[triwak]

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