Bill Dahlen - Photograph Help / Your Opinion?
 

I have a bit of an odd request for the photograph experts here. I grew up in Fort Plain, NY - which is a small town near Cooperstown and now has the distinction of being where Bud Fowler was born and lived. Likewise, Bill Dahlen was born 100 yards across the river and also played baseball in Fort Plain. Needless to say, I have always collected sports memorabilia from my town and surrounding area.

Recently, I was contacted by a person inquiring about a photograph I had previously posted. The photograph is from the Clinton Liberal Institute and pictures the 1888 baseball team. What is significant about that is that Dahlen attended the institute from 1887-89 and played baseball for the team. However, the back of the photograph lists the starting 9 by position, and Dahlen isn’t listed. It doesn’t not, however, list the people by row in the photograph (ie, the names do not correspond to people in particular). It’s simple states the starting 9 for the 1888 season (but I always assumed the 9 depicted are the 9 listed).

In any event, the person who contact me thought that Dahlen may have nevertheless been depicted, and asked for a closeup of one person in particular. Again, I had never given it much thought since he isn’t identified on the reverse, but I’m curious what the board thinks. Regardless, the photograph means a ton to me regardless of whether Dahlen is pictured or not.

I've posted an image of Dahlen from the 1891 Chicago team photo, next to the excerpt from your 1888 photo. They don't appear to me to be a match.

I thought the guy on the far right resembled him a little

I think the guy on the bottom left looks like him.

+1

They all look a little like him. Dahlen was German-American. At this school in upstate New York, it is likely that the ethnicity of all of the boys attending was German, Dutch, English, or Scotch--no Slavs, no Italian-Americans, no Hispanics, no African- or Asian-Americans. There's not a lot of difference in the faces, and Dahlen did not have any distinguishing marks that would make him easy to recognize in a photo taken when he was 18. (FWIW, I think the guy on the bottom left looks like he's 14 or 15, not 18.) To make a claim that a certain player is in a photograph, there needs to be a compelling case made that the appearance of a particular person in the photo is a good match for the player--eyes, ears, jawline, etc. Side-by-side images are very helpful with this. Dahlen might be in the group pictured, but no one has made that compelling case, and the evidence (the names written on the back) suggests that he is not among the boys in the image.