I have also posted a 1979 Wire Press Photo of Milton Richman (which I own), along with a slightly earlier photo of Richman with another sportswriter, Bill Madden.

So what do you guys think... is the player standing 4th from left (circled in the closeup) Milton Richman? I realize the difficulty comparing a man in his 50's to an 18 year old (Richman was born in 1922), but I believe there is definitely a resemblance.

Why do I care? I suppose if I can determine that the young player in the 1940 photo IS Milton Richman, I might actually contact the Pennsylvania Historical group, and try to purchase it. I mean, everything has a price, right??? If not, I guess my 1979 Wire Press Photo will have to suffice. Any and all opinions/comments, no matter how snarky, are welcomed. I'm all ears!!!

~ Ken

Bwahahahaha! Sorry, can’t help, but this certainly made me spit out my drink a little.

Nice job on the research. I can't say it's not him. The 1970s hairstyle does partly cover his ears. It would be nice if you can find his name mentioned as a member of the team in a contemporary local newspaper.

If you do acquire the photo and the resolution is at least a bit better, I might be able to construct an argument that it is Richman (or not :))

Thanks, Mark! I wish I could find a photo of Richman, taken sometime in between the 1940s and the 1970s, to sort of bridge the gap. Nothing out there! But my research continues... Again, thank you for your response.

In this case trying to find exemplars from the family could help. Try HoF - maybe they can help you find the family. I will post a request for info on the SABR-L discussion group.

+1000!