1901 Chicago Orphans ID
 

I've been working to ID the three players in this photo. Definitely from the Chicago Orphans, taken at the Polo Grounds, probably 1901 (for sure pre-1903). The player in the center is Cupid Childs, I'm fairly certain. Player on the right is Jack Taylor. The player on the left has me stumped. I can't find anyone on the 1901 Orphans roster who is a good match.

Anyone have any ideas?

https://i.ibb.co/zQtNc2J/PG-Chi-Childs-Taylor.jpg
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https://i.ibb.co/zh5zqYg/PG-Chi-unk-s.jpg
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https://i.ibb.co/6B7b3t5/Chi-Orphans-needs-ID-1-s.jpg

I believe the player on the left is Pete Childs.

Pete Childs, 1901

There is some resemblance, but Pete Childs and Cupid Childs could not have been on the field together in 1901. Cupid was released from the Orphans (and played his last game) on July 8. Pete was signed by the Orphans on July 17, to replace Cupid, and played his first game with them on that same day.

Going out on a limb
 

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I am going to go out on a limb and state that the center person may not be Cupid Childs.

Base on rough comparisons in photo, and my poor sense of proportions, right most and center individuals appear to be approximately same height. Left most individual considerably shorter than center individual.

If right most individual is the 6' 1" Jack Taylor, the center person appears to be about the same height. If so, then quite possible the shorter left most individual is either the 5' 7" Pete Childs or 5' 8" Cupid Childs.

All speculative, of course.

I think you may have the wrong Jack Taylor at 6'1". By most accounts, Jack Taylor (1898-1907) from the 1901 Orphans was 5'10". I did a quick facial comp of Cupid Childs through his playing years alongside the photo in question. I think it's a match, but I'm definitely open to being wrong. Cupid Childs was heavier through most of his career, but he lost weight after a bout of malaria in 1899, and I'm not sure when/if he put weight back on.

https://i.ibb.co/WcdZGwX/Cupid-Childs-comp-s.jpg

Good catch; they can't both be in the photo. Given the fuzziness of the picture and the fact that both of the players in question have their caps pulled down low on their foreheads, I think that Pete is about as good a match for the player on the left as Cupid is for the center player. Are there any other photos that were apparently taken on the same day, that would help establish a date?

Sadly I cannot help with this

But I am interested and amazed how many on this forum have the knowledge, interest and skills to help solve these kinds of mysteries

The three players are cropped from a larger photo. See wider crop below. Location is of course the Polo Grounds. The configuration of the dirt behind home plate places the photo to 1902 or earlier. The Giants are seen warming up on the 1st base side of field, in white caps pre-1903. What can be seen of 'New York' on Giants jerseys rules out 1900. The Orphans uniforms are 1900-1902. The sign on the tripod at home plate actually reads New York vs Chicago.

What sways me toward the center player being Cupid Childs, aside from features, is his cap cocked toward his left ear, a thing he seemed to have a tendency to do, seen in many of his photos.

https://i.ibb.co/sHzNPyq/PG-Chi-cr-s.jpg

I don't see any clues for the date in this image. (I do agree that Cupid Childs had a tendency to wear his cap cocked.) Is this an excerpt from an even larger image, and if so is a scoreboard visible with any out-of-town games listed? That may be the only way to put a date on the picture.

The scoreboard would have been in right field, down the first base line, so it's just out of frame in the photo. What's been surmised so far is likely the best I'll be able to do with this for now.

The tripod on home plate, why is it there? Was it commonplace to have it back in the day?

The tripod with sign at home plate announcing the day's game is new to me, but field photos from this era are relatively rare, so who knows how common it was. The sign does have a vaudeville/stage aspect to it, so fits with the times, New York City, etc.