Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Counts
It looks like something that was cut out of an old baseball guide, like the ones produced by Spalding or Reach. I'm not sure how early they did these, but I have an Oakland Oaks team photo clipped from a 1912 guide, and it's cropped and labeled the same way. There's lots of these clippings on eBay, and they don't sell for much, although some of sellers claim they are some kind of premium, or even, a card.
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Yes, it's definitely taken from a guide, and would have little or no value as such. However, the historical value of the only known--and previously thought not to exist--picture of Johnson at the very beginning of his professional career--is enormous. According to the link I provided with the listing of guides published, there were four of them in 1906: Spalding, Reach, LaJoie's, and Wright and Ditson. I went through the first three and not only didn't I find the Olinda team pictured, there weren't any semipro teams at all. I couldn't find a copy of the Wright and Ditson guide online, so I don't know about it. Perhaps the HOF or LOC has one. The page with the Olinda team picture is very much in the style of the guides I saw, as you pointed out.